Have you ever tasted Moxie?

[Hatshepsut]

The discussion of horehound in the "worst candy flavor" thread reminded me of Moxie, which I used to drink sometimes as a kid. I just discovered from the Wiki link that the company that makes it is headquartered in Bedford, NH, my (sort-of) home town - no wonder Moxie was fairly popular there.

Moxie is so bad it's good. I don't like carbonated beverages, so it would be impossible for me to ever consume much of the stuff. But setting that aside, it has such an unusual taste that it is an interesting intellectual exercise to drink it. The best I can describe it is that it tastes like stainless steel.

Anybody else here ever tried it? If it's available to you, you ought to taste it just for the novelty value. But if you don't live in New England, I assume it is impossible to get.

[Oliveloaf]

The discussion of horehound in the "worst candy flavor" thread reminded me of Moxie, which I used to drink sometimes as a kid. I just discovered from the Wiki link that the company that makes it is headquartered in Bedford, NH, my (sort-of) home town - no wonder Moxie was fairly popular there.

Moxie is so bad it's good. I don't like carbonated beverages, so it would be impossible for me to ever consume much of the stuff. But setting that aside, it has such an unusual taste that it is an interesting intellectual exercise to drink it. The best I can describe it is that it tastes like stainless steel.

Anybody else here ever tried it? If it's available to you, you ought to taste it just for the novelty value. But if you don't live in New England, I assume it is impossible to get.

Never tasted it, but have several Moxie bottles.

I collect old soda bottle, and have Moxie bottles going back to the Fifties.

[Zuul]

Aside the the saying "he's got moxie", I've never heard much about the stuff, let alone tried it. I'm not quite sure if "tastes like stainless steel" is that encouraging of a description. I think I'll go find a knife to lick and see.

[beebs]

I've tasted better cough syrup.

A friend of mine loves the stuff though.

[OtakuLoki]

I tend to approach things from an inside out approach - I had never heard of the tonic Moxie until after I'd read Edward Rowe Snow's account of the loss in the early part of the twentieth century of a pleasure launch loaded with partying teens. Just like teens might today, the teens in question paid no attention to safe loading requirements - and went out in said launch with the water up to the gunwales because, of course, nothing could go wrong.

All the teens ended up drowning when the inevitable happened. Snow, himself, was involved with the body recovery, and when I read his account, I found his sparse details of pulling bodies from the surf to be wonderfully evocative.

So, for me, the idea of drinking anything named Moxie makes me think it will taste like dead teenagers.

[Hatshepsut]

So, for me, the idea of drinking anything named Moxie makes me think it will taste like dead teenagers.

That might be it! Although I think not. The taste is more ... inorganic.

[OtakuLoki]

That might be it! Although I think not. The taste is more ... inorganic.

Well, after nearly a hundred years, how much of the organics will be left?


More seriously - ISTR that the launch Moxie was owned by someone heavily involved with the tonic. I don't believe that my association of the story of the fate of the launch with the soda is entirely an invention of my febrile mind.

[What Exit?]

Never tried and surprised it is still around.

Have you seen this old ad?

[Zuul]

Now that I've learned about it I've become obsessed with getting some. It looks like it's ten dollars shipping to have one six pack mailed out to me, though.

Obviously, I have to make a trip to New England.

[OtakuLoki]

Maybe we can get Taumpy to buy a 12-pack and ship out individual cans to the interested parties?

Of course, if you do come that far east, be sure to stop for a visit in Rochester.

[terrifel]

As it happens, right down the street from me is a small sandwich shop called Subs-N-Such. Weirdly, their claim to fame is not their sandwiches (though they do make a fairly mean Cuban), but the fact that they stock obscure regional and international brands of soda pop. They claim to sell over 400 different brands, and carry Moxie in both bottles and cans.

I like it. It's got an ever-so-lightly medicinal flavor, kind of like root beer with just a dash of Listerine.

[What Exit?]

As it happens, right down the street from me is a small sandwich shop called Subs-N-Such. Weirdly, their claim to fame is not their sandwiches (though they do make a fairly mean Cuban), but the fact that they stock obscure regional and international brands of soda pop. They claim to sell over 400 different brands, and carry Moxie in both bottles and cans.

I like it. It's got an ever-so-lightly medicinal flavor, kind of like root beer with just a dash of Listerine.

I has sassafras once and that was like a medicinal Root Beer taste. Not all that good.

[Laughing Lagomorph]

I tasted Moxie once, years ago. My BIL had a recipe for barbecue sauce that included Moxie as an ingredient so we all tried some. I think I could find it pretty easily around here but I've never really looked for it.

[The Original An Gadaí]

There's a regional drink in Ireland I've become obsessed with of late called McDaid's Football Special. It only sells in one county, which strikes me as bizarre as they're limiting their customer base to something like 100,000 people. Everybody I know from Donegal or environs had it as a kid. The next time I'm there, it will be mine, oh yes, it will.

[Taumpy]

Never tried and surprised it is still around.

Have you seen this old ad?

Yep, I've got it hanging in my hallway.

[terrifel]

I has sassafras once and that was like a medicinal Root Beer taste. Not all that good.

Well, arguably it makes sense that these drinks would have a medicinal flavor, seeing as how they were all originally marketed as health tonics. It's possible that we would perceive Coca-Cola as having a vaguely medicinal flavor too, if we weren't all so accustomed to the taste. Or maybe it just tastes different since they took the cocaine out. Sassafrass, root beer, whatever Moxie is made out of (mandragora root?)-- all these herbalist concoctions were cutting-edge medical quackery at the time, guaranteed to restore potency and vigor in both man and horse.

The remarkable thing is that people are still drinking these beverages a century later, long after all their Victorian-era claims of health benefits have fallen by the wayside. Root beer may be less popular than it once was, but it has undeniable staying power. Will any of our modern soda-based nostrums such as Red Bull Energy Drink still be sold and enjoyed at the dawn of the 22nd Century? It seems unlikely.

[What Exit?]

Well, arguably it makes sense that these drinks would have a medicinal flavor, seeing as how they were all originally marketed as health tonics. It's possible that we would perceive Coca-Cola as having a vaguely medicinal flavor too, if we weren't all so accustomed to the taste. Or maybe it just tastes different since they took the cocaine out. Sassafrass, root beer, whatever Moxie is made out of (mandragora root?)-- all these herbalist concoctions were cutting-edge medical quackery at the time, guaranteed to restore potency and vigor in both man and horse.

Well root beer is the direct and tastier offshoot of sassafras. It and birch beer are both still around. Sassafras and sarsaparilla both seem to be gone. Apparently removing the medicinal taste was a good idea for root beer. As to coke, I just don't know what it tasted like in 1890. But the classic coke taste is one of the best colas and I still do not like it much. But I would never describe it as medicinal tasting.

Side note, Moxie Dingleberry was the parody character taking Meriadoc's place in Bored of the Rings. His name was derived from the soft drink.

[terrifel]

Well root beer is the direct and tastier offshoot of sassafras. It and birch beer are both still around. Sassafras and sarsaparilla both seem to be gone.

In most places, perhaps. You can get them all at Subs-N-Such.

[silenus]

I love Moxie. It's hard to find, but a local grocery sometimes has a few in the loose soda bin. Definitely an aquired taste though.

[parzival]

Side note, Moxie Dingleberry was the parody character taking Meriadoc's place in Bored of the Rings. His name was derived from the soft drink.

Part of the joke being that his brother's name was Pepsi (Pippin/Peregrin in LOTR).


I found Moxie at a grocery store in California near where I used to live; they carried a wide variety of unusual sodas. I didn't like it much, though I like sarsaparilla, birch beer, and a few similar drinks.

[Taumpy]

Maybe we can get Taumpy to buy a 12-pack and ship out individual cans to the interested parties?

Of course, if you do come that far east, be sure to stop for a visit in Rochester.

After re-reading this thread, I want to say that if anyone's actually interested in this, I would be willing.