Not a new Fountains of Wayne song, but MEXICAN COKE is something I hold high hopes for. I mentioned already how much I avoid things sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, which is hard in this country since nearly everything is. If you'd like to feel like you've stumbled upon a full-on, Archer-Daniels Midland conspiracy, start looking at the ingredients of everything in your grocery cart and see how it gets in things where you just don't want to imagine an ear of corn floating in that product. It's generally accepted that this sweetener in beverages is what makes America a fat country, and I maintain that the stuff just makes me feel logy. And damn, people pour this crap on their pancakes like it's okay. They still extract syrup from Maple trees, just look harder for it. And contrary to supermarket evidence, there is still such a thing as cane sugar.

I don't know when we suddenly switched everything to corn sweetener, but one of my favorite conspiracy theories is the one that the whole New Coke fiasco was really just a cover to make the switch, that Classic Coke is where it began with a nice break in time so no one would have any Old Coke to compare it to. I can tell it doesn't taste like the drink of my youth, and it's not some psychological effect of the little green bottle. But now I'm optimistic. Apparently lots of people buy from local tiendas to get Coke made in Mexico, where they use ol'-school sugar instead. I'll admit, I haven't tried it yet, but maybe by this weekend. I'm still not going to suddenly get back into soft drinks, but for pure nostalgia it would be cool to taste something closer to the drink I enjoyed while reading comics in my Dad's store as a boy. I'll post again on the matter when I get a bottle.

Beverage Week possibly salutes MEXICAN COKE.