SALISBURY, N.C. — It’s a sound and taste that delivers an instant smile: Cheerwine. To date, the sweet, fizzy beverage is known to be the oldest continuing soft drink run by the same family. Joy Harper is a part of the fifth generation working for the company today.
“A cold can of Cheerwine is always my favorite,” Harper said.
The Southern beverage has not an ounce of alcohol inside it, and its name originates from over a century ago.
“Back when soft drinks first started, you know pharmacists even used soft drinks, it was a way to make you feel better. It was a way to perk you up and make you happy, and Cheerwine with the name cheer in it, you know when you drink it it can make you smile,” Harper said.
L.D Peeler, Harper’s great-great-grandfather, created Cheerwine in 1917 during a time when North Carolina was experiencing a sugar shortage.
Harper said Peeler was driven to start his own soft drink, and that’s when he discovered a wild cherry flavor.
“The reason L.D Peeler started experimenting with other flavors was because of this World War I sugar shortage, so without that, we don’t know if he would have made Cheerwine,” Harper said.
The original factory where Cheerwine was made more than 100 years ago still stands today, and its location was no accident.
“Trains were how a lot of transportation was done back then [because] roads were not well paved,” Harper said.
Hundreds of Cheerwine glass bottles were once loaded onto trains and carried out to people in neighboring communities. Today, the Southern treat can be purchased in all 50 states.
The Cheerwine production facility is located at the Independent Beverage Company in Charlotte, where 1,000 cans of Cheerwine are made per minute.
“From here, Cheerwine then gets sent on a truck and sent to those distribution centers, who then take Cheerwine to the stores,” Harper said.