Vernors Ginger Ale (Kingsport, Bristol, Burns: home, buy, live)

[njkee]

We recently moved to the Tri-Cities from Michigan. One Michigan specialty item we miss is Vernors Ginger Ale. Does anyone know of a store around here that sells Vernors?

[jabogitlu]

Not at all :/ My Michigan friends swear by it though. If you can't find it anywhere (I'm thinking possibly Mast General Store in Valle Crucis?), look up Korner-Copia in downtown Kingsport. I think Mary-Beth does a lot of special ordering...

[Beretta]

I am not sure because I don't drink any ginger ale. I drank so much when I was pregnant with morning sickness that I can't stand the taste of it now. However, I have had very good luck with Kroger ordering items for me. Vernor's is distributed by Dr Pepper / Snapple so I am sure that they can get it. Talk to the Customer Service desk or the Manager.

[DubbleT]

I love my Vernors and yes you can find it here. I have a 2ltr in my cupboard as I write this.
The bad news is that I shop a lot of stores in Bristol, both TN and VA, and I don't remember where I bought it. Kroger, Food City, Walmart, Walgreen, or maybe even Big Lots would be the likely suspects.
If you have trouble finding it, DM me and I can ask the soft drink vendors that deliver to my workplace next week. Most of the delivery guys I get work Roan Mtn too.
Welcome to TN from a former Michigander.

[NorthernLights]

Aaahhhhh, God bless you!!! A fellow Vernor's fan.
However, I must add the proviso that it's NOT exactly the same Vernor's my familial relations from Detroit used to bring home to me in Maryland in the 60's and 70's on their visits when I was a child when the six packs claimed it was "flavor aged in wood barrels for four years" or some such foolishness. [My great Uncle was Bill Shepherd, running back for the Detroit Lions back before television]. They hated the s--t, but I LOVED it as a kid and when we would visit Detroit I would drink my body weight in the stuff. The oldest continually made ginger soft drink in the US so they claim, which I have always likened to a Ginger Ale with a touch of Cream soda experience thrown in. I still enjoy it but it just doesn't taste the same as before the late 1980s, when United Brands, A&W and Cadbury moved it from a regional soft drink to a national brand.
I find it locally at Krogers, Ingles and may have even gotten it at Food City.

If you are new to the area I have to strongly urge that you try Dr. Enuf. It's a gem and I have become very enamored to it and I can vouch that it lives up to it's original design as a hangover cure [full of those B vitamins you need after a night of adult beverages]. The Tri-City beverage website explains the soda and also explains the local connection to the perfecting of the Mountain Dew soda recipe. It's made with real sugar not corn syrup which to me is a discernible heavier experience than real sugar. I also must recommend Cheerwine in the smaller bottles, not the cans as the two are made differently. Read the label and buy the more expensive one made with sugar instead of corn syrup. Marvelous. Also you can find other brands made with sugar over corn syrup like Red Rock cola and ginger ale from Atlanta GA.
I visited the former CityData moderator's store today for lunch in Kingsport and was surprised to find she sells Mexican Coca-Cola!! Way to be Mary Beth!! More expensive a bottle but it's more like the real Coca-Cola of our youth [if you're old like me] from before they pulled those New Coke/Classic Coke shenanigans to get people used to Coke made with Corn syrup as "the Real Thing".
There's some things you'll miss from back home [I miss Utz potato chips, the best chips in the world] but there's plenty of other neat things you will become addicted to after you live here a while...like Duke's Mayonnaise.

[jabogitlu]

Utz is here... I saw them not long ago. Don't ask me where???

[njkee]

Thanks everybody for those replies. I'll check out the stores that you mentioned.
When you grow up in the Detroit area Vernors is what your mom gives you to calm an upset stomach...and it still is what we crave when we're not feeling well.
And, as mentioned, there's nothing like a Boston Cooler...Vernors with vanilla ice cream. YUM!

[SCBaker]

I grew up in Detroit in the 50's and early 60's. I remember going to the soda fountains at Cunningham's drug store & Kresge dime store and ordering a Vernors. As adults, Vernors was a great mixer for the classic "high ball". And don't forget Fago pop.

I am sure you former Michiganders will remember that there is no such thing as soda or soft drink to describe non-alcoholic beverages. It is called "pop".

[kamoshika]

Kroger in Kingsport has regular & diet Vernors, $1.39 for a 2-liter bottle. FWIW, while it's in the soda aisle it's not with the other ginger ales.

[Capt. Dan]

Vernors is great! Until someone makes you laugh and it comes out of your nose! Then it BURNS!!!!!!!!!!!!