We here at Cardinal Pizza are killin’ it with great food and amazing hand-picked brews, and we’ve just upped our game. So Westervillians, we figured if we could highlight beers with great stories behind their great flavors, why not enhance our selection with intriguing soft drinks?

We combed the Midwest looking for wonderful natural flavors, glass bottles and touches of Americana and culture. We’re so excited, we had to split this blog into a series. Not only are we offering a unique selection of refreshment, but the rainbow of bottles is super fun!

Check them out and then, Westervillians, tell us which ones you like best.

First up is Ale-8-One – the pride of Winchester, Kentucky. In 1920 G.L. Wainscott got off the train in Winchester and saw an abandoned carbonating machine. He remembered a ginger juice recipe from his travels in Northern Europe and tried his hand at a citrus-flavored ginger ale. The flavor had a kick to it, and it used no sugar. It blew up.

He held a ‘Name the Soda’ contest and the phrase “A Late One” (as in “the latest thing”) won. So he punned it into Ale-8-One. So popular the drink was (and is), there is an actual cave named for the drink. And yes, at the cave you can get an ice cold Ale 8.

Dang! That’s Good Italian Cherry Soda, Dang! That’s Good Diet Root Beer.

Along Lake Michigan sit gorgeous old cream-colored brick buildings. For this reason Milwaukee is known as “The Cream City.” On the hip Lower East Side there, back in 1964, a local legend was born. Dang! That’s Good created a Cream City Cream Soda. The company now offers a half-dozen bottled wonders. We carry their exquisite Diet Root Beer flavored with Butterscotch to give you that childhood thrill of root beer and those awesome butterscotch candies. 

Their Italian cherry flavor was developed to duplicate the taste of maraschino cherries preserved in maraschino juice. These cherries are the foundation for the flavoring used in their Italian Cherry Soda.