“Detroit’s Drink” Vernors Ginger Ale (USA’s Oldest) 2012 FULL 12oz Dr. Pepper’s

Description

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New, Full 12 Ounce Can of Dr. Pepper’s “Vernors” Ginger Ale, “Detroit’s Drink”, America’s Oldest Surviving Ginger-Flavored Soda..
NOTE: This offering is for ONE collectible can. It is NOT for a six-pack. NOT for a 12 pack. NOT for a truckload. It is for ONE collectible can, as stated.
FAQ: Why So Expensive?
Traveling internationally as part of my occupation, I continually have friends and customers ask me to bring back to the USA Pepsi and Coca-Cola cans and bottles from elsewhere in the world. Surprisingly, I have had many friends and customers outside of the USA ask me to secure for them collectible cans of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Here’s one such offering, a full can of America’s oldest surviving “ginger ale” (labeled “the original ginger soda”), Dr. Pepper’s “Vernors”. Vernors is indeed the oldest surviving ginger soda sold in the United States. However it’s claim to being “the original ginger soda” is a bit of a stretch, as there were a number of brands of ginger ale, ginger soda, and ginger beer sold in commerce prior to 1866 (however none survive, i.e., are still produced).
According to company legend, prior to the start of the American Civil War, while a clerk at the Higby & Sterns drugstore in Detroit, James Vernor experimented with flavors in an attempt to duplicate a popular ginger ale imported from Dublin, Ireland. When Vernor was called off to serve in the war, he stored the syrup base of 19 ingredients, including ginger, vanilla and other natural flavorings, in an oak cask. Vernor joined the 4th Michigan Cavalry in August, of 1962, as a hospital steward and was promoted to second lieutenant in September of 1864. Upon his return home after his discharge in July of 1865, he opened the (now four year old) keg and found the drink inside had been changed by the aging process in the wood. It was like nothing else he had ever tasted, and he purportedly declared it "deliciously different," which remains the drink's motto to this day.
Vernor opened a drugstore of his own in Detroit and sold his ginger soda at its soda fountain. According to the 1911 trademark application on "Vernors" as a name for ginger soda and extract, Vernors entered commerce in 1880. City by city, Vernor sold bottling franchises, with operators of those franchises required to strictly adhere to the recipe. In 1896, Vernor closed his drugstore and opened a soda fountain closer to the center of Detroit, near the ferry docks on the Detroit River so as to concentrate on the ginger soda business alone. Initially, Vernors was only sold via soda fountain franchises. The early Vernors soda fountains featured ornate plaster, lighting and ironwork featuring a "V" design, examples of which still exist, such as at the Halo Burger restaurant in Flint, Michigan. It was not untilk later that Vernors was bottled for home consumption.
James Vernor died October 29, 1927, and was succeeded by his son, James Vernor Jr. In 1966, the Vernor family sold out to the first of a succession of owners, culminating in its purchased by A&W Beverages in 1987. A&W was later purchased by Cadbury Schweppes, and then Dr. Pepper/7-Up. A number of slogans have been associated with Vernors over the years. Advertising in the early 1900's used the slogan "Detroit's Drink". According to its trademark application, it began using the slogan "Deliciously Different" in 1921. The labels formerly read "aged 4 years in wood", which was changed some years ago to "flavor aged in oak barrels", and now reads "barrel aged - bold taste". The gnome mascot (shown on the current packaging), named "Woody", was used from the turn of the century until 1987, when it was dropped by A&W Brands in favor of new packaging, but was returned to the packaging early in this century.
The Vernors style was common before Prohibition, when “dry” pale ginger ale (beer) became popular as a drink mixer. This type of "prohibition style" dry ginger became popular after Prohibition, and is now commonly known in the U.S. as "ginger ale". Vernors is highly carbonated. Some people drink it hot as a remedy for stomachache. Los Angeles Metropolitan-News Editor Roger Grace, in 2005, described the original flavor as "mellow yet perky with the mellowness attributed to the aging in oak barrels, and the perkiness to the use of more ginger and sugar than "dry" ginger ales. Even though Vernors is distributed nation-wide, Michigan accounts for 80% of Vernors sales. Michigan, Ohio and Illinois are the highest-selling states, and primary cities are Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Toledo and Cincinnati.
Vernors is also very popular in Florida, which has large numbers of retired or relocated former Michigan residents. Across the border from Michigan, Vernors is also popular in Canada, having been sold at Ontario soda fountains from the 1920s onward, and with bottling facilities, soda fountains and outlets located in Southwestern Ontario. If you’re in the USA, this might not at first blush seem a “collectible”. But then in Russia for instance, a can of Coca-Cola printed in their Cyrillic alphabet might not seem very unusual or collectible to a Russia. But to an American, the Russian can is quite collectible, and in Europe or Asia, likewise, American cans are collectible. So for all of my friends in Europe and Asia, here’s a genuine, full can of America’s oldest ginger ale, “Vernors”.
SHIPPING & RETURNS/REFUNDS
: Domestic shipping is .99 for Priority Mail. Domestic rates
include
USPS Delivery Confirmation. Canadian shipments are .49 for Air Mail or .99 for Global Priority Mail. All other International shipments are .99 for Air Mail, .49 for Global Priority Mail. Your purchase will ordinarily be shipped within 48 hours of payment. We package as well as anyone in the business, with lots of protective padding and containers. All of our shipments are fully insured against loss, and our shipping rates include the cost of this coverage (through stamps.com, Shipsaver.com, the USPS, UPS, or Fed-Ex).
International tracking is provided free by the USPS for certain countries, other countries are at additional cost.
ADDITIONAL PURCHASES
do receive a
VERY LARGE
discount so as to reward you for the economies of combined shipping/insurance costs (postal costs for additional cans from the third onward typically only cost each for domestic shipping – in some cases, even for international shipping). We do offer U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Registered Mail, and Express Mail for both international and domestic shipments, as well United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (Fed-Ex). Please ask for a rate quotation. We will accept whatever payment method you are most comfortable with.
If upon receipt of the item you are disappointed for any reason whatever, I offer a no questions asked 30-day return policy. Send it back, I will give you a complete refund of the purchase price; 1) less our original shipping/insurance costs, 2) less non-refundable PayPal/eBay payment processing fees. Please note that PayPal does NOT refund fees. Even if you “accidentally” purchase something and then cancel the purchase before it is shipped, PayPal will not refund their fees. So all refunds for any reason, without exception, do not include PayPal/eBay payment processing fees (typically between 3% and 5%) and shipping/insurance costs (if any). If you’re unhappy with PayPal and eBay’s “no fee refund” policy, and we are EXTREMELY unhappy, please voice your displeasure by contacting PayPal and/or eBay. We have no ability to influence, modify or waive PayPal or eBay policies.
ABOUT US
: Prior to our retirement we used to travel to Europe and Central Asia several times a year. Most of the items we offer came from acquisitions we made in Eastern Europe, India, and from the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean/Near East) during these years from various institutions and dealers. Much of what we generate on Etsy, Amazon and Ebay goes to support The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as well as some other worthy institutions in Europe and Asia connected with Anthropology and Archaeology. Though we have a collection of ancient coins numbering in the tens of thousands, our primary interests are ancient jewelry and gemstones. Prior to our retirement we traveled to Russia every year seeking antique gemstones and jewelry from one of the globe’s most prolific gemstone producing and cutting centers, the area between Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, Russia. From all corners of Siberia, as well as from India, Ceylon, Burma and Siam, gemstones have for centuries gone to Yekaterinburg where they have been cut and incorporated into the fabulous jewelry for which the Czars and the royal families of Europe were famous for.
My wife grew up and received a university education in the Southern Urals of Russia, just a few hours away from the mountains of Siberia, where alexandrite, diamond, emerald, sapphire, chrysoberyl, topaz, demantoid garnet, and many other rare and precious gemstones are produced. Though perhaps difficult to find in the USA, antique gemstones are commonly unmounted from old, broken settings – the gold reused – the gemstones recut and reset. Before these gorgeous antique gemstones are recut, we try to acquire the best of them in their original, antique, hand-finished state – most of them centuries old. We believe that the work created by these long-gone master artisans is worth protecting and preserving rather than destroying this heritage of antique gemstones by recutting the original work out of existence. That by preserving their work, in a sense, we are preserving their lives and the legacy they left for modern times. Far better to appreciate their craft than to destroy it with modern cutting.
Not everyone agrees – fully 95% or more of the antique gemstones which come into these marketplaces are recut, and the heritage of the past lost. But if you agree with us that the past is worth protecting, and that past lives and the produce of those lives still matters today, consider buying an antique, hand cut, natural gemstone rather than one of the mass-produced machine cut (often synthetic or “lab produced”) gemstones which dominate the market today. We can set most any antique gemstone you purchase from us in your choice of styles and metals ranging from rings to pendants to earrings and bracelets; in sterling silver, 14kt solid gold, and 14kt gold fill. When you purchase from us, you can count on quick shipping and careful, secure packaging. We would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from us. There is a fee for mailing under separate cover. I will always respond to every inquiry whether via email or eBay message, so please feel free to write.