Kickapoo Joy Juice

Kickapoo Joy Juice is a citrus-flavored soft drink brand owned by The Monarch Beverage Company.^[2][3][4] The name was originally introduced in Li'l Abner, a comic strip that ran from 1934 through 1977.^[5][6][7] Although L'il Abner's Kickapoo Joy Juice was an alcoholic drink, the real world beverage is a lightly carbonated soda pop.^[1][8]

Li'l Abner

The name, "Kickapoo Joy Juice", was originally coined as a "volatile brew" in Li'l Abner, an American comic strip.^[7] Al Capp, the cartoonist, described the drink as "a liquor of such stupefying potency that the hardiest citizens of Dogpatch, after the first burning sip, rose into the air, stiff as frozen codfish".^[3][4][9] The concoction was brewed by Lonesome Polecat and Hairless Joe, two of the comic strip's backwood poachers.^[1][10] Capp asserted in 1965 that the cartoon "never has suggested that the drink is moonshine", in response to claims that the Kickapoo Joy Juice of L'il Abner was an illicitly distilled liquor.^[11]

Product

The real world drink was introduced in 1965 under NuGrape, a former brand of The Monarch Beverage Company.^[1] That year, Nugrape worked out a deal with Al Capp, the owner of the "Kickapoo Joy Juice" rights, to produce the beverage as a carbonated soft drink. Capp, however, would have the last word on all advertising and promotion.^[1] Kickapoo Joy Juice's early advertising campaign was very similar to Mountain Dew's of the time – using characters from L'il Abner to create and market a hillbilly feeling.^[12] Although the product is currently distributed largely in Asian markets (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Bangladesh), the can still comes decorated with a vintage L'il Abner drawing.^[13]

References

External links

• Kickapoo Joy Juice at Soda Pop Stop
• Kickapoo Joy Juice at The Soda Shop
• Kickapoo Joy Juice review at BevNET