Anyone know the history of O-So Grape Soda or the company

[SODABOB]

Wirtz / Breakthru Beverage Group / Wirtz Beverages / 1945

Wirtz Corporation » Our Story

wirtzcorp.com

 

[Roadstar]

I'm asking for some help with this one as I can't find anything on the company. We're updating our website and I wanted to add some history to
each of our sodas... and this one is a tough one. All we have so far is just a line "The O-So Beverage Company originally brewed out of Peoria, IL around 1946."
So I'm hoping someone here has a book or old ad with a little more information.. So many sodas and their histories are getting lost. That's why I wanted to start placing what I can find about each soda we carry their history...
Anyway thanks for any leads.

Funny, I don't see my detailed reply here about searching at archive.org where I found loads of info on O-So Grape (searching for "O-So Grape"). Maybe you saw that message. Here's just one of the things I found.

"O-So Grape began in 1946 and bought Dr. Swett’s Root Beer in 1949. One of the oldest root beer brands, Dr. Swett’s had been bottling root beer in Boston and New York since the 1880s. O-So Grape went out of business after law- suits by major bottlers in the late 1950s and is today owned by the Homer Soda Company of Homer, Illinois." CONOVER, Richard Allan, pres. 0-So Grape Co. since 1945.
"

 

[SODABOB]

Rodstar

I can't speak for anyone else but I did see your post #64 and have been looking through some of the information on the website you mentioned. I will let you know if I find anything of interest that hasn't already been discussed or posted. This link should go straight to the O-So Grape stuff.

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

archive.org

Thanks.

Bob

 

[SODABOB]

Roadstar, and All

I searched the Archives and even though there were a lot of listings for O-So Grape, (most of which were about various bottling operations), I managed to find the attached listing that I consider to be fairly significant. Even though it doesn't tell the whole history, it confirms some of the earlier information we discussed about O-So Grape relocating to Peoria, Illinois. I also saw some hints where it was referred to as the "Parent Company" - although I did not save any of those because they were kind of vague. Even though I signed up with the (free) website there was no option for downloading entire pages. So I had to settle for the screenshots you see here. Even though his name is not mentioned in the snippet, I found some other listings from the same time period (1950-1960) indicating that Benjamin R. Koch was in charge of things. However, that doesn't necessarily mean he owned the company. I'm not sure we will ever figure out the entire line of ownership, but hopefully with time and more research something will surface that will eventually put a cap on this discussion.

Bob


August 1952

 

[SODABOB]

Then and Now ...

August 2023


O-So Grape Bottle Orca Beverage Inc. eBay

https://shorturl.at/qISYZ


Orca Beverage Inc. Website

https://orcabeverage.com/

Orca Beverage Inc. Trademarks

https://trademarks.justia.com/owners/orca-beverage-inc-2460557/

 

[Adhemrick]

I just ran into a So-Grape bottle cap!! Apparently super rare. Can’t find any sales records.