Faygo or Faygo Pop is a soft drink brand headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It is distributed in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Central Southern regions of the United States. Faygo can be found throughout the United States and in over fifty flavors[citation needed].
History
Faygo was founded in Detroit on November 4, 1907, as Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works by Russian immigrants Ben and Perry Feigenson.[1] The original flavors of Faygo (fruit punch, strawberry, and grape) were based on cake frosting recipes used by the Feigensons in Russia.[1] The brothers ran the company until the mid-1940s, when they turned it over to their sons.[1] In the 1950s, the company created a series of radio and television advertisements featuring a fictional cowboy called the Faygo Kid, who was portrayed in animation for television commercials for Faygo Old-Fashioned Root Beer.[1]
Because the pop had a limited shelf life, Faygo was only sold within Michigan, until the late 1950s, when the company hired chemists who found that ingredients in the water limited the life of the finished pop, and designed a filtering system that purified the water, allowing the pop's shelf life to be expanded.[1] In the 1960s, the pop's regional popularity expanded when the company began advertising during broadcasts of Detroit Tigers games.[1] Commercials produced in the 1970s featured "everyday people" on a Boblo Island boat singing the "Faygo Boat Song".[1] The company was sold to National Beverage Corp. in 1987.[1]
Faygo is often talked about by the Detroit hip hop group Insane Clown Posse, who reference Faygo in several of their songs.[2][3] Positive audience reaction to an early concert performance in which Violent J threw an open bottle at a row of hecklers resulted in the group continuing to spray their audiences with the drink.[3] However, the group is not acknowledged by the company. According to Violent J, "We wish they would do a limited edition Faygo pop run with us. Maybe one day, when they get a new CEO, they might change their way of thinking. But whoever's in charge now wants to steer clear of Insane Clown Posse. They consider themselves a family product. I guess they don't make it to throw at each other."[2] The popular group also has a song, named Faygo. It is a simple compilation of other lines of songs that feature 'faygo'.
In 1998, Faygo Beverages, Inc. began distributing the Ohana (a Hawaiian word that means "family") brand of non-carbonated soft drinks. Faygo Beverages, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Beverage Corporation, which also owns Shasta. Many Faygo brand flavors are shared with Shasta brands. In 2007, Faygo celebrated its 100th anniversary.[1]
Faygo brands received some high praise from the culinary industry when it was recently announced that the September 2009 issue of Bon Appétit magazine ranked Faygo Root Beer the best tasting American root beer,[4] describing it as "dry and crisp, with a frothy head, a good bite and a long finish."[5]
Brand portfolio
Faygo
- 60/40 (60% grapefruit, 40% lime)
- Dr. Faygo
- Black Cherry
- Black Cherry and Raspberry
- Blue Raspberry*
- Candy Apple (discontinued) (recontinued later)
- Centennial Soda (Blueberry cream)
- City Soda
- Champagne Kola
- Chocolate Creme Pie Soda
- Club Soda
- Coconut Cream Pie
- Cola*
•Cotton Candy
-
- Creme Soda*
- Diet Chocolate Cream Pie
- Diet Frosh
- Diet Raspberry Creme
- Diet Red Pop
- Diet Orange
- Frosh*
- Fruit Punch
- Ginger Ale*
- Grape*
A 3-liter bottle of Faygo Moon Mist
- Jazzin' Blues Berry
- Key Lime Pie*
- Kiwi Strawberry (non-carbonated)
- Mango Tango*
- Moon Mist*
- Moon Mist Green*
- Moon Mist Red*
- Moon Mist Blue*
- Morning Mist
- Orange*
- Orange Chug
- Original Black Raspberry
- Peach*
- Pineapple
- Pineapple Orange* (This flavor had a difficult premiere in 1961 or 1962, when unsterilized pineapple juice sourced by Dole fermented in the product and caused bottles to explode on the shelves [6].)
- Raspberry Blueberry*
- Red Cherry
- Fine Rhubarb Pie (Winning Flavor of the 2007 "Design a Flavor" contest sponsored in Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan)
- Red Pop*
- Rock & Rye*
- Root Beer*
- Sensation
- Sex on The Beach
- Strawberry*
- Tonic Water*
- Twist* (lemon-lime, formerly UpTown)
- Vanilla Creme Soda*
* also available in diet
Discontinued
- Arctic Sun
- Cherry Festival
- Faygo Brau (a nonalcoholic ginger beer made in the 1960s that looked and poured like real beer)[6]
- Chateaux Faygeaux (a wine-flavored soda made in the 1970s)[6]
- Moonshine
- Raspberry Creme (non-diet)
St. Nick's Faygo
(Sold around Christmas in association with St. Jude's Hospital)
- St. Nick's Red Grape
- St. Nick's Orange creme
- St. Nick's Candy cane cola
- St. Nick's Holiday Punch
- St. Nick's Cranberry Smash
Ohana
- Kiwi Strawberry
- Lemon Iced Tea
- Lemonade
- Raspberry Lemonade
- Pom Pom Lemonade
- Punch
- Lemon Punch
- Very Berry
- Lemonade & Iced Tea
Rip It
- Power
- Citrus X
- A'Tomic Pom
- Lime Wrecker
- Gin-Zing-r
- Sting-er Mo
- G-Force
- 20 oz Code Blue
- 20 oz Red Zone
- 20 oz Cactus Rush
- 20 oz Cran-Jammer
- 20 oz Mojito
References
External links
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