Book: The Bottlers' Formulary (1910)

When it comes to a book on commercial soda production, The Bottlers' Formulary is one of the best, even though it was published in 1910. If you look at soda today, you still drink the same things people did in the early 1900s. Colas, lemon and citrus sodas, ginger ale, root beer and cream soda. This book covers all of those flavours and more.

Though the techniques are over a century old, they are still applicable today, and for the hobby-level soda maker, these techniques can be duplicated at home. The recipes for all the common soda flavours and techniques are in it.

Companies change formulas over time (costs, regulations, stability, etc.), and a good example of that is the use of chloroform in some of the recipes, which we don't use today. Admittedly, I have formulated some of these old flavours with chloroform, but just to taste, never to serve others. So, if you experiment, do so cautiously and always check that the ingredients used in these old formulas are allowed for use today, if you plan on serving them to other people.

I will be doing a video on the Coca-Cola formula in the book. And do note that the recipe for the so-called "7X formula" that was claimed to be discovered in an old leather-bound notebook in 1979 matches the one in this book. The reality is that the Coca-Cola formula was never really secret because there were literally dozens of different cola companies making similar products. The Coca-Cola company was quite litigious and had great marketing, so it put most of those companies to bed. But the formula was generally publicly available.

While writing my book, Fix the Pumps, I came across a passage that said Asa Candler, the owner of Coke in the early 1900s, was having an affair with a stenographer in his building, possibly Mae Ragin. His wife, Lucy Elizabeth Howard, was mad, so it was said she was selling the formula to whoever wanted it. After Lucy died in 1919, Asa Candler was engaged to New Orleans socialite Onezima DeBouchel, but that relationship failed, and he ended up marrying Mae Ragin in 1923 and then divorced her in 1924. In the Bottlers' Formulary, there is mention of the Coca-Cola formula being sold for $50 to $500. However, I cannot find the reference to the part about Lucy Howard selling it. It is probably in some of my old notes, and if I find it, I will post it.

You can also find a formula for Iron Brew (IrnBru) in the book, along with many other flavours and possibly some lost formulas that people might want to create. The section on Ginger Beer is quite good as well.

I've attached a PDF of the book below, as it was published in 1910 and all copyright restrictions have passed, so it is now a public domain book. It is worth giving it a quick read.