Another favorite pop of mine is the now-seldom seen Kickapoo Joy Juice. Until a few years ago, I had not seen this in literally decades. When I was a kid this was my favorite drink at a little store within walking distance of my Grandma Turner’s. It’s a citrus pop similar to Mountain Dew but is more lightly carbonated.
The name was originally introduced in the classic Li’l Abner comic strip. It was brewed by Lonesome Polecat and Hairless Joe. They are pictured on the label in a drawing by Al Capp. Oddly enough, it’s currently distributed primarily in Asian markets.
Sadly, more recent bottles no longer have the Al Capp drawing. Yet oddly enough, when you can find it in a four-pack, the carton does still have drawings from Li’l Abner.
The bottles are marked as the “Original Dogpatch Recipe.” That includes it being made with cane sugar just like when it was introduced in 1965 instead of the high fructose corn syrup most manufacturers began using in the early ‘80s.
Kickapoo Joy Juice was originally first sold in the 1960s. It was resurrected and is now bottled by Orca Beverages, the Seattle-area premier bottler of so many retro-pops.
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