You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Till It’s Gone

Article by Debra Freeman

Two days before Thanksgiving, I found myself aimlessly scrolling Facebook on the couch. I came across a post from someone who just bought a case of Northern Neck Ginger Ale. I thought back to first discovering the soft drink while I was in college, and I found it to be better than Canada Dry or Seagrams, but after moving around the country after graduation, I didn’t get a chance to consume it consistently. 

Somehow after scrolling through that person’s timeline, I noticed she was part of the Save Northern Neck Ginger Ale Facebook group. The group’s page was created to express the frustration that Coca-Cola decided to discontinue the soft drink, and to figure out a way to save the drink from extinction. I requested to join, and once accepted, I was ill prepared for the deluge of posts about what stores had cases of soda, along with approximate times of purchase, how many cases were left, and comments about when the Coca-Cola delivery truck would arrive with potential cans of the now elusive nectar.

I saw someone post maybe 45 minutes prior about the availability of a pallet at a Publix about 30 minutes away. I figured since it was early enough in the morning, I’d be able to grab a few cases without any issue. Of course, by the time I got to the store, all had been sold. After  calling four different stores once back in the car, I finally found one that had six cases left. I begged the store manager to save three cases behind the customer service desk, and I believe he relented because he could hear the rising hysteria in my voice.

After calming down, I realized I knew nothing about the drink other than it was made in Virginia. After a bit of research, I discovered the soda has been a statewide favorite since 1926, and was originally created and bottled by Arthur Carver in Montross, Virginia (a small town in the northern neck area of the state which extends between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers). The family-owned business, Northern Neck Bottling Company, was sold to Coca-Cola in 2001, and after the sale, was produced at Coca-Cola Consolidated in Sandston, a town near Richmond.

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Aside from the Facebook group formed a few months ago when Coca-Cola announced that it would no longer produce the drink, there are three petitions on Change.org, which has amassed thousands of signatures at this point. One petition reads, “NNKGA (Northern Neck Ginger Ale) is a staple in our community, and has been missed dearly since the shortage of aluminum caused its production to halt. Hopefully, we can get enough signatures to show Coca cola (sic) how much it means to keep it on our shelves.”

Even Governor Ralph Northam reached out to Coca-Cola to try to keep the drink on the shelves to no avail. According to a press release from Coca-Cola in October, the soda giant decided to discontinue Northern Neck along with other underperforming drinks “as part of a global portfolio refresh prioritizing category-leading brands with the greatest potential for growth and scale.

On November 17, 9,000 cases of Northern Neck were manufactured, and it was the first batch made since production was halted this summer. It is the last production of the drink that will be made by Coca-Cola. Northern Neck Ginger Ale has flown off the shelves since that point. Tri-Star Supermarket in Kilmarnock, received 9% of those cases and sold out in a little over a half hour. A 12 pack of ginger ale now goes for over $45 on Ebay. Publix and Food Lion are now limiting one per customer. The demand is there, but at this point, Coca-Cola has remained steadfast that Northern Neck is about to be a drink of the past. 

If you are lucky enough to get your hands on a can, I suggest you sip slowly, because once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Debra Freeman has written for outlets such as Pit Magazine, Southern Grit Magazine, Gastro Obscura, and Broadway Black, has had her work featured in Huffington Post and The New York Times, and has done cultural commentary for BBC Radio and other international outlets. Freeman writes about the intersection of race, culture, and southern food, and is the managing editor of Southern Grit magazine. In her spare time she enjoys hard-shell fried crab (a Hampton Roads, Virginia delicacy), whole hog barbecue, is always hungry and is always cold.