Doug Norris packs Northern Neck ginger ale at the plant in Montross. The drink, long popular locally, is finding a wider market. The Northern Neck Coca-Cola Bottling Co. will soon host a museum of memorabilia. And its ginger-ale product line is soaring to new heights. In 1921, Arthur Carver helped popularize a newfangled idea in the Northern Neck—Coca-Cola in a glass bottle. Nearly 80 years later, Coke is the ubiquitous American product—available around the world in a variety of containers. And the Carver family’s bottling plant is still cranking it out. ‘We think we have the only real ginger ale left in America,’ Arthur Carver III says of his family's Northern Neck Ginger Ale. The Northern Neck Coca-Cola Bottling Co. is one of only two independent Coke bottlers left in the state—a relic of times before consolidation swept the nation in the 1970s and cut the number of small Coke bottling franchises from 1,000 to fewer than 90. To celebrate his family’s long-lived success—and the immense popularity of the caramel-colored carbonated beverage—Arthur Carver III is opening a museum in the plant. “We nurtured the business and enjoy it,” said Carver, who has been president of the company since 1985. “For us, it’s a way of life, of participating in the community and meeting people.” But Carver’s heart isn’t all Coke. He’s also thirsting for more success for the family’s other legacy—Northern Neck and Carver’s Original ginger ales. To accomplish that, he’s marketing the heretofore local quaffs across the mid-Atlantic region. “We have the recipe for real ginger ale, and that is the key,” Carver said. “We think we have the only real ginger ale left in America.” Always Coca-Cola This is a serendipitous year to announce the museum—1999 marks the 100th anniversary of bottled Coca-Cola. Scheduled to open in 2001 in a renovated portion of the 67-year-old plant, the museum will feature all manner of Coke memorabilia, from old advertising signs and ancient ice-box coolers to antique packaging and bottles. The museum will contain nostalgic cans of Mello Yello, the father of Surge, and bottles of quaint old brands such as Bubble Up and Sun-Rise. There are unwieldy 64-ounce glass bottles that predate today’s plastic two-liters and a host of other old-time objects. The historic plant already looks different—travelers motoring down State Route 3 through Montross see a brightly hued mural adorning its front wall. The image is of the Sprite Boy, an advertising gimmick of the 1950s that eventually became the name of Coca-Cola’s lemon-lime soda. Carver’s grandfather was part of the intrepid group that began bottling Coca-Cola in the Northern Neck in 1921. Until then, bottled Cokes were hauled in on steamships. Ten years later, Carver opened the then-mammoth bottling plant in Montross where the soft drink is still bottled today. The plant, small by today’s standards, has survived the shift to giant operations. The only other independent Coke bottler in Virginia is in Richmond—and it has plants across the state, as well as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland. The Carver plant has helped make Coke products extremely popular in the Northern Neck. The soft-drink company says the region drinks more Coke products per capita than any other in Virginia. “We believe in Coca-Cola. We’re opening this museum because we are proud of our heritage,” Carver said. Bubbling with enthusiasm While the Northern Neck Coca-Cola Bottling Co.’s primary mission is to bottle and distribute various Coke products across the rural area, it also brews two ginger ales of its own. Since June, Carver has taken bold steps to market one of those brands—Northern Neck Ginger Ale—across the mid-Atlantic. Until the early 1990s, when it hit shelves in Hampton Roads and the city of Richmond, Northern Neck Ginger Ale was available only in Westmoreland, Northumberland, Lancaster and Richmond counties, plus the Dahlgren area of King George County. Locally, the Northern Neck brand is now sold by Ukrop’s in Spotsylvania County and Food Lion stores in the Northern Neck. It is also available at MacGruder’s markets in Northern Virginia and the Baltimore-area Stop, Shop and Save chain. It will soon be in Farm Fresh stores in Hampton Roads and Wal–Marts in Richmond. Carver’s latest marketing coup—a deal with the Richfood distribution warehouse in Richmond—will send the ales to independent and chain supermarkets throughout the mid-Atlantic. “Wherever it goes, it stays,” Carver said. “When people try it, they like it. Once they discover it, they will buy it.” The no-funny-stuff-added ales are made with the same recipe that was handed to Carver’s grandfather in 1921 by a New England friend. Carver said some companies take shortcuts—using hot red pepper to produce the same bite as real ginger. But his family’s brands use real ginger extract, pure cane sugar and filtered water from a nearby artesian well to produce what Carver describes as a “delicate bouquet.” Carver said the family was content to produce a local drink until the rave reviews started pouring in. It decided about 10 years ago to aggressively promote its ginger ales. “Finally, it sunk in that we had something special,” he said. Pushing ahead, gingerly In 1986, when the company found a supplier of green bottles, it launched a full-scale marketing campaign for Northern Neck Ginger Ale. Carver had the trademark registered in 1992, and kept the original 1930s package design. But the company faced an obstacle to reaping ginger-tinged rewards—the soda was available only in small glass and plastic bottles, not exactly convenient to the consumer base. So, Carver took a chance on bottling the ginger ale in “priority packaging,” which means two-liter plastic bottles and 12-ounce cans. “It took right off,” Carver said. “It was the right package at the right time.” The two-liter bottles tripled sales. When the company launched six-pack cans a little later, its already booming sales doubled. The unexpected spike lit a light bulb for Carver. “We realized if we could sell it around our small territory at this rate, there’s gotta be a place for it,” he said. The company already had has success with its other ginger ale. The gourmet Carver’s Original brand was reintroduced in 1992 after a 72-year hiatus. Today, it can be found in upscale stores from Miami to Chicago. The Cincinnati Enquirer last year rated Carver’s the best ginger ale in America. The drink is unique because of its higher proportion of ginger root extract and lower degree of carbonation. It is sold in sleek glass bottles, and the company recommends it be sipped from a champagne flute. “We sell a lot less Carver’s, but it is designed to sell in specialty food markets and fine restaurants,” Carver said. Carver is optimistic that Northern Neck Ginger Ale will be as popular to the bologna-and-cheese crowd as Carver’s has been with the paté and brie set. After all, Carver said, 78 years in business have taught the family something about pleasing customers. “If this business wasn’t managed well, and with so many years of hard work, it would not exist now,” he said. “We have developed what is called goodwill. We appreciate our customers’ business, and we show that.”