TAB COLA IS DEAD

The Coke machine in my dorm in the '70s labeled the Coke button as Douche and then Tab button as Diet Douche.

OP you forgot "FAT WHORES REJOICE!!"

What will these guys do?

Tab was iconic.

My mom and her girlfriends drank this from the can while smoking Marlboro lights 100s and gossiping. As a young gayling, I hung out at the kitchen table while they did this while my brothers played outside. I"m shocked all the second hand smoke and fake sugars didn't stunt my growth.

Avoid all sodas. They are bad for you. Drink water, beer or hard liquor in moderation.

I liked Fresca.

I thought it died 30 years ago. I liked it as a kid but I haven’t seen it on shelves my entire adult life

It had a niche following among women, so they kept it around , although some bottlers didn't bother with it.

I always thought it tasted the way I imagined furniture polish would.

That's the kind of image that always comes to mind with I think about Tab r4. Or a woman with her hair in curlers smoking, drinking Tab and watching her stories. It's a 70s icon.

For a moment I wondered "Who the hell is Tab Cola?"

FAT WHORES MOURN!

Coke Zero and/or the Pepsi equivalent is too similar. TAB, I think, had a bit of a lemon note to it, but otherwise not so different.

Tab had a very distinctive flavor with a bit of a bite. It always gave me a wonderful burst of energy.

Plus, it was for beautiful people! My mother has some of those hourglass-shaped glasses from back in the day.

My grandmother drank it while she smoked True cigarettes back in the 70s and 80s.

Wow, forgot about this shit. Where do you even buy it now? I remember all the as a kid all the dieting fraus drank this and Figurines and cottage cheese when they wanted to slim down. My mother wouldn't drink it as it was awful and chemically but she didn't need it either.

My mom drank Tab. Beyond cans, we'd get soda in big glass bottles (32 oz) that were in a six pack cardboard carrying case. I remember trying it plenty of times, but don't remember what it tastes like. How would it compare to Diet Coke or Pepsi?

Does anyone remember Pepsi Light - an early version of Diet Pepsi sweetened with saccharine and having a chemical lemon note?

Diet Pepsi today smells like Pine Sol.

My mom drank Tab and smoked her Salems throughout the 70s and 80s.

Mom had Tab a few times, and I thought I remembered the cans having a font that made the letters look like they were written out in lights, a la Broadway, but Google is telling me no.

[quote]For a moment I wondered "Who the hell is Tab Cola?"

He was another star in Henry Willson's stable.

I think Tab wasn't readily available for years, but it had a renaissance about 10 years back and was on shelves again.

never had this. what did it taste like?

Look, Francine! Tab for our diet!

Tab was like drinking turbo, amphetamine-laced coke.

No wonder they had so much fun in the 70s.

Tab tasted like flat soda without the sweetness, plus a little chemical aftertaste, at least as I remember it.

...........

So young!

I'm going to get some Tab before it's off the shelves, I haven't had it in ages.

[quote] I kind of liked it's taste.

Oh, dear!

R17, I was just going to post that.

I remember that shit tasted good. I don’t remember when it went off the shelves.

I think the Coke machine in my 1980s dormitory dispensed more Tab than anything else. College chicks were addicted to it. I don't remember men drinking it very much.

Drinks that taste like 1973 for $500, Alex.

You muppet, there is no $500 clue!

There was in 1973.

It was no Diet Rite

Pepsi Light was based on something they sold in Japan.

My mom was thin, died in '75, and didn't certainly didn't smoke, but she did drink "Co-colas" occasionally.

(Those who know will recognize that pronunciation.)

[quote] There was in 1973.

Uh, no.

But I have to admit this response tickled me to no end, and I really don’t even know why.

Remember the flavored Tab disaster?

I have to say I don’t, r40.

I don’t remember it at all. It’s amazing the shit you learn about on Datalounge.

I just remember it being awful but the glass bottles had cool stars on them.

I don't remember the flavored Tab at all.

That POP Girl

Saccharin has had a very controversial past. The FDA tried to ban it in 1977 because some animal studies showed that it caused cancer (mainly bladder cancer, but also uterine, ovarian, skin, and others). Saccharin stayed on the market because of pressure from the diet food industry (and the dieters themselves). However, it carried a warning label that stated it had been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals until the late 1990s. The Calorie Control Council argued that people don't develop bladder cancer in the same way that rats do, so the warning label should be removed.

In 2000, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) stated that people who used saccharin had no greater risk of bladder cancer than the population as a whole. People who were heavy saccharin users (six or more servings of saccharin or two or more 8-ounce servings of diet drink daily) had "some evidence of an increased risk of bladder cancer, particularly for those who heavily ingested the sweetener as a tabletop sweetener or through diet sodas." Because of this study and other research with laboratory animals, it was decided that saccharin was not a major risk factor for bladder cancer in humans. Saccharin was removed from the NIH's list of carcinogens and Congress agreed to remove the warning requirement from products containing it.

The last place I saw a Tab cola was in the back of Kim's Subaru, back in Santa Fe.

R17 Pepsi Light was a favorite of mine, and I miss it very much.

If I wanted a soft drink when I was growing up, my mum would let me drink a little bit of one of her Tabs. To me, Tab was a "Coke." Still to this day, I can only drink diet soft drinks, as the regular ones taste like syrup to me. I remember my aunt bringing "Tab Clear" to a family gathering when I was about 12...this was around the same time as Crystal Pepsi. It's the one and only time I ever saw or tasted it. I used to buy a 12-pack of Tab once a year for old time's sake, but stopped doing it because it was so hard to find (and expensive when I found it).

WHET Patio?

Good. Nasty shit.

I love Tab, and drink it semi-regularly. I haven't been able to find it in my area since the pandemic started, and kind of assumed they were pulling it. I'm kind of bummed about this, because it was one of the few sodas I actually like.

I like Diet Rite Cola because it’s kinder to my system. After dialysis I have a peanut butter sandwich and a can of Diet Rite.

Tab was much better when it contained cyclamates.

R18 I have noticed a Pine Sol scent in regular colas from time to time. I wonder what it is.

Pine Sol

I used to love the old Diet Pepsi commercials

Is Fresca going away too?

There's always RC, darlings.

My parents lived in San Francisco and my mother and sister drank gallons of Tab.

When Coca-Cola decided to test market Diet Coke (the first time they had ever used 'Coke' in anything other than their signature brand) they eschewed the normal practice of selecting a discrete market (such as Fresno) and went big, introducing Diet Coke in New York City. The advertising was everywhere.

I never drank diet soda but I schlepped a six pack when I went out to see my parents (in those days, kids, you could freely carry liquids onto planes) and triumphantly delivered it to my mother and sister, telling them that this was going to be the next big thing.

They both tried it and immediately declared Diet Coke markedly inferior to their beloved Tab, and predicted it would quickly flop.

(My parents' track record was impeccable. In the early 1960s when everybody was talking about this new company called Xerox, my father harrumphed 'Why do you need something like that when you already have carbon paper?')

Patio’s name was changed to Diet Pepsi in the 60s.

Gilda Radner was addicted to Tab and wondered if it contributed to her cancer.

R50 Well you cant mention Patio without bringing in the commercial they made for it in Mad Men. It was the first live commercial directed by Sal and it was part of his undoing with his wife actually beginning to grasp that he was gay because of it.

Dump the Tab; keep the Fresca.

R62 That brings up Gilda’s amazing performance of Goodbye Saccharine wearing her Sweet and Low pink dress. Saccharine testing was only done in huge doses on rats that showed it as carcinogenic, they were never reproduced in human studies. It is still o the market and longer than any sweetener replacement.

Sorry for the low quality video, it’s all I could find, but this was s shinning movement of early SNL.

I liked the glass bottles Tab came in. I think they were decorated with stars. I liked Tab. It tasted like weak Coke but I liked it.

I always liked Tab (and Fresca). My Dad specifically bought Tab for me, since no one else in my family would drink it, and I was a good kid who never exceeded my daily cola allowance (16 oz/day).

My mother and her friends drank Tab throughout the 70s. My mom didn't smoke, but most of her friends did, and when they came over to drink Tab and gossip, the kitchen would be filled with a blue haze by the time they left. Funny how many of us have this same memory.

R66 They were nice, I think the stars were sometimes yellow too, but it had the textured glass that helped it keep from slipping in your hand.

But, r62, statistics prove that most guys prefer skinny girls WITH cancer, over healthy girls with bulging thighs.

Is "modern" Tab sweetened with Aspartame

I'm so bummed--Tab is awesome. Unlike Diet Coke, which tastes like super-carbonated battery acid, Tab actually has true cola flavor with hints of lemon (as another poster noted above) and cinnamon. I haven't been able to get any for months, but I was hoping it would reappear after the pandemic. Please, Coca-Cola bigwigs, rethink your decision; if this is a big enough story for the Wall Street Journal and NBC Nightly News to cover, there may be a bigger market for Tab than you realize. Don't kill it, exploit it!

A lot of times companies will spin off or sell off their underperforming brands to other manufacturers. Procter and Gamble did this with almost all of their food products. (Crisco, Jif, Folgers -- all belong to Smuckers now.) And some of their toiletries and cleaning products too: Zest, Coast, Spic and Span, Comet.

So Coke could sell Tab to someone else if they thought they could make money on it and not diminish their own brand.

'When you can't be with him

Be in his mind - be a mind-sticker.'

[quote] Tab was much better when it contained cyclamates

Oh that’s ridiculous. There were never any dinosaurs in Tab.

Fresca doesn't taste like diet soda and it's GREAT with vodka.

my mom and her gal pals used to spike their tab with whiskey and/or rum.

(if it's not clear, I was raised white trash)

Fresca and vodka was a favorite of Johnny Carson.

Fresca's good, but I still think it tastes like diet soda.

So what was the secret behind the Fresca at the Scientology headquarters in The Boys?

Fresca is our guilty pleasure we would never offer guests because it seems so cheesy and old-fashioned, but it's my favorite soda and, as mentioned above, mixes really nicely with a lot of alcohol (such as vodka).

r80 boxed wine is the guilty pleasure of mine and my bf. We would never offer it to guests (we don't even have it visible when people come over), but when it's just the two of us we enjoy swilling it.

Most boxed wine is as good as a $10 bottle. You need to pay $20 or more to really tell the difference.

Wasn't Tab loaded with Saccharine at one point?

Gilda Radner did a memorable SNL skit about it.

Really, R83?

Gilda Radner's Rhonda Weiss character was genius. She was the ultimate JAP.

R24 I can't believe it took an entire 24 comments until someone made a "Polyester" reference!

There was a bowling movie with Woody Harrelson and Randy Quaid (before deep end). Quaid was an Amish bowling genius rube, Woody was his manager with dreams.

Anyway, it leads up to one of my favorite movie lines. To a bowling alley waitress: "I'll have a Tab and Tanqueray."

King Pin?

TaB soda is the only one I drink. I'm not surprised they are discontinuing it. Ever since covid-19 I couldn't fine any. When I talked to the coke guys they always said it was not going to be discontinued, they were just concentrating on the more popular drinks. It is a shame what coke did because we were loyal TaB drinkers. Tried diet coke and couldn't stand it. Guess I'll switch to diet 7-up.

Yes, R88! I burst out laughing in the theater.

I looked Kingpin up on IMDb. Itotally forgot Bill Murray was in it, too! I need to smoke a joint and watch this weekend.

The bottling business has become concentrated---there's almost no one who to bottle Tab who already doesn't have RC (dying slowly), Pepsi or Coke.

A "gin, lemon & 7", popular in the late 70s, was actually Squirt and gin. Fresca and gin probably would be similar but with a more complex taste.

As a teenager, I drank Tab for breakfast. I also loved the logo and the curvy Tab glass. A few years ago, I saw Tab in the market and bought one. It tasted utterly vile!

I must confess. I actually stop by a lotto/liquor store that sells RC cola and its associated brands. I love RC Cola & Tahitian Treat. The first few sips are childhood! Goes downhill from there...

RC Cola was the white trash soda.

It seemed in the 70s RC was more we’ll known, and was the smallest of the “big three” colas. Now it’s off the radar. We had something called Double Cola regionally, and on trips to NYC I thought C & C cola was a fourth brand, but I guess it was a cheap line of sodas like Shasta is in the West.

In New England we had Moxie, which was awful. It had a sour, acidy taste.

I love r81 and his boyfriend.

They’re my kind of people.

The last time I tasted Tab it was terrible.

I knew this family in the 70's who were hoarding it because they thought the government was going to stop them from manufacturing it because of the Saccharin. They lived in a trailer house and they were all seriously overweight. I don't think that hoarded out Tab was going to save them from themselves.

I worked for this doctor for years who would drink Tab all day long. I think he thought diet coke would give him cancer, and that Tab was better. Then, a few years later he died from some weird cancer anyways.

RC seems to have terrible quality control over their bottlers and that may be part of their decline. I used to be a fan of Diet Rite which was fine in places like Chicago, Nashville & Cleveland, but watery and tasteless in Los Angeles.

“When I’m feeling down, I put a little Fresca on a panty shield and it picks me right up!”

What was Diet Rite? Was it diet RC?

Speaking of curses, Justin Bieber had better look out, he turns 27 next March

Yes, R101. And I've had to turn to it these days since they also don't seem to be making caffeine-free Coke Zero right now (Diet Rite has no caffeine). It's not bad, but it's somewhat hard to find, and I resent how Coca-Cola is fucking up all of my cola-drinking habits; Coke Zero tastes the closest to Tab so I drink both the regular and caffeine-free versions instead.

Maybe Pepsi will get smart and take advantage of the enormous void in a Tab-free world by bringing back Pepsi Light--I remember liking that shit as a kid back in the 70s.

R92, do you like your men with broad shoulders, tiny waists, and bubble butts?

Coca Cola is also getting rid of Northern Neck Ginger Ale, which originated in the Northern Neck area of Virginia. I liked the emerald green, bubbly design of its cans. It's been around for 94 years. Coca Cola made this statement:

“(We are) taking the tough but important steps to identify those products that are losing relevance and therefore should exit the portfolio,” said Coca-Cola executive Cath Coetzer in a press release. Resources would instead be devoted to “promising innovations like Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Coca-Cola Energy and AHA flavored sparkling water.”

"Topo Chico Hard Seltzer?" Well, THAT sure sounds appealing. I think I'd rather drink bull piss than some of these "promising innovations."

Atrocious aftertaste. I don't see how anybody ever bought a second can.

I can't wait for the inevitable Netflix documentary series: "Who Killed Tab Cola?"

I just found six cases of it at my local grocery store. I was shocked. I haven't had any of it since the pandemic started, which is when it vanished from shelves. I don't know why they randomly had it in stock now,, but I literally bought all of them—I figured if I didn't get them, an asshole would. People are scalping them on eBay for $200/case, and fans of it are actually paying up.

When they officially announced it a couple weeks ago, I was mourning the fact that I'd not get to at least have one final can of it before it's gone. I also wanted to save a can just as a keepsake. I've been drinking it for decades—it's my favorite soda.

The last of Henry Wilsson's boys?

Add me as another one whose mom drank Tab and smoked Salems back in the 80s.

Just got back from the supermarket and the stores was packed with TaB. Went to another store, same company, and they didn't have any. I feel like I got my Christmas present early.