Jolt Cola

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Jolt Cola logo

Jolt Cola is a highly caffeinated cola made in the United States. Jolt was created in 1985 by C. J. Rapp and originally came in a red aluminum can with blue horizontal stripes encircling the can. The Jolt Cola logo has the word "JOLT" in jumbled white capitals with a colored outline and a yellow or gold lightning bolt going through the letter "O".

[edit] Jolt Cola in the US

Jolt Cola has about the same amount of caffeine as regular coffee, and twice the amount of caffeine as Coca-Cola, with an early marketing slogan of "All the sugar and twice the caffeine." (This slogan was dropped when they began using corn syrup as the sweetener instead of cane sugar.)

Two gamers with Jolt

Because it provides energy to work throughout the night, Jolt Cola is a favorite energy drink among many gamers, computer programmers, hackers, and at LAN parties. In fact, Jolt Cola was even featured in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Jurassic Park, in a scene which shows computer programmer Dennis Nedry's work station covered with Jolt Cola cans & bottles. It was also shown in several scenes in the film Hackers; in one scene, infamous hacker media-icons Razor and Blade refer to it as "Jolt Cola: The soft drink of the elite hacker."

Jolt Cola was originally made by The Jolt Cola Company of Rochester, New York which has since changed its name to Wet Planet Beverages, reflecting a more diverse product line. Glass Bottles of Jolt are now bottled in Los Angeles, California by the 7-UP Bottling Corporation, whereas cans are made at a Chicago area factory.^{[citation needed]}

A Jolt 25-Calorie Cola was also briefly available, which used a combination of sugar and artificial sweeteners.^{[citation needed]} Jolt Cola has since diversified into additional flavors named Cherry Bomb, Citrus Climax, Orange Blast, White Lightning, Red Eye, and Electric Blue.

In 2003, the name was licensed to a Hackensack, N.J. company named Gumrunners, Inc., which manufactures a line of caffeinated gum bearing the distinctive Jolt label and the slogan "Chew More, Do More." The gum comes in two flavors: spearmint and icy mint.

A "battery bottle"

In 2005, Jolt Cola revamped their product line. Jolt Cola is now found in "battery bottles" (a 23.5 oz / 700 mL resealable aluminum bottle), and there is a new logo; however the logo shown above is also depicted on the battery bottle. The flavors offered have also changed. The battery bottle flavors are Jolt Cola, Blue, Cherry Bomb, Red, Silver, and Ultra (which is a diet drink, utilizing Splenda as its artificial sweetener, also containing Guarana, Ginseng, Taurine, and Vitamin B complex). Many long-time Jolt Cola drinkers have complained, albeit mildly, that though the new image and format is admittedly more modern and stylish, that it lacks the distinctive Jolt "flavour", especially including the significant lack of the classic logo, for which the drink had become instantly recognisable.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Jolt Cola worldwide

Jolt Cola is also manufactured under license in Germany, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Sweden and formerly (and briefly) in the United Kingdom (where it was a budget cola). The German and Swedish supplier uses the old logos, branding and formulation, and only sells the original flavor. Jolt Cola is also available in the Netherlands. However, Jolt Cola Netherlands is a subsidiary of Jolt Cola Germany. Jolt Cola is sold in 500ml bottles in most Eurospar's and Dunne's Stores

In Australia Jolt has been available in the traditional cola flavor, as well as black cherry, root beer, cream soda, and orange flavors, and new flavors were announced for late 2005. Jolt Cola is available in Australia but is difficult to find in large supermarket chains which usually choose not to stock the product in any form. It is available in City Convenience Stores in the Sydney CBD and in a few Foodland supermarkets in the Adelaide metropolitan area. These stores generally sell 615mL bottles.

Jolt remains available in Canada in standard 12-ounce (355 mL) cans, sporting the traditional logo and the new 23.5-ounce (700 mL) "battery bottles".