Ode to Moxie Soda | Maine’s Favorite Drink
Celebrating Moxie – Maine’s favorite drink with the curious flavor you either love or hate, but can’t forget. Learn more about Moxie soda.
By Aimee Tucker|Aug 29 2022|
Moxie - New England's signature tonic!
Photo Credit: Aimee TuckerIf you’re “from away” you might not like the taste, but for many New Englanders, a long, cold sip of Moxie is a crisp, carbonated reminder of home. If you’ve never tried it, it’s hard to describe the distinct flavor, but like a lot of things in life, people seem to either love it or hate it. I think Moxie soda tastes like a subtle, not-too-sweet blend of wintergreen and licorice, but others…well…they toss around words like medicine, motor oil, and “root beer that’s gone really funky.”
Photo Credit : Aimee Tucker
For shame.
Of course, to drink Moxie you’ve got to be able to find it. While it was once available in more than 30 states and parts of Canada, in recent years the memorable Moxie soda (or tonic, depending where in New England you’re from) has been almost exclusively found in our 6 states. (See update below for information on how this may be changing.)
Photo Credit : Aimee Tucker
Moxie Soda History
So what’s the Moxie soda story? In 1876, while living in Lowell, Massachusetts, the Maine-born Dr. Augustin Thompson invented the original Moxie as a concentrated medicine (the name might have been inspired by Moxie Falls or Moxie Pond in Maine, but nobody knows for sure) with ingredients like gentian root, wintergreen, sassafras and possibly even cocaine. In 1884 he decided to add carbonation and re-brand the product “Moxie Nerve Food” which claimed to have “cured drunkards by the thousands, effectively too; made more homes happy; cured more nervous, prostrated, overworked people; prevented more crime and suffering in New England than all other agencies combined” — at 40 cents per quart bottle. By the early 1900s, Moxie (they dropped the “nerve food” in 1906) was the nation’s favorite soft drink, outselling modern-giant Coca-Cola, which first hit the market in 1886.
Wildly popular, Moxie had a lot of imitators, but the brand worked hard to hold onto its title as the original “distinctively different” drink. Imagine a soda claiming it was pure and wholesome for children today? In the 1920s Moxie did!
By the 1940s, Moxie soda was especially known for its advertising gimmicks, giveaways, Ted Williams endorsements, and the signature “pointing” Moxie Boy. The giveaways ran the gamut from posters, bottle openers, and paper fans to sheet music, sets of dishware, and ornate, carved clocks. In fact, Moxie was such a household name that the word “moxie” also entered the lexicon as a word meaning energy, pep, and spunk. Vigor, if you like.
Moxie Soda in New England
While the drink’s national popularity began to decline as tastes evolved and Coca-Cola and Pepsi (which dates back to the 1890s) grew stronger, New Englanders refused to give it up. It’s true that Moxie maintains a core group of loving loyalists throughout the region, but Maine is where Moxie is arguably most beloved. For more than 30 years the town of Lisbon has held a 3-day Moxie Festival the second week in July, celebrating all things Moxie with a clambake, fireworks, cooking contest, parade, book sale, car show, race, and more. The state loves Moxie so much that in 2005 it became the state’s official soft drink.
Beyond grocery store shelves, special Moxie collections are on display at the “Moxie Wing” of Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage in Union, Maine, and Clark’s Trading Post in Lincoln, New Hampshire (where the world’s only surviving original Moxie Horsemobile is on display), not to mention for sale at places like Zeb’s General Store in North Conway, Hampshire and the Kennebec Fruit Co. in Lisbon Falls, Maine, where owner Frank Anicetti delighted as Moxie’s unofficial ambassador for decades. Sadly, Frank passed away in May 2017.
While the taste of Moxie soda is memorably distinct, there are many who point out that if you’re trying it now for the first time, you’re still not getting the “original” Moxie experience. They say it’s not as carbonated as it used to be, or as bitter (which is a bad thing). This could be changing palates or the loss of sassafras (federally banned in 1960 as a potential carcinogen), but it could also be the high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar.
Photo Credit : Aimee Tucker
But like it or not, it’s ours and has been for more than 130 years. Now that’s something to drink to!
Here’s to another century of Moxie!
Are you a fan of Moxie soda?
Moxie Soda Update
On August 28, 2018, The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was buying Moxie. For the time being, though, the brand will remain New England-centric. Or, at the very least, it will remain as genuinely “New England” as it has been in recent years. This gets complicated, so bear with us for a few moments: Since 2007, Moxie had been owned by Bedford, NH-based Cornucopia Beverages, who, starting in 2011, also did business as the Moxie Beverage Company. Cornucopia is owned by Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England (not directly affiliated with The Coca-Cola Company), which is a subsidiary of Kirin Brewing Company, whose parent company, Tokyo-based Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, is part of the Mitsubishi business group. So large corporate ownership is nothing new for Moxie. And to their credit, Coke’s early statements about their new acquisition emphasize the importance of Moxie’s regional footprint, and confirm that the brand’s production and bottling operations will remain in New Hampshire for the foreseeable future.
This post was first published in 2014 and has been updated.
More Classic New England Brands:
B&M Brown Bread in a Can
Humpty Dumpty Chips
Hoodsie Cups
Fluffernutter | A Favorite New England Sandwich
I grew up drinking Moxie in Presque Isle, ME up in The County. Always loved the stuff and now that I’m away I couldn’t find it. Last summer, July 2013, I was in Maine again for the first time in years and drank as much as I could and brought home several cases to enjoy. I also visited the Moxie Museum in Lisbon and enjoyed it thoroughly having bought as reminders; Moxie t-shirts, Moxie socks; Moxie bandannas. . . . . . . it was wonderful. Maine wouldn’t be Maine without Moxie.
Thank you.
Living in New Jersey, my stepsons and I go to Catawissa, PA for our Moxie. It is made there as well, with one difference; Maine Moxie is made with corn syrup, and PA Moxie with cane sugar. It’s a subtle difference in taste, but we’ve had both and can tell the difference. We buy cases when we go, because it’s a 2-hour trip!
I’m 91 years young and grew up in the Bar Harbor area with Moxie. Have lived in the southwestern part of Ohio since 1946, having traveled back to God’s Country almost every two years. Always brought back liters of Moxie when not traveling by air. It doesn’t seem to have the same flavor I remember when much younger; however, it’s still Moxie and I love the herbal, somewhat bitter taste. It takes me back home to Maine!
I liked the Moxie of years ago much better than the ” new and improved” flavor and ingredients. I find I rarely drink it anymore for that reason.
Despite being a native of the West, I’ve always liked Moxie more than the popular colas (although we think of “Shasta” as folks in Maine recall Moxie, I think!). Moxie is sold (most often as in “sold out”) in the greater Seattle and Portland metro areas, and still a wonderful treat.
Growing up in NH we always had Moxie. I thought it was more like medicine than anything. I live in Wyoming now and I haven’t found it anywhere in Wy.however we were in Billings, Mt this past week. We usually stop àt World Market to pick up some items and to my surprise, there were small size bottles of Moxie. So I stocked up on a few bottles.
I read elsewhere (Wikipedia) that Coca Cola has no ownership of the Moxie brand? The confusion stems from Cornucopia Beverages (Moxie brand owner) being owned by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England:
“The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England…is the largest independent bottler of Coca-Cola in the United States. The Coca-Cola Company does not own an interest, as the company is 100% owned by Japan’s Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd., who also own the rights to the Moxie soft drink nationwide.”
Can anyone verify/debunk?
Hi Mark! What excellent detective work! When I read that Moxie was sold to a company that was owned by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England, I thought that meant Coca-Cola. However, you are right! The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England, while the largest independent bottler of Coca-Cola in the United States (also according to Wikipedia), is not owned by Coca-Cola, but the Japanese brewing company you mentioned. I still find the name confusing, but, of course, we’ll correct the article! Thanks for letting us know!
try the diet moxie as it is close to the original which I started drinking in the 50’s
A couple more corrections, in case no one else noticed…
Moxie’s special ingredient is gentian root, not sassafras, and neither are potential carcinogens as far as I know (sassafras is used in root beer). Some folks enjoy gentian tea to calm the nerves, and they aren’t getting cancer from it. For some reason, around the time that Monarch owned Moxie, the amount of gentian extract in Moxie was reduced, and for those of us who remember the older formula, the new taste is a bit too mild.
Pepsi’s been around for more than 100 years, not just since the ’60s.
Hi Kenneth! Thanks so much for your comments. You are absolutely right about Pepsi. It was developed and created in the 1890s, not the 19060s (that’s just when the name changed from Pepsi-Cola to Pepsi). We’ve updated the post to correct this!
As for the gentian root, I did mention it as one of Moxie’s original ingredients, along with wintergreen, sassafras, and possibly even cocaine. I never tasted the original formula, so I can’t comment on how it’s different today, but my research says that sassafras is no longer used in commercially produced root beer since safrole oil was banned for use in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the FDA in 1960 due to health concerns (learn more at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2504026/). You can buy the oil commercially, though, in case you want to make your own soda at home with it. 🙂
Coca Cola predates Pepsi. Coke was ‘born’ in the mid 1880s at about the same time as MOXIE, which predates Coca Cola.
I first heard about Moxie in a book and then was surprised when I finally found some at Cracker Barrel and I love it. But I wonder has anyone else from Maine ever heard of Moxie Donuts? They were also mentioned in the book I was reading, but I can’t find mention of them anywhere else on the internet.
I guess Moxie is to Maine, what Vernor’s is to Michigan!
My husband is from Buffalo and he introduced me to Vernor’s. Love it! We now live in CT and used to buy it when we made our trips back to Buffalo. But now we can get it way out here. Vernor’s and Moxie are staples in our house. 🙂
Looking to purchase MOXIE – Can you give me this information or give them mine
love moxie, have been drinking it since I was a young boy at home with my mother and brother. I’m 85 now and still have it in my icebox all the time, I did get one of my 3 kids, aboy to drink it with me, and he still dose. when I go to visit my 2 girls, they always have moxie for me. I’m from Worcester, ma. and can get moxie at the stores I shop at,although they don’t carry the 12 pks. of cans.thanks and will continue with my MOXIE
Growing up in Massachusetts Moxie was available to us. Now living in Florida Moxie is not available, but we bring back several cases when we visit NH every summer.
Try Winn Dixie. We found it by accident in the Villages, Fl.
For those who are too young to have imbibed in the original Moxie it tasted like roofing tar—loved it!
I have a photo of my dad at 16 yrs. old (in 1923) selling Moxie from a little shack at Whalom Park, Leominster, MA. The one-person shack had ‘MOXIE’ emblazoned across the front. I still have an empty bottle from that era. It traveled with me many years ago all the way out here to Wisconsin…one of my little ‘treasures’ from my treasured New England past.
My best friend, J Davis, has cases ready for me to take back to Ft Worth, Tx when I visit each year in Saco Maine. Been doing this for years. I like it in the glass bottle in late 30’s & forty’s with 2 cents for when returning the bottle. My brother would buy the quart bottle & Fried Clams & Clamcakes @ Main Castle in Biddeford, Me. Those were the days
Updates: Moxie Energy has been discontinued. Kennebec Fruit was sold in 2016 and Frank A, the former owner, passed away this month. RIP
Thanks for the updates, Monique! We’ve updated the post.
I live in Baltimore now but I still can get Moxie in a glass bottle. They come from Pennsylvania, they are the closest to the original recipe out there they still use real cane sugar and have none of the additives that you find in the New England version.
MOXIE’s broad reach is exemplified in this anecdote. Years ago Yankee polled readers for their favorite vacation spots, informing that one photo from each of the New England states would be published. We were chosen to represent Connecticut. My wife and I rendezvoused with then Yankee photo-editor Stephen O. Muskie at Rocky Neck State Park for a photo shoot. We made sure that a bottle of MOXIE was placed prominently up front on our picnic blanket. Months after that photo’s publication I received a letter from a Yankee reader in Colorado who, after much difficulty in getting MOXIE, wrote to tell me what he thought of it. That was the beginning of a long pen pal relationship.
w Thank you.here can I purchase Moxie on line? Havent had much luck. Would like to send to dtr for birthday.Thank you.
I just purchased some Moxie last week at Lehman’s Hardware in Kidron OH. They have a large assortment of specialty sodas and Moxie is one of them.
Have you tried a Moxie float with vanilla ice cream? Delicious!
Moxie float sounds delicious. I’ll give it try soon.
It has become much sweeter in New England, the diet tastes more like the original, Moxie also seems to be less sweet In Pennsylvania and (perhaps) in New Hampshire
I remember drinking “Diet Moxie” as a child, with my maternal grandmother, in Brookline, MA. To my young palate, it tasted like “root beer with an after taste.” Would like to try it again, as a great-grandmother. Maybe my palate has matured and I’ll like it better, now.
Moxie is part of my summer. Each June I buy a six-pack of Moxie cans (I life in Mass. and can find them in our local Market Basket). The six cans last me all summer. Yes, it is an “acquired taste” but one I really do enjoy. It sort of reminds me of a Russian old-timey acquired-taste soda, “Kvas” (discovered it when I traveled there to adopt my daughter in 1989). Kvas can sometimes be found in Russian markets here in the US, but it’s definitely not the same, nowhere as good. It’s an interesting flavor, but I do prefer our home-grown Moxie. And drinking it each summer brings back warm memories of my mother and her sisters and brothers and cousins, all Maniacs (old name for Mainers) from way up in Milo Maine. Thanks for the memory, I’ll break open my last one this weekend!
Originally from Leominster, Massachusetts and love Moxie. Currently living in Nashville, TN now and going through Moxie withdrawal. Can’t find it anywhere and online it seems to be all sold out. Mt. Juliet Market in TN used to sell it so I ordered two cases, but now they can’t get it. Can anyone please help me?
We go often, always bring some back to Nashville. I’ll share, just let me know how.
does anyone know where I can buy moxie in phoenix arizona.
Yes, I’ve found it at most of the Cracker Barrel restaurants in Phoenix.
Could not wait to try Moxie on a very recent trip to Maine. After one sip, I decided it must be a New England prank! Amazed to read these comments from people who love it. But the rest of our wonderful trip, especially to the Farnsworth Museum, the Olson Farm, and Andrew Wyeth’s gravesite more than made up for the shock of the Moxie. LOL. But come visit Georgia– I think you’ll like our grits better than I liked your Moxie! It’s all in the seasoning.
I completely agree. Love the south…..find people in NE area, odd at best.
to wood,we’re odd because most yawl think it doesn’t go down good with chittling and pone.
I grew up in northern NH and my neighbor directly across the street, with whom I spent a great deal of time, was from Maine and he “introduced me to Moxie”. I enjoyed drinking it because I enjoyed being with him. He also drank golden gingerale, which he also served to me, which I haven’t seen anywhere for years. I have bought Moxie several times because it reminds me of him (and very fond memories)!
Bought a cold Moxie at a store in Brunswick one day and the man behind me in the check out line ask if I was from Dexter. He said that the only people he knew that drank Moxie were from Dexter.
Market Basket sells its Chelmsford Golden Ginger Ale
Polar has its own brand of Golden Ginger Ale, also
As a kid in the 1950s, I remember my folks serving us Moxie-and-Milk. The milk would tame the taste of the Moxie and turn it into a Moxie Milk Shake (without stirring it). Mention that to people here in Colorado and you’ll see the best imitation of someone who just bit down on a fresh lemon.
Live in lady lake, fl. We buy Moxie in our local Winn Dixie grocery store.
Sure do love the taste of Moxie
Do they have diet Moxie in the Winn Dixie in Lady Lake?
My Mom’s favorite soft drink. Popular in RI when I was growing up. I liked it, too. Is it sold in MA on the south shore?
Grew up sipping Moxie as I sat watching my Uncle V. Akers paint!
My Dad dramk Moxie with milk.
I am related to the “Second Moxie Boy” John T. Chamberlin. He is my great uncle. His granddaughter lives on Long Island. We go to Moxiefest every year.
I grew up in Houlton, Me & Vernon , Ct & moved to Ga in 1986. Get Moxie when I visit New England& I’m heading north soon!
Our family loves moxie
While Frank (Anicetti) was still alive, I would pop in to the store to shoot the breeze with him or have a little of his homemade Moxie ice cream. During one of my visits, Frank told me that diet Moxie tastes more like the original Moxie than the sugary stuff. I tried diet Moxie and sure ’nuff, Frank was right on the money.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store sells Moxie. Apparently the owner likes it. 400 restaurants in 42 states.
Does anyone know where I can purchase 12 packs of 12 oz. cans of Moxie in the Naples/Ft. Myers, FL area? Sweetbay used to carry it but after selling out to Winn-Dixie, it disappeared. Don’t want to pay $25 or more per 12 pack plus shipping from on line suppliers. Can get 12 oz. bottles at Fresh Market and sometimes Publix for $1.39 or $1.49 a bottle but 12 packs were $5.99.
How can I get a copy of this Moxie article?
Hi Henry. This post on Maine’s Moxie soda did not appear in a print edition of Yankee – it was written exclusively for NewEngland.com. Hope that helps!
I would like to order 24 cans of Moxie. Please tell me how much the cost and to ship to Nampa . Can’t buy it out here and I’m an old Vermonter
You can try to call Orca Beverage in Washington State. They are the Moxie bottler in Northwest. They should know which nearby store carries them, or maybe they will ship them to you direct.
My Dad always drank Moxie. The first time I drank it was the bitter but sweet taste. I got addicted to it kept on drinking it and had that distinctive bite but loved it
My first encounter with Moxie was in several Mad Magazine illustrations in the 1950s. I assumed it was made up. Imagine my surprise to discover bottles of it on the shelf of a store in Naples, ME, some years later.
Moxie is part of my life. I buy Moxie when I can find it in a store. Yes, it is an “acquired taste” but one I really do enjoy. It sort of reminds back to my childhood when in the summer train crews used to be working in my town and I used to run errands for the cook who fed the crew of workers and he used to drink Moxie and would give some to me and I got the taste and liked it. It has been my drink for the past 70 plus years.
My dad ran a Gulf gas filling station in Winchester NH when I was growing up in the 1950’s. Just recently, an old friend commented that my dad “had the coldest Moxie in town back then.” He kept all the sodas in one of those old Coke chest-type coolers where they sat in ice water. Those Moxie bottles were cold and delicious!
I would visit my Uncle Mike at his store in Manchester, NH. We never had soda at home and it was a treat to go to the ice water filled cooler and pick out whatever drink that was there. I tried them all, but the minute I started my first Moxie, I was hooked. That was back in the late forties. Still my favorite.
When I lived in Los Angeles I worked for a big financial institution. One day, I found out one of the vice-presidents was headed to New York for a conference. I asked him, if he had time, and saw a can of Moxie in a store – I told him I did not know if New York carried Moxie, could he please just buy me a can. I explained I was from Maine and missed the taste of Moxie. He said he would do his best.
At the end of the week, our mail delivery person dropped off a big box for me with my name on it. It turned out the vice-president went on line and ordered me a case of Moxie soda! When he returned I tried to pay him but he wouldn’t take a penny. Throughout the next few months I carefully chose which days I would drink a can from the box so it would last me for a long time. What a great way to have a Moxie!
Moxie has suddenly, as of above the end of September 2018, disappeared from the Market Basket in Chelsea MA and also from (if you pardon the expression) Stop & Shop in Medford MA. In short, Moxie has suddenly disappeared from the supermarkets around Boston. What’s up?
I got converted to Moxie from Pepsi back in 2013; about every 10-15 years I would “try” Moxie but never managed to finish one as there was an aftertaste to it. OK, did this in the 1960’s and then in 1984. two separate taste versions, both not good to me. So in 2013 it showed up in Market Basket and I tried a big bottle. Wow! No bad aftertaste. A drink with a taste that doesn’t make you want to immediately have a second one–the perfect carbonated drink. So I ditched Pepsi–but now Moxie has disappeared. What happened?
Sounds hideous how people are so loyal to a product even when it’s bad just because it originated in their area.
Sounds hideous how someone can assume the reasons people love a product. Moxie is my favorite soda. Has nothing to do with where I may or may not be from. Thank you very much.
I’m 49 and live in MD. I love Moxie after being introduced to it by a gf of mine in 2011 in PA. I get Moxie nowadays at a local Cracker Barrel in MD. They have the Moxie with pure cane sugar. I’m looking at the bottle now. I love that I can come into Cracker Barrel, get some chicken and dumplings and walk out with a case of 24 bottles of Moxie.
Mother was from Maine, relocating to CA in the 50’s. Growing up, Moxie was a common word in our home. Grandfather would visit us, and bring it to CA( with molasses donuts, lobster meat). On mother’s last birthday, I ordered a six pack as a gift. She loved it!! Passed away in March, following her July birthday-and still treasuring her one last can of Moxie. ????
Get your ingredients right, it’s Gentian root, not licorice.
I have been trying to get Winn Dixie in Sebring Florida to get Moxie back. They used to have it on the shelf, but about five months ago no longer. Category Manager of beverage, they are stating that currently they do not have a vendor for this product and the product has been discontinued. Please tell me this is not true?
Cracker Barrel on rt. 1 in Port st lucie Fla. Bought a case last month. Can still but it on the internet too. I don’t think it tastes the same anymore ?
There is an error in this article. The Moxie wing of the Matthew’s Museum is in Union, Maine, not NH! You can click on the link, and it brings you the Matthew’s Museum website, but the way it reads it is in NH.
Hi Yvonne. We will update the article to clarify that the Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage is in Camden, Maine. It’s Clark’s Trading Post that is in New Hampshire, but we can understand the confusion based on the way it’s currently written. Thanks!
I LOVE MOXIE!!! I grew up in Livermore falls Maine and my grandfather introduced me to it.. makes me sad to hear that the taste has possibly changes due to fructose syrup. Makes me also wonder how it must have tasted waaaay back in the day. Either way i always buy one when i see them in a store.
It tastes like Iodine.
As a kid in the early 60’s,I was an aficionado of Tonic,my favorite being Myopia Club cream soda,.. there were other odd flavors available,like Simpson Spring golden ginger ale,and Moxie was on the menu as well…back then it tasted better-,the current product is , despite the prevailing opinion of bitterness,TOO sweet in that high fructose way, obscuring what I recall as the genuine Moxie taste… oddly enough the sugar free variety of today comes closer in my opinion-that is,after the initial shock of artificial sweeteners fades from the palette…then I am left with a lingering aftertaste which hits the old spot… anyway, don’t drink much tonic anymore, it’s all pretty bad. Have you tried dr.brown’s celray?Now THAT’S different!
Somewhere along the way, I discovered that Moxie was a favorite beverage of President Calvin Coolidge!
I always buy Moxie from the store in Plymouth, VT, across the street from the Coolidge Museum.
Recently, I think the bottle I was drinking (yes, bottles are better) said it was bottled in a different state by a different company. Maybe a company in the state of Washington? And Cornucopia was stilled shown as the owning company. Could this be true?
When I returned from duty in Vietnam in ’67 my Dad had a case of Moxie waiting for me. How great that was!!!!
Thank you for your service!
i’m so glad you enjoyed it so glad you’re home safe thank you for your service
There was a vet at the Maine Veterans’ Hime who told me he loved it and they never had it so I would take a carton of the small cans to him every couple of weeks. I wish they would bottle it made with cane sugar. The fructose makes it too sweet. Artificial sweeteners, even the good ones, aren’t healthy
When does ‘safe’ to drink expire on Moxie. I see no expiration date and these few cans are, perhaps 5 years old. I didn’t forget it, I just didn’t drink it. The can’s have been in a constant safe temperature and none are swollen indicating there’s something amiss going on. Is there an expiration date stamped anywhere?
I wish I could upload a photo of my son’s Moxie tattoo on his arm. He obviously LOVES Moxie.
My grandfather‘s picture is on every moxie can John T chamberlain. He is the Moxie boy!! Check it out with the Moxie Congress ! Cheers to Moxie…
I guess I have read this once before and your magazine because I see that I have written about it on February 9 of 2023 my grandfather is the one who’s on the face of the Moxie can or bottle John T Chamberlain he is the “Moxie boy” I hear this year there is going to be a Moxie parade in Lisbon Falls that’s where we usually have our family reunion even though it’s From Massachusetts and we are From Massachusetts, that’s where the parade is in Maine it’s all good because Maine is a beautiful state, Can’t wait! Cheers to Moxie…
I’m from Massachusetts..I have tried moxie in early and mid 90’s. Everytime I have it a try it was just nasty! Must have a specific taste I guess but definitely NOT for me!
Coming up from Texas to Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire each year, vacation doesn’t officially start until I’ve had my first can of Moxie.
I’ve been drinking Moxie since I was a kid, I’m now 62y.o. I live in Worcester MA, born and raised here. I didn’t know people today knew about mixing Moxie with milk. After speaking with a coke salesman, Moxie will be hitting the store shelves soon.
This article completely ignores the bottler in the Pacific Northwest that makes Moxie with cane sugar. It also misses the fact that you can buy moxie at every Cracker Barrel in the United States and at every Fresh Market.
My Gram in NH who passed at 101 always had Moxie and
Birch Beer in her fridge. I would add Birch Beer. I don’t know it’s history. I would add it to your list. Thanks for this History. My hometown is next to Bedford, NH
Thank you for this information! I will seek out any Cracker barrels nearby you can be sure of that, and look for the cane sugar version online. We in Massachusetts have been Moxie deprived a couple of times during the pandemic and metal shortages, but regular Moxie with the corn syrup is now available again if you look hard enough. I had talked to several grocery store representatives and now have to travel 15 miles to a grocery store out of town because none of the groceries in town carry anything except for some reason diet Moxie!
My Dad owned Washington Beverage Company in Worcester, MA in the 1950’s through 1960’s. They bottled Moxie! This soda was his best selling soft drink! It was a huge hit in Central Massachusetts. Even though I could drink as much of this beverage that I wanted, I never acquired a taste. It was too medicinal-tasting for me! Dad saved everything associated with the Moxie name! Over the years, my brother and I have collected a plethora of original Moxie-based mementos. Every time I look at these items, they bring back vivid but not “sweet” memories!
On a trip to New Hampshire for a weekend, my dad instructed me to bring home some Moxie because he couldn’t find it anywhere. We bought several cases and upon receiving the Moxie my dad went to the local corner store two doors away from dad’s house and told the owner of our search for Moxie. The owner took him in the back room and pointed to, guess what? Cases and cases of Moxie!
Moxie Ice Cream float… in my mind much better than Root Beer float! Give it a try with a big scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream!
Also with coffee ice cream. Delicious.
-got it by mail for years. Usually took about ten days from NH. Moxie was bought by Coca Cola; the taste changed; gentian root disappeared from the label; the next shipment took nearly a month and came from LasVegas
I still have the orignal photo of my grandmother standing in the front of her little stand with the Moxie sign , also Clemsford ginger ale. this was from 1922 at Walden pond (at
t he Lincoln end of the lake)that is in Mass.
I have loved Moxie since I was a child (I’m 66 now). My Dad drank it and I followed his love of this unique drink. Recently I noticed the last year or so a difference in the taste. Checking the ingredients I see there is no longer Gentian root as an ingredient in the cans or litre plastic bottles. I have found very occasionally a four pack of glass bottles stating the “original formula”. This has the Gentian and it does taste the way I like it. I will never stop drinking Moxie but I am disappointed that this change was made. I do believe it has changed the taste.
I toast and raise my.can of Moxie to all-new Englanders”( and wannybees) Hazzarh!
Moxie is back on shelves- at least at Hannaford’s in fridge packs.
I am 87 when i was young lived used to drink moxie it sure was different but good i will have my daughter get me some whe she goes to maine
A very good friend in VT suggested I roast my pork for “pulled pork” in Moxie! I never make it any other way. Fulls off the bone and it is the most moist pork ever! and the taste….WOW! I use Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce on it and you have never tasted better!
I’ve been a Moxie drinker for 69 years. We sold it in my Aunt and Uncles little store in Bowmanstown, Pennsylvania. Just up the road, 4 miles, in Lehighton, PA was a small Moxie bottling company. No longer there but Moxie was a great part of our lives! Still is and available cans, glass/plastic bottles.
I personally prefer the cans.
If it doesn’t have gentian root in it then what good is it besides nostalgia? Originally Moxie was a truly healing remedy. now that I hear Coca-Cola has bought it well.. Moxie is Moxie in name only. i’m sorry I never got to try the original formula. For the state of the country the way it is now maybe they should put cocaine back in Roxy and Coca-Cola! I’m sure it would make everybody feel better.
Can I order a Moxie t-shirt nowadays?
Where did the mini cans in the photos come from?? I can’t find them online. Also, I picked up a bottle here in VT recently & the gentian root was listed again!
I drank Moxie with my mother. Always loved the taste. For years I couldn’t find it but now I find it in Shaws and Diet Moxie too.
You can also find it at the Ashby Market and Hardware on Main St. in Ashby, Massachusetts. Another interesting place to visit.