Granite Fizz - by Dennis Sasseville (Paperback)

About the Book

Granite Fizz: The Untold Story of Spring Water and Flavored Tonic in New Hampshire explores the roots of the soft drink and water bottling industries and the historic and current roles these ventures play in all of our lives today.

Book Synopsis

In the United States since 1825, more than 30,000 soft drink bottlers have created and sold fizzy soft drinks to everyday consumers like you and I. Amazingly, those companies produced in excess of 16,000 different brands and drink names - most of which survive only as part of our collective memories and because of ardent researchers and collectors. The demise of the golden age of remedies, elixirs, and tonics, along with the Temperance Movement and increased leisure time among working class Americans, led to the nation's voracious thirst for non-alcoholic liquid refreshment. Many beverage companies rose to the challenge, including notable ones in the Granite State such as Lafayette Beverages, Cocheco Bottling, Cott Beverages, Lucky Strike Ginger Ale, Conner Bottling Works, and Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast.

New Hampshire also saw its share of historic spring water locations-some destination spa sites but also commercial bottling ventures; Londonderry Lithia Spring, Cohas Springs, Ponemah Springs, Castle Springs and Balsams Spring are but a few.

In Granite Fizz: The Untold Story of Spring Water and Flavored Tonic in New Hampshire, we explore the roots of the soft drink and water bottling industries and the Granite State's historic and current role in these significant commercial ventures that touch virtually all of our lives today.

Is the oldest, continually-bottled soft drink plant in the world in New Hampshire?

What New Hampshire community hosts one of the most modern commercial soft drink bottling operations in the United States?

How and why were patent medicines morphed into fizzy soft drinks for refreshment?

When was "lithia water" a thing and what role did New Hampshire play?

This conversational, well-illustrated book will interest readers in several categories:

- New Hampshire history, especially business, commerce and anything unique about the Granite State

- Pop culture, including those interested in giving a gift or acquiring a souvenir that highlights the Granite State

- Followers of food and beverage issues and trends that have a distinct New England focus

Author's note: Throughout this book, tonic is used to denote the term many New England Yankees used when referring to any carbonated soft drink just as Midwesterners commonly call any soda, pop. Here in the second decade of the 21st century, the term tonic is primarily heard only in some enclaves of Boston or in more rural sections of northern New England. The term's origins are likely rooted in the era when bottled nostrums and elixirs were part of everyday diets before they evolved into simple fizzy refreshments.

Review Quotes

I am pleased to see a book that provides insight to an industry that paved the way for drinks which enhance our lives. New Hampshire bottlers led the trend and your book is a terrific historical account of the industry.

Marc Jolicoeur, former past President and Chairman of CPF, Inc. (a CO-OP of PepsiCo).

Granite Fizz brings new insights into a fascinating and often overlooked part of New Hampshire's industry and popular culture. The book is thoroughly researched and will be enjoyed by anyone wishing to learn more about the history of soft drink production and consumption.

Jeffrey Barraclough, Executive Director of the Manchester Historic Association.

This well-researched book documents the evolution from the mysterious elixirs in the golden age of patent medicines into the vast current marketplace for modern carbonated soft drinks ("tonic" in New England!).

Milton P. Dentch is the author of several books on international management systems and Fall of an Icon: Polaroid After Edwin H. Land.