There are few people living on the Neck that do not remember with great fondness the taste of Northern Neck Ginger Ale. Practically an icon of the Northern Neck, it satisfied the thirst of countless people through the years, and drinking any other sort of ginger ale was practically heresy. Sadly, Northern Neck Ginger Ale has all but vanished as Coca-Cola discontinued the item, and cans of it are treated almost akin to lost holy relics.
Back when this first happened, a group formed to try to hang on to this little gem of the Neck, but failed. Now, another group has formed to attempt to succeed where the other failed.
Stephanie Johnson is one of many folks looking to remedy this situation and attempt to bring Northern Neck Ginger Ale back into production. She and several others made their presence known back at the Montross Fall Festival last month, and the Facebook group she is a part of has been steadily growing and gaining more signatures.
As of last week, the group was in the neighborhood of 6,200 members. Johnson came to the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors meeting last week bringing a can of ginger ale with her.
“I wanted to come before you and see if I could get some help from you, as we can only get so far,” Johnson explained. “I do believe that we are better in numbers.”
Johnson and the rest of the group have been posting petitions in stores, as well as online for people to sign along with having a billboard in Richmond. Previous residents of Westmoreland County have also been asking for petitions to sign. In the meantime, the group has also gotten support from Congressman Rob Wittman, and also has several contacts within Coca-Cola.
“We’re trying to get Coke’s attention,” she continued, “Either to bring it back or sell it back to us. I believe having it in Virginia will be the best way to go.”
As for the board, Johnson had hoped that they could come up with a resolution or “anything that could help or support us, let the state know we’re here, that Westmoreland and all the other counties want to help to get back our beloved drink.”
To me, Northern Neck Ginger Ale is more than a drink. It is about community, unity, and comfort. We are here in numbers. We just need some support, and I wanted to see if there was a way for you to help,” said Johnson.
“Coca-Cola purchased the rights and decided to discontinue it, as I recall. So what is Coke’s position?” asked Chairman Darryl Fisher.
“I talked to our contact in Coke, and they’re not doing so well with keeping Coke and Sprite on the shelves,” Johnson replied. “He told me we need to change the way we’re doing things. He said don’t ask for Coke to bring it back, ask them to sell it back or donate it, and let them know how much it means to you and Virginia.
That’s when we started going to Coke with the proposal to sell it back to us, and that we would not be quiet.”
“I miss Northern Neck Ginger Ale too,” Vice Chairman Hynson chimed. “But as I understand it, it’s Coca-Cola’s lock on the safe, and they have no intention of giving away or selling it.”
“Back around 2001, the recipe was sold for around $2 million,” Johnson responded. “My contact said it was, thanks to inflation, now more in the realm of $8 to 10 million, but in the books at Coca-Cola, it’s only looked at as a regional drink. It’s nothing that they would want too much for. To them, it’s something small, to us it’s more, so we are trying to come up with a way for our investors to go back to them with a figure or something like giving them 1% for the first two years of sales, so that they won’t feel like we’re competition and still make money off us.
“We’re coming up with different figures and places to put it if or when they sell it back to us. I think they will. It would be a good investment for them and for anywhere that decides to can it. Of course, y’all would know that since it was canned just up the street.”
“You’re using the right words, so I know you’re looking into it,” Vice Chairman Hynson replied in turn, “The bottom line I got was there wasn’t a share of the market big enough for Coca-Cola. I applaud what you’re working for, but I don’t know how somebody else is going to be able to buy it. I think we all have to go outside the box on this.”
It will take some time before this show of moral support from the county is whipped up, but it will be in the works, aided by a template of a resolution that Save Northern Neck Ginger Ale will have sent by now.
Although Coca-Cola previously stated it has no intent for selling it off, there have been at least two instances where a discontinued local drink was sold back to its area of origin. This method is also being looked into.
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