The Prohibition-Era Soda Brand That Made History In Ohio
As Prohibition went into effect across America in May of 1920, breweries closed — and soda production opened. Big-time breweries like Miller and Anheuser-Busch, as well as local producers like Akron Beverage in Akron, Ohio, switched their production to bottling soft drinks, and other soda-specific businesses soon followed, including Akron's own NORKA Sparkling Beverages in 1924.
NORKA (Akron, spelled backwards) sold flavored sodas to the greater Akron area, offering eight flavors: Orange, cherry-strawberry, ginger ale, root beer, cream soda, grape, lemon-lime, and a mixer the company called QK. At peak production in the 1930s, the team of 50 employees would package 24,000 bottles a day — a testament to the soda's popularity.
NORKA closed in 1962, but the craft soda brand was revived in 2015. Today, four of the core flavors — orange, cherry-strawberry, ginger ale, and root beer — are back on the production line. Tapping into nostalgia and civic pride, the reboot of this beloved local brand has found a lot of community support. For those seeking out a classic soda taste (with the modern-day updates of natural flavoring and pure cane sugar), it's one great thing to come out of Prohibition. And hey, if you decide to use NORKA as a mixer, you've got much better choices than bathtub gin.
Here's how to get your hands on a bottle of NORKA
Have a hankering for some craft soda? Just like in the 1920s and 1930s, NORKA is mostly distributed in the Akron area, but that doesn't mean you can't get your hands on it out of state.
Specialty soda shops around the country, like High Tide Soda in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania often feature the bottles on their shelves. You can also find NORKA's cherry-strawberry variety at one of over 600 nostalgic restaurant-slash-gift shops. Yes, we're talking Cracker Barrel.
If you can't decide between the four classic flavors, you can also order a variety pack of Norka Sparkling Beverages to be shipped right to your door. With high quality ingredients at the focus, NORKA might be the perfect soda of choice for your next dirty soda experiment. Or grab another Ohio favorite, Graeter's Ice Cream, and make the perfect ice cream float.