Crush (beverage)

"Orange Crush" redirects here. For other uses, see Orange Crush (disambiguation).

Crush

Type	Soft drink
Manufacturer	Dr Pepper Snapple Group
Country of origin	United States
Introduced	1916
Related products	Fanta, Nehi, Orange Slice, Sunkist

A 20 oz bottle of Pineapple Crush

Crush is a carbonated soft drink brand, originally marketed as an orange soda, which was invented by California beverage and extract chemist Neil C. Ward. Most flavors of Crush are caffeine-free.

History

In 1911, Clayton J. Howell, president and founder of the Orange Crush Company, partnered with Neil C. Ward and incorporated the company. Ward perfected the process of blending ingredients to create the exclusive formula that yielded the zesty, all-natural orange flavor of Orange Crush. Howell was not new to the soft drink business, having earlier introduced Howell’s Orange Julep. Soft drinks of the time often carried the surname of the inventor along with the product name. Howell sold the rights to use his name in conjunction with his first brand; therefore, Ward was given the honors: Crush was first premiered as Ward's Orange Crush.^[1] Originally, Orange Crush included orange pulp in the bottles, giving it a "fresh squeezed" illusion even though the pulp was added rather than remaining from squeezed oranges. Pulp has not been in the bottles for decades.

Logo for Ward's Orange Crush, c. 1921

Crush was purchased by Procter & Gamble in 1980 (with the exception of the Canadian rights, which were purchased in 1984). Procter & Gamble only manufactured "bottler's base," which was a concentrate consisting of flavor and color. 1 milliliter of bottler's base was combined with syrup and carbonated water to create a 12 ounce bottle of Crush. In 1989, Cadbury Schweppes acquired Crush USA from Procter & Gamble Co. Cadbury Schweppes spun off its United States beverage business as Dr Pepper Snapple Group in 2008.

The Crush brand and trademark are currently owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group of Plano, Texas. Crush is also popular in Canada, where it is distributed by subsidiary Canada Dry Motts. It is distributed by various Pepsi bottlers, the biggest being the Pepsi Bottling Group Canada.

Other countries where Crush is sold are Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Syria, Uruguay and at one time Costa Rica, Ecuador and Bolivia. In some countries of Latin America the Crush brand is distributed by the Coca-Cola Company, using the same colors and bottles as Fanta.

Several flavors (Orange, Diet Orange, Grape, Strawberry, Cherry) are available at most stores throughout North America; however, others are distributed only within small markets. Pineapple Crush and Birch Beer Crush, for instance, are relatively easy to obtain in both can and single serving bottle in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador and in Fort McMurray, Alberta. This will soon change, as the Pepsi Bottling Group has recently announced they would begin distributing Crush in a majority of their territory in the United States,^[2] followed less than a month later by PepsiAmericas' announcement that they would follow suit in most of their territory.^[3] The changeover in distribution became official in late January and early February 2009, with the Pepsi bottlers taking over the Crush rights in those areas and the bottling rights to Hawaiian Punch (which the Pepsi bottlers in those areas had handled prior to 2009) going to the bottlers of Dr Pepper and 7 Up.

Flavors

• Crush Apple
• Crush Berry Blast
• Crush Berry Pomegranate^[4]
• Crush Birch Beer (Newfoundland, and expat Newfoundlander communities in Canada, also available at some Sobey's grocery chains across Canada)
• Crush Blue Raspberry
• Crush Cherry^[5] (2009–)
• Crush Chocolate
• Crush Cola (Kuwait, 1970s–1990s)
• Crush Cream Soda (Canada only); sold clear in Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador and pink in the rest of Canada
• Crush Frozen Orange Dream
• Crush Tropical Punch^[5]
• Crush Fruity Red^[6]
• Crush Ginger Beer
• Crush Grapefruit
• Crush Grape
• Crush Lemon^[7]
• Crush Lemon-Lime^[5]
• Crush Lime^[5]
• Crush Nectar
• Crush Orange^[5]
• Crush Peach^[5]
• Crush Peach Sour^[6]
• Crush Pear
• Crush Pineapple^[5]
• Crush Pink Grapefruit^[6]
• Crush Red Cream
• Crush Red Licorice^[6]
• Crush Root Beer
• Crush Sarsi
• Crush Soda Water (Kuwait, 1970s–1990s)
• Crush Sour Apple (briefly offered in 2005)
• Crush Strawberries 'n' Cream
• Crush Strawberry^[5]
• Crush Wild Cherry Cola^[7]
• Crush Watermelon
• Diet Crush Cream Soda
• Diet Crush Grape
• Diet Crush Lime
• Diet Orange Crush^[5]

See also

Drink portal

References

1. ^ "All about Crush" at Official Crush website
2. ^ Collier, Joe Guy (August 21), "Pepsi Bottling Group to distribute Crush in U.S.", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/coke/stories/2008/08/21/pepsi_bottling_crush.html, retrieved May 27, 2010 
3. ^ "PepsiAmericas Signs Agreement With Dr Pepper Snapple Group To Further Boost Crush Brand Distribution" (Press release). PepsiAmericas. 18 September 2008. http://investors.pepsiamericas.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=335354. Retrieved May 27, 2010. 
4. ^ Kosher Beverage List at Chicago Rabbinical Council
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Official site
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Star-K Online Recommended Soft Drink List, July 2010
7. ^ ^{a b} All Crush sodas (and where to get them) at Facebook

External links

• Official site
• Dr Pepper Snapple Group's Crush page