WEBVTT

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- Right now on
Adam Eats the 80s,

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I'm drinking in the decade

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that had beverages
battling like never before.

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I crack open an original can

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of the most notorious
beverage of the 80s

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and determine once and for all

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if it's really as bad
as its reputation.

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Look at it, it foams up still.

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- Wow.

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And get a taste
of an 80s beverage

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that would jack you
up like a car battery.

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that would jack you
up like a car battery.

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I am now feeling the caffeine.

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So who wants to go
do pushup contest?

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Let's go, go right now.

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I'm on the hunt to relive an

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extraordinary decade for food,

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the 1980s.

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It's an era of iconic

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hits and misses.

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Join me, Adam Richmond,

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as we get a long lost taste of

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the icons and the forgotten.

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Oh, talk about smell.

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'Cause food is my time machine

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and I've been waiting
my whole life,

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I'm literally drooling,

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for one more bite.

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I talk a lot about food
from the 80s on this show

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but all those long lost
bites from the decade

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were chased with some of
the sweetest, strongest

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and most caffeinated
drinks on record.

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It was one of the most
successful decades

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for one of the biggest
American beer companies

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It's when energy drinks
were jolted into existence

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and when big soda went to war
and even into outer space.

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In the 1980s craft beers,
didn't have a shelf to stand on.

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The big boys like Bud
and Miller and Coors,

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they dominated the fridge

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and if you wanted another
option, you were out of luck.

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In the early 80s, there were
just eight craft breweries

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in the entire United States.

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Today, there were
more than 9,000.

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In 1984, 35 year old Jim
Koch quit his consulting gig

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and turned his home brewing
hobby into a new career path.

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Founding the Boston Beer company

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with an original brewer's
revolutionary as its namesake,

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Samuel Adams.

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The company now brews over 7
million barrels of beer a year

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bringing in 1.7 billion
dollars in 2020 alone

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but when it comes to
iconic 80s drinks,

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soda was at the
top of the pyramid.

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I mean, this was the decade
it surpassed even water

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to become the most consumed
beverage in America

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and while the cold
war was cooling down,

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the Cola wars were heating up.

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Coca-Cola was the undisputed
king of soft drinks

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commanding 60% of the market

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but by the mid 1980s, its
share had slowly been slipping

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for 15 consecutive years

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and its age old rival, Pepsi,
was suddenly hot on its heels.

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When the Pepsi challenge
campaign began in 1975,

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Coke was clearly the best
selling soda in the world,

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but by the mid 80s,

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Pepsi had drawn almost even

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and it seemed to
have all the momentum

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so Coca Cola went to code red.

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They changed their nearly
100 year old formula

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and they reintroduced
their product

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with a new name
and a new recipe,

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New Coke.

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Today I'm at the
home of Tom Pettit,

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a vintage soda collector

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with a collection of over
2000 bottles and cans.

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Oh there it is,

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there's the demon itself.

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This was the New Coke.

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When New Coke replaced
the century old formula

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in April of 1985, it
seemed like a short thing.

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Before its release,

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Coke privately conducted
almost 200,000 taste tests

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and the new formula was
preferred over the old one

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over 60% of the time.

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But Coke executives
underestimated

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the power of familiarity

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and almost instantaneously
disaster struck.

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Lifelong Coke drinkers
weren't happy.

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They signed petitions,

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created call-in hotlines

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and even threatened
class action lawsuits

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demanding the Coke they
knew and loved back.

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Coca-Cola was a
mainstay for 99 years

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and this was groundbreaking.

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It's like changing the
colors of the American flag.

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- Pepsi claimed it as a victory

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and they actually gave the day
off to all their employees,

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while Coke was answering a phone
of angry customers nonstop.

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- It's been more than 30
years since I tried a New Coke

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and ever since I've
been wondering,

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was it actually the taste
that turned people off

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or just the idea of change?

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Well, there's only
one way to find out.

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Can we open one just to try it?

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- Definitely.

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- I'm so ready for the feeling,

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it's like a little mini
grenade of soda joy.

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All right.

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No way.

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Oh my God.

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I mean, I remember the smell
and it smells like Pepsi.

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- Yeah. Oh, look at.
- Look at it.

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It foams up still.

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I'm sorry, this is awesome.

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This is awesome.

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Look,

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- Yo, first of all,
I'm telling you

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from a carbonation standpoint,
from flavor standpoint,

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that they could have come off
a supermarket shelf today.

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- Today. I agree.

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- It's like Pepsi

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and if you added a
splash of Coke to it.

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People liked Pepsi
because it was a sweeter

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more citrusy soda

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and Coca-Cola was the
more cinnamony nutmeg.

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- The classic Coke taste and
you don't have that in here.

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- At all.

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This is Coca-Cola's
impression of Pepsi.

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I realize now it
wasn't a bad soda,

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it was a bad soda if you
were a Coca-Cola lover

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like people in more than 160
countries were in the 1980s.

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Coke didn't wait long
to give the people back

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what they were missing.

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Just 79 days after killing
the original Coke formula,

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they rolled it out again under
the name Coca-Cola classic.

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I have to say, when it came
out, I did not like it.

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I resented it,

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I rejected it but honestly

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I'm impressed by how well
the carbonation kept up

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and I have to say, I
actually kinda liked it.

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But new Coke didn't disappear
as quickly as it launched,

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it hung around
until 2002 as Coke 2

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but weak sales ultimately
sealed its fate.

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In 2009 the word, Classic,

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was pulled for the
original formula

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making it simply
Coca Cola once again.

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It ain't a classic
but it ain't bad.

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- It ain't bad.

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While Coke and Pepsi were waging
a clash of the Titans,

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a smaller company in
Rochester, New York,

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was hatching a bold plan
to Zig while they Zagged.

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They decided to
create a soda brand

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that they proudly
said had all the sugar

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and twice the caffeine.

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It actually ushered
in a brand new era,

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it was the godfather of the
energy drink, Jolt Cola.

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Today I'm gonna meet the
man who helped create it

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and I'm gonna get a
blast from the past

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as I take a sip to my lip

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and get a bolt of jolt
energy into my life.

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He's since gone on to
part ways with the brand

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but in 1985,

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the same year New Coke turned
the Cola war on its head,

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a young college graduate in
Rochester, New York named CJ Rap

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was working on a
bold new soda idea.

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In college, he had noticed
that some of his friends

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were concocting drinks that
would help them stay awake

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so they could study or
party late into the night.

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It was then that he
had his eureka moment.

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- We thought that
the beverage giants

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had started walking away

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from why soft drinks became
so enormously popular.

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That was the aha moment for
us and that's when we decided

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we want to go the
complete opposite way

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and we couldn't think of
a better name than Jolt

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to communicate that message.

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We wanted to emulate the thought

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of sticking your finger
in a light socket

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and of course, getting
that jolt of electricity

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and that was the inspiration.

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Coke and Pepsi have
approximately

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36 milligrams of caffeine

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so with Jolt, we wanted
to be twice the caffeine.

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- Okay.

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- Which was the FDA
maximum 72 milligrams.

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- Do you think any
of the Cola is still good?

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- I think we should
give it a try.

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- All right.

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We're gonna crack open a
jolt Cola from the 80s,

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the man who created it.

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- Actually still has
some great taste to it.

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- It's that classic Cola flavor

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but a unique Jolt
Cola flavor so,

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the caramel vanilla
still delicious

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- Where we were just pure lucky

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was jolt was four days old

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and David Letterman had Jolt on

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and he did a big show about
it and he had fun with it.

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After he drank the
Jolt he screamed,

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"Let's shoot two shows tonight",

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and all of a sudden, USA
Today which was 1986,

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- Yeah.
they write a national story.

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So we were less than a week old

00:09:25.403 --> 00:09:26.988
and we were already on Letterman

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and in a national
newspaper with USA today

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and we were off to the
races from that point on.

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- Jolt jumped out of the gate

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with an unconventional
marketing campaign

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that helped them stand
out from the crowd.

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Bold ads that spoke directly
to the youth of the 80s

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gave the brand an edgy feel

00:09:47.758 --> 00:09:49.802
while their
competitors were making

00:09:49.927 --> 00:09:52.638
caffeine and calorie free colas,

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jolt went over the
top with everything

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and the ads helped
spark the rebellion.

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CJ has graciously invited
me into his kitchen

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where he has whipped
up a homemade batch

00:10:08.946 --> 00:10:10.823
of his caffeinated classic.

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Jolt is widely considered to be

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one of the first energy drinks.

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It was released in
the US two years

00:10:20.499 --> 00:10:22.460
before Red Bull
debuted in Europe

00:10:22.585 --> 00:10:25.379
and 12 years before it
crossed the Atlantic.

00:10:25.504 --> 00:10:27.923
While jolt was seen
as the rebellious

00:10:28.049 --> 00:10:30.259
over the top
newcomer in the 80s,

00:10:30.343 --> 00:10:32.553
Red Bull took a different
marketing approach

00:10:32.637 --> 00:10:35.556
by targeting people with
an active lifestyle.

00:10:35.640 --> 00:10:38.768
Since red bull wasn't
classified as a soda,

00:10:38.893 --> 00:10:41.062
they had no limit to
the amount of caffeine

00:10:41.187 --> 00:10:42.605
they could contain

00:10:42.730 --> 00:10:46.108
leading to their over nine
milligrams of caffeine per ounce

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versus the six milligrams
per ounce in Jolt.

00:10:51.113 --> 00:10:51.781
- So would
you like to try some?

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- Wait, I'm in the home

00:10:53.574 --> 00:10:55.951
that Jolt built with a
guy who created Jolt,

00:10:56.118 --> 00:10:58.245
who made me Jolt from scratch?

00:10:58.329 --> 00:10:59.580
Yes, please.

00:10:59.664 --> 00:11:00.748
I would very much
love to try it.

00:11:05.336 --> 00:11:06.796
I'm at the home

00:11:06.921 --> 00:11:11.258
of one of the inventors and
previous owners of Jolt Cola

00:11:11.384 --> 00:11:14.428
where I'm about to sample
a special homemade batch

00:11:14.553 --> 00:11:16.138
of this 80s energy powerhouse.

00:11:20.059 --> 00:11:22.144
I will be up till New Year.

00:11:25.356 --> 00:11:27.024
I am now feeling the caffeine.

00:11:27.108 --> 00:11:28.734
So who wants to go
do push up contest?

00:11:28.901 --> 00:11:30.069
Push up contest?

00:11:30.152 --> 00:11:31.445
How about a game show
like Hollywood squares

00:11:31.612 --> 00:11:32.488
except for kids?

00:11:32.613 --> 00:11:33.364
Yes.

00:11:33.447 --> 00:11:34.240
It's like a joy,

00:11:34.323 --> 00:11:36.200
it's fun, it's an adventure.

00:11:36.283 --> 00:11:40.246
Sales of Jolt reached 1
million dollars in 1986

00:11:40.371 --> 00:11:42.415
and it was spreading
like wildfire.

00:11:42.581 --> 00:11:47.002
Within a year Jolt was available
in 44 states and in Canada

00:11:47.128 --> 00:11:50.089
helping pave the way for
future energy drinks.

00:11:50.256 --> 00:11:51.340
I thank you from the
bottom of my heart.

00:11:52.675 --> 00:11:55.594
From the first craft
beers and energy drinks,

00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:58.514
to the epic byproducts
of the cola wars,

00:11:58.597 --> 00:12:02.685
the 80s were as fun to
drink as they were to eat.

00:12:02.768 --> 00:12:03.978
For me,

00:12:04.103 --> 00:12:06.397
one of the most unforgettable
drink experiments of the 80s

00:12:06.522 --> 00:12:10.234
was a sugary collab that
kept dentists employed,

00:12:10.526 --> 00:12:13.696
and kept kids of all ages
up awake past their bedtime.

00:12:17.825 --> 00:12:19.410
In 1985, soda

00:12:19.493 --> 00:12:20.953
company, AJ Canfield,

00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:25.416
reintroduced chocolate fudge
diet soda, which was a hit.

00:12:25.583 --> 00:12:27.042
So they started looking around

00:12:27.126 --> 00:12:29.295
for other unconventional ideas.

00:12:29.420 --> 00:12:32.506
Eventually they decided
to team up with Wrigley

00:12:32.631 --> 00:12:35.926
who was selling almost half
of all gum on the market

00:12:36.051 --> 00:12:37.470
in the 80s.

00:12:37.595 --> 00:12:39.722
After 18 months development

00:12:39.805 --> 00:12:41.766
Hubba Bubba soda was launched.

00:12:41.932 --> 00:12:43.184
Now it's commercial

00:12:43.309 --> 00:12:46.270
featured young girls
dancing in a 50s diner

00:12:46.395 --> 00:12:46.854
as a boy in a pink satin
jacket and sunglasses

00:12:46.937 --> 00:12:51.484
In just four months, they
sold 24 million cans.

00:12:54.487 --> 00:12:56.030
All right, it's not pink.

00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:03.037
The taste is somewhere
between like smarties

00:13:03.162 --> 00:13:04.705
or baby aspirin.

00:13:04.830 --> 00:13:07.583
There is like a real bubble
gum flavor behind it.

00:13:07.708 --> 00:13:09.794
The novelty eventually wore off.

00:13:09.877 --> 00:13:12.797
Sales slumped and the soda
disappeared from soda shelves

00:13:12.922 --> 00:13:15.090
but today, nowhere to look,

00:13:15.174 --> 00:13:20.095
you can snag a can like I
did online for about $300.

00:13:20.846 --> 00:13:21.806
I'm not good with money.

00:13:24.850 --> 00:13:26.519
Everything in the eighties

00:13:26.644 --> 00:13:27.978
seemed to

00:13:28.103 --> 00:13:29.563
go to 11

00:13:30.314 --> 00:13:31.816
and people drunk it in.

00:13:33.234 --> 00:13:36.570
While some of the novelty
items like Hubba Bubba soda

00:13:36.695 --> 00:13:37.071
have faded away, others
like Sam Adams beer

00:13:37.071 --> 00:13:39.990
have stood the test of time
and helped make the 80s,

00:13:40.074 --> 00:13:41.909
a decade to remember.

00:13:44.495 --> 00:13:45.746
Oh man.

00:13:45.830 --> 00:13:48.207
So much better than all
the history classes I had.