101 Years of Faygo Soda Pop

I posted two pictures of a glass mug yesterday filled with blue soda. Since then, I've had a few questions and remarks about it. The soda I was drinking when I took the picture was Raspberry Blueberry soda by Faygo.

Faygo is a company that started up in 1907 in Detroit. I've heard from time to time that if you're from Michigan, you know Faygo pop, which lead me to believe that maybe Faygo isn't a nation-wide thing. Today I got curious, though, and looked it up. Faygo IS available in all 50 states and Washington DC, but it may not be widely available in every state- meaning, you won't always find a Faygo section next to the Pepsi and Coke products. In Michigan stores, you will- there are 4 soda sections- Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, Faygo, and Store Brand.

Faygo is a unique company. For starters, they have a lot of non-traditional soda flavors (Raspberry Blueberry, for example!), which I love. They are fun flavors! Next, they only produce 2 soda flavors that contain caffein- Cola and "Moon Mist", which is basically just like Mountain Dew.

Currently, Faygo produces 22 non-Diet Soda flavors, and 10 Diet Soda flavors. Of course, there is the traditional cola, as well as a Grapefruit soda (like Squirt), a Lemon Lime soda (like Sprite), Root Beer, Orange, and Grape sodas.

In addition, some of their more unusual flavors include Rock n' Rye, which is a cream soda that people can never seem to agree on just what flavor it is. To me, it's always kind of been like cola, cream soda, and red soda mixed. They also produce sodas in the flavors of:

Peach
Pineapple
Pineapple Orange
Red Pop
Strawberry
Black Cherry
Black Raspberry
Blueberry
Raspberry Cream Soda
And more!

Back in November of 1907, Ben & Perry Ferglenson started their own bottling factory with just 3 flavors of soda- Strawberry, Fruit Punch, and Grape. The flavors were unique to the world of soda, having never been made into soda before then. The flavors were born from something non-traditional, as well. Before going into the bottling business, Ben & Perry were in the cake business. The soda they created then was based on their own frosting recipes.

To this day, Faygo continues producing unusual flavors for soda. In the 1910's, the brothers were able to introduce two new flavors- Sassafrass (Root Beer), and a Lemon soda. It was at this time that Faygo began referring to their soda's as 'Pop' because of the sound the bottles would make when the top was removed.

In the 1920's, the name was changed from Ferglenson Brothers Bottling Factory to just Faygo, which remains to this day. It was also during this time that the flavors of Rock & Rye and Vanilla were added, as well as a seltzer.

In the 30's, orange soda was born, and used real orange juice to create it. It was in the 40's that Sassafrass was renamed Root Beer, and a soda called "Uptown" was created- Lemon-Lime.

In the 60's, Faygo officially renamed it's Strawberry Soda to Red Pop, though you'll note that there IS both a Strawberry soda AND a Redpop in their current day line up of soda's. They also introduced Frosh, Faygo Brau, and Chateaux Faygeaux, but only Frosh remains.

I vagually recall Frosh from when I was a child, but I haven't seen it on shelves since then. I want to say it was a bright green soda that was more lime than lemon lime, with maybe a grapefruit flavor? I can't really say I recall it too well, though, so I could be mistaken. Faygo Brau was a beer flavored soda that looked and poured like real beer. Chateaux Faygeaux was actually a wine flavored soda.

It was in the late 80's that Faygo was bought out by a company out of Florida. Shortly after that, Faygo began it's non-carbonated line fo drinks, which include:

Kiwi-Strawberry
Lemonade
Ohana Punch (basically a fruit punch)
Lemon Iced Tea
and Mango Punch

To this day, Faygo is a great soda with fun flavors not found in other traditional brands, and one I highly recommend trying at least once. There are many regional sodas put forth by Faygo, and many hard to find unique flavors that I've never even heard of, including: