Fellow cough-drop users, you are SO not going to believe this...

[thatcrazycajun]

Most who know me are well aware that once or twice a year, I send the stock of Cadbury-Schweppes PLC up a point or two due to my utter dependence on one of their products for relief from the semi-annual attacks of bronchitis that follow a cold or the flu—and then hang on like a grasping in-law for weeks before I finally break down and go see the doctor for some real medication. Summer and winter, I can almost hear their people in the executive suite going, "Hey, we gained two points today! Leger must be sick again!"

The product, in case you hadn't guessed, is Halls® Mentho-Lyptus® Cough Drops (and its variants, Sugar-Free Halls and Halls PLUS® with the liquid cough-syrup center). Over the years, this little lozenge has succored me against sore throats, post-nasal drip and chest congestion where all other nostrums have failed, even the supposed strongest prescription cough syrups. Since its creation by the Halls brothers in England and through being bought out first by Warner-Lambert Laboratories (since gobbled up by Pfizer Inc.) and then by C-S, a couple dozen flavors have been trotted out for those (like me) who couldn't stomach the original plain menthol variety: cherry, honey-lemon (my personal fave), strawberry, spearmint, coffee and even green tea (in China only).

But tonight in a Rite Aid, I just ran into the weirdest flavor yet. I shit you not, people: in a bold experiment in co-branding with the folks over at their corporate sibling Canada Dry, the Halls makers are now selling ginger-ale-flavored cough drops. Behold and marvel. I bought some out of sheer curiosity, as I have guzzled many a glass of Canada Dry and/or of apple juice when ill in the past.* The taste was about what I had expected; while they might do in a pinch, I'd never choose them over my good old honey-lemon and cherry.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a way-out idea? Or does it make sense to anyone else who has had to (or chosen to) drink ginger ale when sick?
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*These two drinks always take me back in memory to my late maternal grandmother's house in Broussard, LA, just south of Lafayette where I was born; aside from her giving them to her sick grandson when she'd care for me to relieve my mother, these drinks, along with the old cyclamate-laden original Fresca, were among the few things she could safely quaff after she learned she had diabetes. (Diet 7-Up, now another Cadbury brand, would sometimes be in her fridge when she couldn't get Fresca.) Hospitals also seem to serve me apple juice, the [thankfully] very few times I have been in them as a patient.

Comments

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

I drink ginger ale to prevent myself from being sick, actually. Cherry Hall's for me, thanks.

[crowatdusk.livejournal.com]

I think you had as much a blast writing this as I had reading it - the subject normally wouldn't hold my attention beyond the first sentence, if that, however you kept me engaged to the end not for the subject but in fascination of your way with words!

Most sincerely!

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for your kind words. I'm glad I could make an otherwise dull subject interesting for you.

Postscript

[crowatdusk.livejournal.com]

ginger ale...honey-lemon....cherry....whatever....anything containing mentho-lyptus gives me stomach cramps. :-( Tylenol makes a product called "honey flu" that is a syrup you add to tea which really takes the edge off symptoms for me. I haven't a clue what's in it, but certainly not menthol anything.

[beki.livejournal.com]

I do drink ginger ale when I am not feeling well. The carbonation helps to alleviate some things, and the ginger is supposed to be a stomach smoother over. Plus, plain seltzer water tastes nasty.

I prefer the honey lemon myself, but I will do the total eucalyptus ones if I am stuffy. The blue (peppermint?) are supposed to be the best for declogging, I find they don't work any better. I think that is a psychological reaction from the peppermint.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[mseuphrates.livejournal.com]

I think a *lot* of people were given ginger ale when they were sick as children (I know I was). So yeah, I think it's a rather cool idea - cough drop and comfort food all in one. :)

And thanks for the "way back" moment. Many many moons ago, I was known as "The Great Fresca Thief". LOL I always had to steal sips of my mother's Fresca. Which is odd, because even *then* I thought it was the most vile tasting stuff on the planet. But she was drinking it (and she wouldn't LET me drink her *other* beverages of choice), so it had to be good, right? Amazing what "being like the grown ups" will drive you to do when you're a kid. :)

Eu

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

>>Amazing what "being like the grown ups" will drive you to do when you're a kid. :)<<

Tell me about it, hon; how do you think I got addicted to coffee? :-) My dad drank it, so I of course just HAD to try some. Unlike his, mine was cut 50/50 with milk—what I guess you'd call café au lait these days, except the milk wasn't steamed. He also used to give all of us boy-kids swigs off his Miller High Life beer on fishing trips...which is really sick parenting when you think about it, but hardly unheard of in the deep South. (I have two brothers, one older, one younger; yes, I'm the "middle child," with all that that implies.)

[wolfette]

Halls Mentho-Lyptus comes in original, cherry and honey-lemon flavours over here - I've never heard of spearmint, coffee or green tea , never mind Ginger Ale!

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

The US and Canada is considered the "home" market for Halls these days, which means new flavors/products tend to appear here first. (Kind of ironic, considering the original product was created by a couple of guys on YOUR side of the pond!)

The newest is something called Halls Naturals, an "organic" formulation which I'm guessing is intended to address the recent competition from lesser-known homeopathic brands.

[wolfette]

if it doesn't contain aspartame I'm happy. Half the "cough sweets" available these days are "sugar free". :-(

[ericavdg.livejournal.com]

We keep a 2-liter bottle ginger ale around for the sickly, especially when Lydia is down with a bug and she needs the calories (we're a diet soda household). She drank two bottles last February when she had a three-day flu. I prefer tea with cream and sugar when I'm sick, no matter with what. I think I'll try the ginger-ale flavored drops as I find the cherry ones too sweet and the menthol ones too, well, menthol.

I agree, you are a splendid writer, and not just on this topic. Have you tried copy writing? I think you'd be good at it because you can make any subject interesting. The prose flows. Your word choice is interesting, your grammar superb, and your spelling impeccable. And you can punctuate! This from a professional copy editor and proofreader. Think about it, dear.

Wish I were seeing you at Darkover this year. We'd do dinner.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

I have still not entirely ruled out Darkover, but it will be a kind of a last-minute-flight-deal thing if I do. The way things are shaking out, the Songbird may be coming back for the Christmas week and thus it would not make sense to plan my visit to her until after, which might give me a bit more flexibility meanwhile. Stay tuned.

And as for copywriting, I have not only considered it, I've done it for a living in a New York ad agency as well as elsewhere. And I have worked as a copy editor/proofreader, too. But thank you for your kind words.

[cellio]

Ginger helps me with sore throats. I mean real quantities, though, not the bit of flavoring in Canada Dry. Ginger beer with a kick to it or actual crystalized ginger does the trick.