Sundrop

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Sun Drop

Type	Citrus soda
Manufacturer	Cadbury-Schweppes
Distributor	Local bottlers and distributors
Country of Origin	St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Introduced	1949
Variants	Diet Sundrop Caffeine Free Sun Drop Caffeine Free Diet Sun Drop Cherry Lemon Sun Drop
Related products	Mountain Dew Mello Yello Surge Vault 7 Up Sunkist Squirt

Sun Drop is a citrus-flavored soda produced by Cadbury-Schweppes. Like other citrus sodas, it has a yellowish-green color imparted by Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. It has a sharper taste than Pepsi's Mountain Dew or Coca-Cola's Mello Yello, and is known for its high caffeine (63mg per 12oz can) and sugar content. Orange juice is an ingredient to the drink, and remaining pulp matter from the orange juice provide some of the soft drink's unique taste and appearance. A diet variety was introduced in 1985.

Sun Drop was developed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1949 by soft-drink salesman Charles Lazier, at around the same time as other citrus sodas such as Ski and Mountain Dew.[1] In the 1950s and 1960s Sundrop was sometimes produced under names such as "Sun Drop Golden Cola" or "Golden Girl Cola". The brand was acquired and standardized by Crush International in 1970, itself purchased by Procter & Gamble in 1980, which sold its soft-drinks holdings to Cadbury Schweppes plc in 1989.

While extraordinarily popular in the Carolinas, the Jackson Purchase area of western Kentucky, south-central Wisconsin, the Tennessee Valley and the Rolla, Missouri, area, Sun Drop remains relatively unknown in most of the United States. Like other regional drinks with a cult following such as Cheerwine, fans outside bottling areas have been known to pay large amounts to have the drink shipped to them. [2]

There are five varieties of the drink available for sale: Sun Drop (green can), Diet Sun Drop (white can, 69mg caffeine), Caffeine Free Sun Drop (gold can), Cherry Lemon Sun Drop (red can), and Caffeine Free Diet Sun Drop (gold/white can).

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the drink was promoted in the South by NASCAR Winston Cup driver Dale Earnhardt.