Who remembers Virginia Dare soda pop?

Joe Silvia writes for a social media news outlet in New Bedford, Mass., and one day he asked his readers the question: “Who remembers Virginia Dare soda?”

“I grew up in the late 1970s,” Silvia said, “and have fond memories of Virginia Dare soda; the wooden crates they came in and the ability to pick, mix and match your flavors.” 

For Joe and his brother, Mike, that was a big deal. “Not being pigeon-holed into buying a case of soda of one flavor was pretty darn exciting,” Joe Silvia said. “We could not only select a dozen flavors, but could choose between lemon-lime, strawberry, cherry, Moxie or other flavors I’d never heard of until Virginia Dare.”

 

Journalist Bill Baab wrote about one of the early Virginia Dare soft drink bottlers in Corinth, Miss. He was Herman Ercel Noel, who rolled out his “Noel’s Cola and its Virginia Dare product line” in 1938. 

Baab said that Noel’s company bought its syrup from the Virginia Dare Extract Co. of Brooklyn, N.Y., which was a spin-off company created by Paul Garrett. 

As the owner of the Virginia Dare Winery in North Carolina, Garrett opted to diversify his business operations in 1919, in order to survive the dry Prohibition years. 

Garrett hired a highly regarded flavor chemist – Dr. Bernard H. Smith – to take the alcohol out of the wine. Dr. Smith figured out a way to use the “uncommonly-fine alcohol” for the manufacture of flavoring extracts. 

The Virginia Dare Extract Company was incorporated in 1923, and Garrett sold it to Dr. Smith to develop as he saw fit.

 

Herman Noel’s son, Stanley got involved in the bottling business as a teenager. He said: “The Virginia Dare Company sold us fruit-flavored drinks (orange, grape, peach and any other fruit flavor you can think of) and a 7 Up-type called ‘Korker,’” which was Stanley’s personal favorite. 

“Stanley found himself the chief bottle washer,” Baab wrote. “I learned everything. I took sugar, mixed it with water until it became syrupy and added the Virginia Dare extract. I had to inspect every bottle,” Stanley said. 

“After the start of World War II, sugar became scarce, but Herman Noel cut a deal with a candy company in Jackson, Tenn., 50 miles north of Corinth,” Baab reported. “Stanley drove a truck to the candy company to pick up barrels of candy syrup.” 

Stanley said: “The metal crown caps also became scarce during the war, so we developed a little mold, made used ones look like new and then spray-painted them.” 

“Noel’s Cola went out of business in 1944 or ’45,” Baab wrote. “Its bottling equipment was sold to the Royal Crown Cola Company. 

Virginia Dare Extracts continues as a thriving family-owned business and is looking forward to celebrating its 100-year anniversary next year in 2023. Howard Smith Jr., of the fourth generation, is the current president. 

Today, Virginia Dare is a primary producer of vanilla, tea, coffee and cocoa extracts as well as an extensive flavor library of sweet, fruit, bakery, tropical, dairy and brown flavors that are distributed in more than 100 countries around the world. 

Joe Silvia said: “While they have gone far past offering soda, I sure wish someone would bring Virginia Dare sodas back to the area.”

 

Silvia’s online post attracted comments from 38 loyal Virginia Dare soft drink fans who filled in the blanks on some of the other popular flavors: Cream soda, birch beer, sarsaparilla, pineapple, ginger ale and “South Seas,” which contained real orange juice.