These days most soda innovations are horrifying novelties, your Oreo Cokes and Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dews — things that people want to drink out of perverse curiosity, not desire. But this “holiday season,” 7UP seems to have cracked the code and given people something they actually want, even if we had never named it before: a Shirley Temple in a can.
Of course! The Shirley Temple — a combination of citrusy soda (usually Sprite or 7UP) and grenadine syrup, garnished with a maraschino cherry — has been a staple of Bar Mitzvahs and kids tables and holiday parties for generations. But it has made a resurgence recently, both in its “dirty” form and as a legitimately good mocktail. “The kid-friendly version still gives you all the same feelings from the last time you had one,” writes Rax King in Bon Appétit, “excitement, pleasure, and the optimism of a person who didn’t yet know back pain.”
The canned version I tried was the pinkish red of a poinsettia, almost glowing in the sunlight. And on first sip, it was exactly what you want a Shirley Temple to be. It wasn’t “upgraded” to appease more tart, adult tastes, nor was it just 7UP with a memory of grenadine. It was the bright, candy-sweet Shirley Temple you remember from every wedding, and without the cloying layer of grenadine settling on the bottom of the glass.
The main downside is that 7UP is only releasing this soda, in both regular and zero-sugar forms, from October 15 through December 31. It’s “a festive addition to the holiday season” says Andrew Springate, CMO at Keurig Dr Pepper (watch your neck, Schweppes Raspberry Ginger Ale). But the other downside is realizing that a canned Shirley Temple wasn’t widely available until now. Crown Beverage released one in 2014, and Boylan also produces a version, but they’re difficult to find outside of specialty stores and certain regions. 7UP’s version, however, will be available in big box retailers like Target and Safeway. Don’t show me a Shirley Temple in a can if I can’t get it at every grocery store!
Anyway, it’s just nice to see a novelty soda that’s not designed to make me recoil in horror.
