| Type | Soft Drink |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Wet Planet Beverages |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Introduced | 1985 |
| Website | JoltEnergy.com |
Jolt Cola was a carbonated soft drink produced by Wet Planet Beverages. It was created in 1985 by C. J. Rapp as a highly caffeinated cola. It is targeted towards students and young professionals, stressing its use as a stimulant in a similar manner as energy drinks. In late September 2009, Jolt Co Inc (Wet Planet Beverages) filed[1] for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to meet the demands from Rexam to fulfill an agreement over buying resealable cans. Emigrant Savings Bank, the main creditor, then acquired the Jolt assets and relaunched the business.
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Jolt Cola was originally made by The Jolt Company, Inc. Rochester, New York, which has since changed its name to Wet Planet Beverages. From the outset, Jolt's marketing strategy centered on the caffeine content, billing the drink as a means to promote wakefulness. The initial slogan was "All the sugar and twice the caffeine." This slogan was changed to "Maximum caffeine, more power" when cane sugar in the drink was replaced with the less expensive sweetener high fructose corn syrup.
Jolt Cola later diversified into additional flavors named Cherry Bomb, Citrus Climax, Orange Blast, White Lightning (grape), Red Eye, and Electric Blue.
In 2003, the name was licensed to a Hackensack, New Jersey company named Gumrunners, Inc., which manufactures a line of caffeinated gum and mints bearing the Jolt label and the slogan "Chew More, Do More." The gum comes in two flavors: spearmint and icy mint.
In 2005, Jolt Cola revamped its product line. Jolt Cola changed its logo, and came in "battery" bottles, which make a loud popping sound when opened. The cans are 23.5 oz / 695 ml resealable aluminum bottles; the body of the bottle was similar to that of a standard aluminum can, but the top had a twist-off aluminum cap with a plastic gasket liner), and in smaller "Quick Fix" cans (8.4 oz / 250 ml single-use pull-tab aluminum cans, similar to those used for Red Bull) and "battery" cans (16 oz / 473 ml resealable aluminum cans with the same twist-off top as the Battery bottles). The Jolt Cola website claimed that the "Quick Fix" sizes were available at establishments that serve "adult beverages," for use as a mixer. The flavors of Jolt offered were also changed. Flavors offered were Cola, Blue Raspberry, Cherry Bomb (cherry cola), Silver (lemon-lime), Wild Grape, Orange Blast, Passionfruit (featuring a yellow can) and Ultra (a diet drink with Splenda as its artificial sweetener alongside guarana, ginseng, taurine, and vitamin B complex).
On September 28, 2009, The Jolt Company, Inc. filed Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Rochester, New York and simultaneously filed a motion to permit sale of the company's assets through a court-approved sale. The restructured company has now opened headquarters in Moonachie, New Jersey. Production of the Rexan 'battery bottles' ceased, and non-resealable cans is the major focus in the U.S.
Since 2009, Jolt Cola and related flavors have been reformulated as Jolt Energy. Jolt Energy Drink comes in five flavors: Power Cola, Orange Burst, Wired Grape, Blue Bolt (blue raspberry) and Blue Zero Carb.[2] The Cherry Bomb, Silver and Passionfruit flavors have been discontinued while the diet Ultra flavor has been replaced with the Blue Zero Carb diet blue raspberry flavor.
Jolt Cola is still packaged in glass bottles under license by the 7 Up bottling company of California. These are sold on the West Coast, where laws are stricter to encourage use of refillable bottles.
The Jolt Company Inc. (once also known as Wet Planet Beverages) exists as a "sister" company to Boylan Bottling Works and its traditional "flavors" soft drinks. The company is primarily financed by Emigrant Capital of New York.
Jolt Cola was featured in Steven Spielberg's film Jurassic Park in a scene which shows computer programmer Dennis Nedry's work station covered with Jolt Cola cans & bottles. It was also shown in several scenes in the film Hackers; in one scene, the characters Razor and Blade refer to it as, "Jolt Cola: The soft drink of the elite hacker." There is product placement of Jolt Cola in the movies Deep Impact, Cops and Robbersons, Trust (film), Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Men at Work, Basket Case 2, 11:14, Due Date and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. It is also mentioned in Wayne's World 2, when Garth attributes a hallucination to his excessive intake of the drink. Although the name was changed to "Volt Cola," Beavis and Butt-head clearly parodied the drink in the episode "Vaya con Cornholio". Vending machines in the video game Monster Madness dispense Jolt Cola to restore your character's health. In addition, David Foster Wallace references the Jolt Cola ad campaign in the short story "Mister Squishy," originally published in McSweeney's and collected in Oblivion: Stories. In a 2010 episode of the TV show 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan requests a can of Jolt Cola, which he states will be hard because it no longer exists.
Jolt Cola is also manufactured under license in Chantilly, Pittsburgh, Australia, Sweden and formerly (and briefly) in the United Kingdom. The German and Swedish supplier uses the old logos, branding and formulation, and only sells the original flavor. Jolt Cola is also available in the Netherlands and Finland. However, Jolt Cola Netherlands is a subsidiary of Jolt Cola Germany.
In Ireland, Jolt Cola is sold in 500 ml bottles in most Eurospars and Dunnes Stores, it is also very popular in colleges and is sold in the Dublin Institute of Technology's (DIT) student unions.
In Sweden, Jolt cola is heavily associated with LAN parties.[3]
In Australia, ("bottled under the authority of the Jolt Company Inc. by Jolt Corporation Australia Pty Ltd, 1 Barrpowell Rd Welland" South Australia) Jolt is sold in the traditional cola flavor, as well as lime, root beer, cream soda, and orange flavors. It generally comes in 615 mL bottles, with 196 mg of caffeine. In 2006 bottle capacities were reduced to 600 mL (in some cases, without vendors being aware of the change). With a caffeine concentration of 32 mg per 100 mL, these bottles contain a claimed 192 mg.
Jolt Cola was also available in Japan[4] in the late 1980s and early 1990s, through the local distributorship of UCC Ueshima Coffee Co. In the mid-1990s, it also made headway into Pakistan, but could not survive the competition.
In 2010, some men in Germany made their own Jolt copy called Volt Cola. Volt Cola is very unknown compared to Jolt but can now be found in Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden. Men who drank Jolt before say that Volt tastes similar but has an added effect of erectile dysfunction.