Tuesday Top Ten: Favorite Pops

Whether you call it pop (which is the correct term), soda, soda pop, sody pop, or Coke, Chicago is no longer it's friend.  As you may have heard, Cook County -- the adorably fiscally irresponsible county home to over five million residents, including yours truly -- recently enacted a "sweetened beverage tax."   Now, with a few limited exceptions, whenever you buy a "sweetened" beverage -- whether sweetened with sugar or artificially -- you now pay one cent per ounce in tax (in addition to the 10+% sales tax you're already paying).  So, if you're buying a case of Diet Coke, that's an extra $2.88.  This is all supposedly for the kids.  You know, because an extra 20 cents is going to prevent a kid from buying a bottle of Mountain Dew.  Hell, even Gatorade and Propel are being taxed.  Does the Cook County Board not want us to replenish electrolytes while working out?  Now that seems irresponsible.

The worst side effect for me is that the 7-11 across the street has now removed unsweetened iced tea (which is not part of the tax) from its fountain drinks because it doesn't have a way to systematically distinguish in its cash register system what's in one Big Gulp versus what's in another.  So now the healthiest option on the tap has been eliminated.  I used to be able to walk in with a dollar, get a Big Gulp of iced tea, slap a dollar down, tell them to keep the two cents in change, and strut out like I was the cock of the walk (which I was).  Now, I either have to buy a fucking bottle of unsweetened iced tea (which is never quite as good as the fountain) for $1.89 or I have to pay $1.18 for a fountain Diet Mountain Dew.  This is a choice no one should have to face, not even Toni Preckwinkle.

As I enter the Post-Pop Era in Chicago, I fondly remember what it was like to drink pop without being taxed, something my children will never have the pleasure of experiencing.  With that, here are my ten favorite types of pop (in alphabetical order).  Some are specific brands, while others are general types.
  
1.  Cherry Coke
I remember when Cherry Coke was introduced in 1985.  My mom and I (and presumably my brother, because who leaves a 3-year-old at home unattended?) walked to the Circle K a few blocks away and bought a couple cans of Cherry Coke.  It was awesome then, and it's awesome now.

2.  Cream Soda
I am a huge fan of cream soda, although not when it has too much vanilla (looking your way, A&W).

3.  Diet Coke
At some point late in college, I realized that drinking regular Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper probably wasn't good for my waistline.  I stopped drinking coffee because it gave me the jitters and the shits, which is an unpleasant combination when trying to sit through a history lecture.  So I switched to Diet Coke, and never looked back.  Of course, McDonald's has the best Diet Coke.  That's just a fact.

4.  Diet Mountain Dew
I used to drink a good amount of regular Mountain Dew, but decided that wasn't good for me either (see Diet Coke, above), so I went with Diet Dew.  Even with the extra 20 cents tacked on, I'll still get a Big Gulp of this now and then, if I need a pick-me-up on a Saturday afternoon.

5.  Diet Vernor's Ginger Ale
Growing up, I would visit my grandparents in the Detroit area, where there was this insanely effervescent ginger ale called Vernor's.  I like regular Vernor's, but it's usually too bubbly.  Diet Vernor's, on the other hand, still has the gingery power of regular Vernor's, without the risk of making me cough up my drink.

6.  Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb
I don't know how any one dislikes Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb, even if the latter has changed its name to Pibb Xtra.

7.  Faygo Rock N' Rye
This is another holdover from my trips to Michigan as a kid.  It's kind of it's own beast, so I'm not sure exactly how to categorize it -- maybe a cherry cream soda.  Whatever it is, it's fantastic.

8.  Green River
Green River is a Chicago institution.  It's a Kelly green lime soda that I'm pretty sure you can only find in the Chicagoland area -- often on the fountain of a mom and pop hot dog stand or Italian beef spot.  The best part is that the CCR song and album of the same name were inspired by the pop.

9.  Orange Soda
I love a good orange soda, which I realize is redundant, whether it's Fanta, Crush, Sunkist, Slice, Jones, Jarritos, or generic.

10.  Root Beer
Root beer is another one of those pops that I find it impossible that anyone could dislike it.  I could drink root beer at any time, with or without ice cream.  There isn't any one particular brand of root beer that I prefer over others, but I'd say a list of brands I enjoy includes, in no particular order, Dad's, Mug, Barq's, Goose Island, IBC, Sprecher, and Faygo.

What about you fine folks?  Is there any kind of pop I should try, when outside the confines of the second-largest county in the country?