Two Southern Classics Combine In Doughnut-Flavored Soda

That time you wanted a doughnut with your soda, but maybe not IN your soda

By Bruce Brown July 30, 2016

Cheerwine Kreme...How DO We Do It? (Psst, it's not Cream Soda)

Are you ready to get your Southern on? If you’re in one of the Carolinas or Savannah, Georgia, this summer, you’ll have a chance to sample an unexpected combination of two Southern food staples: doughnut-flavored cherry soda.

Some foods just go together naturally, like grilled-cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, hamburgers and French fries, and bacon and eggs. Other times, maybe they’re better off consumed separately. You’ll have to make up your own mind about Cheerwine and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, not just as go-withs but when they’re blended together, which is what you get with CheerwineKreme soda, as reported on Gizmodo.

“Two Southern classics, one legendary taste,” is on every bottle and can of Cheerwine Kreme. The two North Carolina companies have deep Southern roots. Krispy Kreme is better known and has international distribution — you can buy freshly made Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts in England and in Japan. Cheerwine, however, has been distributed primarily in the South since its original formulation in 1917.

Cheerwine isn’t an alcoholic drink, by the way, though it sounds like it could be a wine sold in screw-top bottles. The name of the sugary, black-cherry flavored, burgundy-colored soda is based on the taste and color and was trademarked in 1926, according to Wikipedia.

Compared to a 12-once can of regular Coca-Cola, an equal serving of Cheerwine Kreme has 10 more calories, three more grams of sugar, and a bit more than half the sodium. This Cheerwine Kreme is a bit lighter than the original, possibly so you’ll think the color change came from combining the original soda with a glazed doughnut.

A tongue-in-cheek YouTube video Cheerwine Kreme … How DO We Do It? (Psst, it’s not Cream Soda) purports to show researchers in the lab and in a field testing the two ingredients before the final “science” that combined them.

This isn’t the first cross-branding between the two companies. In 2010 and 2011 Krispy Kreme sold a Cheerwine-flavored doughnut during July at select grocery stores. Cheerwine Kreme is available only in North and South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, at Krispy Kreme doughnut shops and Harris Teeter and Food Lion grocery stores.

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