Ale-8-One to go national at 630 Cracker Barrel Country Stores
Ale-8-One, the ginger and citrusy soft drink made in Winchester since 1926, is going to be sold nationwide at 630 Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, the company announced this week. Cracker Barrel stores are “perfect venues to feature our 90-year-old, family-crafted soft drink. What made this partnership special from the start is our shared passion for bringing friends and family together,” said Ellen McGeeney, president and chief operating officer of Ale-8-One. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to gain entry into Cracker Barrel Country Stores nationwide, and to begin developing a relationship that introduces Cracker Barrel patrons to the Best of the Bluegrass in our classic green glass bottles.”
Formulated by George Lee Wainscott, Ale-8 hit the market in 1926, and it’s the only soft drink invented in the Bluegrass still in existence. Amidst an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit by Coca-Cola to stop distribution of his popular Roxa-Kola, Wainscott was inspired to design Ale-8 to taste like nothing else, so it would stand the test of time. That promise continues to be fulfilled today by his great-great nephew, Fielding Rogers, who continues to hand-mix the unique recipe four generations later.
“Uncle Lee crafted a smooth, refreshing and truly unique soda: ginger-based, but with more flavor, less carbonation, a little less sugar, and without the bite of ginger beers. Ale-8-One is made with real ginger extract that has been blended specifically for us,” said Rogers, fourth-generation owner, CEO and guardian of the secret family recipe.
▪ Bayou Bluegrass Catering’s Copper Roux, 861 South Broadway, will have its annual Easter Brunch on March 27. It is taking reservations for seatings at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Price is $34 for adults, $29.50 for seniors, $16.50 children ages 8 to 4, free for children 3 and younger. Bar beverages, gratuity and sales tax are extra. Various stations will serve breakfast, salads, entrees, carved meats and desserts. For additional information or to make a reservation, go to Bayoubuegrass.com and fill out the reservation form or call 859-523-7915.
▪ Good Foods Co-op, 455 Southland Drive, will have an Easter buffet from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring Good Foods bennies with hollandaise sauce, salmon with lemon picatta sauce, spinach and spring onion quiche, French toast casserole with lemon blueberry sauce, Stone Cross Farm sausage links, southern-style gravy, vegan vegetable scramble and Gimme Lean vegan sausage. It’s $8.99 a pound. Call 859-278-1813 for more information.
▪ The BCTC Foundation will offer a little something different: At 5 p.m. March 23, in the Keeneland Room at the Bluegrass Community and Technical College Newtown Campus Building, 470 Cooper Drive, you can experience the flavors of tiffin, Indian foods eaten between meals and filled with fabulous flavors, including idli (steamed rice cakes), dosai (pancakes), uppuma (wheat grits), vadai (fried legumes) and various chutneys. It will be served by physics professor emeritus Seetha Subramanian. The tiffin is $20 a person. The event is a fundraiser for the Rao Scholarship.
▪ HopCat has partnered with Short’s Brewing Co. of Bellaire, Mich., and its distributors to launch Short’s and Starcut beers and ciders on March 19 at HopCat restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska and Wisconsin. HopCat in Lexington, 410 West Short Street, will offer Huma Lupa Licious, a palette-punching IPA; Soft Parade, a best-selling fruit-infused rye beer; Space Rock, a pale ale brewed to remove gluten, and Starcut Octorock , a semi-sweet hard cider on tap, plus limited supplies of other specialty beers and ciders.
▪ The Fresh Market, 3387 Tates Creek Road, has announced that the chain will work with its suppliers to offer 100 percent cage-free eggs in its stores by 2020. Already all of The Fresh Market’s private-brand eggs are cage-free, and 86 percent of its total current offering is from cage-free hens.
This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 11:14 AM with the headline "Ale-8-One to go national at 630 Cracker Barrel Country Stores."