Kickapoo Joy Juice
Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 1:48PM Another beverage given to me by the MMAgician and hailing from Singapore is Kickapoo Joy Juice. Judging by the green and yellow coloration of the can I’m going to assume this is similar to a Mountain Dew (or MTN DEW) product. Now on the can and this where it gets weird, are two characters from the now defunct comic strip Li’l Abner. Character number one is “Lonesome Polecat”. Lonesome Polecat is drawn how you would think a Native American would be drawn back when Li’l Abner was a comic strip. That would be from 1934-1977 for reference. The second character in charge of making this Kickapoo Joy Juice is “Hairless Joe”. Hairless Joe is a caveman that lives in modern times. He’s got a giant club, a leopard skin outfit, and even though his name suggests it he is most certainly not hairless. Now that you know the cast of characters let me tell you what they’re doing on this logo. Lonesome Polecat and Hairless Joe seem to be sitting in a tub of Kickapoo Joy Juice that has created an explosion so large (a mushroom cloud is visible) that they have rocketed themselves out of Earth’s orbit. Underneath said picture read the words “Original USA Joy Juice Recipe”. So at least we know we’re getting the real deal here. The ingredients are as follows, Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Stabilizers (what?), Flavouring, Preservative, Colour E102, and Caffeine. With all that said, let’s try out some of Lonesome Polecat and Hairless Joe’s mixture… which according to the Li’l Aber Wiki page is made in a cave.
As I assumed this is certainly a Mountain Dew-esque beverage, or at least the smell would have me believe that. If I had to pick a scent which stands out over the other citrus aromas that are escaping the can I’d go with lemon. Time to hopefully enjoy my 10.9 fluid ounces of Kickapoo Joy Juice!
The top of this can reads “Get That Kick!” and I certainly would have loved to have “Gotten it” but it’s not in the cards for Kickapoo Joy Juice. Kickapoo Joy Juice, which I enjoy typing out, tastes like a diluted Mountain Dew. If it were just a diluted Mountain Dew I could probably sign off on it fairly easily but there’s more. With every drink there’s another flavor, sorry, flavour that sits on your tongue like a fat cat sits on a warm windowsill. While this flavour isn’t horrible it is unmoving and very noticeable to me. The rest of your mouth becomes a moderately fun party with each sip and your tongue is the grouchy neighbor downstairs who keeps ruining it through various means… and begin scene using characters from Zelda.
Link - “Hey guys! Ummmm, no one could really make it to the party today, so I’m glad you came. Want to drag out the old pop-o-matic bubble for a rousing game of Trouble?”
**knock knock knock**
“Oh hi officer, what can I do for you?”
Officer Armos - “We got a call from the Old Man downstairs saying that you were making far too much noise up here.”
Link – “But we were just about to play a bo….”
Officer Armos – “I don’t really care; just keep it down would you?”
Link – “Ok, sorry [closes door]. So where were we?
Zelda – “Actually Link I think Ganon and I are gonna head out.
Link – “…but he’s going to kidna… nevermind. Just make sure he doesn’t get all feely with your triforce.”
Aaaand scene! Ok, that example that went on for too long was more enjoyable than the flavor that is still sitting on my tongue. I guess the best way to describe Kickapoo Joy Juice is this. Kickapoo Joy Juice is a soda. It’s nothing special in the slightest but still consumable.
Verdict – Buy a Bottle
~A
Twist actually starred in Li'l Abner between the years 1943-1945.
Reader Comments (3)
I used to drink Kickapoo while attending Indiana University back in the 1970s. I moved to Singapore in the early 90s and, lo and behold, there it was again. For reason it had staying power in Singapore and Malaysia but not the US. We used to buy it by the case. It's back in the US again, and you can order it on line.
Thanks for this. It really made my day to read it!
~A
We always have some Kickapoo in the fridge for the holidays, and my kids carried on the tradition on Thanksgiving. A couple of the bottles we picked up recently had some kind of particulate matter floating around in them (?). No one ended up in the emergency room so it must have been OK. :)