Sip on ‘Shutdown Swill’
New Britain beverage company’s new green soda even lets you take sides
When you combine blue and orange food coloring with blue raspberry and orange flavoring and lots of citrus acid the result is Shutdown Swill - a new soda that is flying off the shelves at Avery’s Beverages.
When you combine blue and orange food coloring with blue raspberry and orange flavoring and lots of citrus acid, the result is Shutdown Swill — a new soda that is flying off the shelves at Avery’s Beverages.
The 115-year-old beverage company in New Britain has been taking on soda satire in recent years. The company, already known for its “more than 50” varieties of regular flavors also produces sodas like Unicon Yack, Kitty Piddle and Zombie Brains.
For the past few election cycles, the company has taken on the political world — with tongue firmly in cheek and poking fun at both sides of the political aisle. From Barack O’Berry (a blue raspberry soda) to Trump Tonic (a make America grape again soda) and Hillary Hooch (sorry, that flavor is classified).
On Tuesday, Shutdown Swill started to roll off the production line with what general manager Rob Metz called an “apolitical statement” on the government shutdown. The bottles include artwork of President Donald Trump with his mouth agape and peering over a brick wall. About 5,000 have been produced so far during a “traditionally slow time of year” for the company, he said.
The green soda symbolizes money and caps are either red or blue depending on whose side drinkers are on. A “bunch of citrus acid” added for lots of bitterness, Metz added. The name swill is another name for hogwash.
“We try and have fun with stuff,” Metz said Wednesday after taking a break from making hundreds of bottles of the swill. “But I really didn’t expect the amount of folks that are upset thinking we are taking one side or the other. There’s a lot of instability out there. There’s a lot of ugliness out there.”
Metz said there has been a lot of comments on the company’s Facebook page — many of them unflattering to the politicians on both sides of the issue. For many, the soda bottles are collector’s items.
A steady stream of customers, including an employee from the Transportation Security Administration, came into the 520 Corbin Ave. factory during lunch Wednesday — most seeking the swill.
Richard Albert, a Trump supporter, purchased a sixpack to send to his daughter in Mississippi. “I take it as being funny,” he said. “I’m so sick of the Democrats and the rest of them. Trump is not a politician. The rest of them are afraid of him. I could go on and on.”
Metz said the idea came to him last Thursday when the shutdown became the longest one in U.S. history.
“It became a historic event, and that was significant enough for us to commemorate,” he said. “And it turned out to be a really awesome flavor. Anything that’s in the news cycle we kind of pick on. ... We try and capture it in a soda.”
The bottles will be sold — for what Metz is hoping is a “very limited time” — at the factory and various stores around the New Britain area. It also is sold at Capitol Lunch in New Britain. Any federal government employee can get a free bottle as “thanks for everything they do,” Metz said.
“The sooner it goes away is fine with us,” he said.
Peter Marteka can be reached at pmarteka @courant.com.