Popular drinks from the decade you were born (2024)

The way we sipped

What we drink can say as much about us – and the era we grow up in – as what we eat, wear and listen to. Whether we slurped chocolate milk or were part of “the Pepsi Generation”, these were the liquids that fuelled generations. From now-discontinued diet sodas and alcopops to canned drinks and co*cktails that remain classics today, here are some of the most popular drinks from the decade you were born.

1940s: Mountain Dew

This zingy, citrusy energy drink, known for its vivid green bottle, was created by the Hartman brothers as a chaser for moonshine and whisky (it’s named after a 19th-century term for scotch). They originally distributed it in parts of their native Tennessee, including their home city of Knoxville, and it only reached the wider US market after being acquired by Pepsi-Cola in 1964. It reached the UK in 2010 when Britvic began bottling and distributing both original and sugar-free versions.

1940s: Postum

Postum, acaffeine-free powdered drink,was originally launched in the late 19th century and promised to make giving up coffee much easier. But itreally took off in the 1940s, when wartime rationing made coffee scarce.Made from wheat and molasses and designed to be stirred into just-boiled water,it remained hugely popular throughout the decade.

1940s: daiquiri

1940s: Nestlé Quik

Nestlé launched its Quik Chocolate Powder in 1948 in an exciting new development for plain old milk, providing parents with a new way to tempt kids to drink the white stuff. The companylater added new flavours, including strawberry and banana, and changed the name to Nesquik. The famous Nesquik bunny, who still graces tubs of the powder, hopped onto the scene in the 1970s.

1950s: vodka martini

Even before Bond came along and demanded it be “shaken, not stirred”, this most potent of co*cktails was a popular stiffener. The gin martini grew with the boom in distilling during Prohibition but it was the 1950s that saw a vodka-based version become a go-to drink. The US had begun importing vodka from Russia and stars including Frank Sinatra, pictured in a scene from 1955 movie The Tender Trap, boosted its glamorous profile.

1950s: Diet-Rite Cola

1960s: Sunny Delight

This orange-based drink – now renamed SunnyD – was invented in 1963 by, what the brand’s website calls, “a couple of Florida dads”. It didn’t launch in the UK until 1998, quickly becoming one of the biggest-selling soft drinks behind only Coca-Cola and Pepsi.But it fell out of favour due to claims that marketing implied it wasa healthy juice drink. It’s still sold in the UK and US today.

1960s: Slurpee

A broken soda fountain was the reason this popular frozen drink was invented. In the late 1950s, Kansas City Dairy Queen owner Omar Knedlik decided to freeze some bottles of fizz because his machinery was playing up. The resulting slush was such a hit that Knedlik fashioned a machine that would mix and freeze flavouring, water and CO2. 7-Eleven licensed the ICEE machine in 1965 and renamed the drink Slurpee, after the noise created when slurping it through a straw.

1960s: TaB

Coca-Cola finally entered the diet drinks arena when it launched TaB in 1963, selecting the name from a computer-generated search. Sweetened with saccharine and containing one calorie per serving, TaB was a cola drink that was mainly marketed to women. Although TaB has maintained something of a cult following through the decades, the soft drinks giant announced plans in October 2020 to discontinue the diet soda and prioritise “category-leading brands”.

1960s: Lipton Ice Tea

The familiar yellow boxes of Lipton tea began life in Glasgow, Scotland, in the late 19th century, when founder Sir Thomas Lipton bought tea fields in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The brand’s first foray into the chilled market was a powder launched in 1964 and designed to be stirred into water. Their bottles of ready-mixed iced tea, flavoured with lemon, peach or mango, followed in 1991 and are now a hot-day staple in the US and more than 100 other countries.

1960s: Coffee-mate

1970s: Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola has been around since the late 19th century and dominated the market thanks to some clever marketing (often involving Santa Claus). But none of its advertising has reached the heights of the “Hilltop” advert that debuted in 1971, featuring the ridiculously catchy song “I’d like to buy the world a co*ke”. The ad aired just two years after the fizzy drink got its new (and now familiar) red-and-white label and logo – and reaffirmed it as the market leader.

1970s: Mateus Rosé

This medium-sweet and frizzante (softly sparkling) rosé wine was almost as de rigueur at 1970s dinner parties as prawn co*cktails and steak Diane. It was so Seventies, in fact, that Elton John referenced getting “juiced” on the pink stuff in his 1973 song, Social Disease. The distinctive bottles, inspired by flasks of Second World War soldiers, werelaunched by Portuguese winery Sogrape in 1942, and sold in more than 120 countries, including the US and UK, by the late 1970s. Pictured is Sogrape founder, Fernando van Zeller Guedes, sipping the rosé in 1975.

1970s: Blue Nun

The other wine of the 1970s was this German riesling, which (it’s been suggested) gave the country’s wines an unfair reputation for being rather sweet and simple. According to the brand’s website, the Seventies were the “glory days” of Blue Nun, which counted David Bowie and Rod Stewart among its fans. By the mid-Eighties, annual sales had hit 1.25 million in the US and around 750,000 elsewhere. It’s still sold, with a certain retro appeal, though the wider choice of wines has seen sales fall.

1970s: SodaStream

Few gadgets evoke a 1970s (and 1980s) childhood than the hand-cranked, fizzy-water-making SodaStreams that graced many a kitchen counter (and entranced many a child). But this at-home carbonation machine was actually invented in 1903 by Guy Gilbey, who ran a London gin distillery. It was the jingle of famous ads, though, that inspired so many families to “get busy with the fizzy”. Modern incarnations of the gadget have enjoyed a comeback recently, though it hasn'tquite reached the dizzy-fizzy days when 40%of UK households owned one.

1980s: Diet co*ke

1980s: Cherry co*ke

This tartly sweet favourite was originally launched in a handful of US cities in 1985 before being rolled out nationwide and, later, to the UK and beyond. It caused a lot of excitement among Coca-Cola fans and was among the top 10 bestselling soft drinks within a year of its release, appealing particularly to children and teens. A diet version was launched in the 1990s, followed by Cherry co*ke Zero in 2005.

1980s: Pepsi-Cola

1980s: Orangina

Perhaps best-known for the iconic marketing phrases “shakethe bottle,wakethe drink” and “shake it to wake it”, Orangina was originally launched in France in 1935, but didn’t fully enter the global market until the mid-1980s (it launched the US in 1978). It’s known for its pear-shapedglass bottle and the mix of pulpy juice and fizz, combined with a quick shake. Sales have since declined, butit’s now being relaunched with the original French recipe.

1980s: Red Bull

This famous energy drink launched in Austria in 1987, rolling out through Europe and hitting the US market in 1997. It quickly became the drink of choice among young people looking for a boost during the day or innightclubs, where it would often be mixed with vodka for a potent buzz (or “wings”, as the old slogan suggested). It still has a strong following and the brand has become known for sponsoring sports events.

1990s: Tango

Invented in the 1950s, fizzy orange soda Tango flew relatively under the radar until the 1990s, when it grabbed attention with a (literally) aggressive marketing campaign. The infamous ads featured the “Orange Man” who, half-naked and painted orange, would slap strangers to indicate the tangy hit of the drink. An apple version, advertised here by British TV presenter Dani Behr, also launched in 1996.

1990s: J2O

1990s: innocent smoothies

The dawn of innocent smoothies changed the way we think about fruit and veg consumptionand provided an easy, tasty way to get some of ourfive-a-day. The little bottles began life in 1999 when the inventors sold them at a music festival. According to the website, they put up a sign asking people if they should give up their day jobs and make smoothies full-time, with one bin for “yes” and another for “no”. By the end of the weekend, the former was full. The brand is now owned by Coca-Cola, who took ownership in 2013.

1990s: oaked chardonnays

Blame Bridget Jones (the eponymous, chardonnay-swigging heroine of Helen Fielding’s 1996 novel) ormaybe just people’s tastebuds. Whatever the reason, buttery, heavily-oaked chardonnays were hugely popular during the 1990s. Chardonnay remains the world’s second most-heavily planted grapes, but crisper styles, aged in stainless steel tanks or with more subtle oak barrel ageing, have taken over. Trends also quickly switched to lighter, fresher wines like sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio.

1990s: Lambrini

Drinks tastes definitely seemed to edge towards the sweet end of the spectrum in the 1990s, with Lambrini a case in point. The sparkling fruit perry (pear cider) was launched by Liverpool-based company Halewood in 1994 and has been a market leader in the category ever since. Its relatively low alcohol content (7.5% ABV/15proof) and affordable price has made it a popular alternative to more expensive styles of fizz. The brand played up to the drink’s fluffy, fun image with bikini contests and searches for the latest “Lambrini Girl”.

1990s: Pepsi Max

Not content with Diet Pepsi, the company launched another, supposedly more "masculine" alternative to its classic formula in 1993. Pepsi Max is a low-calorie and sugar-free version with more caffeine content than the diet drink (43mg compared to 23mg). It helped the brand to win over customers who liked the taste of soft drinks but wanted less sugar content without compromising on flavour.

1990s: alcopops

Alcopops were all the rage from the mid-1990s and, by the dawn of the new millennium, they had pretty much taken over the bar and nightclub scene – at least when it came to younger tastes. At times controversial, some people argued they encouraged underage drinking. Bottles from Bacardi Breezers to WKD – with Hooper’s Hooch, Smirnoff Ice and many others in between – flew off the bar shelves. Several brands are still around, but their popularity has waned with changing tastes.

2000s: Nespresso

2000s: cosmopolitan

co*cktails don’t come much more Noughties than the cosmopolitan (or cosmo), which trickled into people’s consciousness (and glasses) with hit TV show Sex and the City, which first aired in 1998. It was the drink of choice for Carrie and co, and soon became the go-to co*cktail for a generation of viewers too. The pretty yet potent mix of vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice is still found on menus today, though its popularity has waned.

2000s: co*ke Zero

2000s: Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte