Avery’s Cola

Founded in 1904 in New Britain, Connecticut, Avery’s Beverages is one of the oldest independent soda bottlers in New England. Since the 1950s, the company has also included a cola in its very extensive range of sodas, though it has never occupied a central position within the assortment.

The business was established by Sherman F. Avery, who began making soda in a red wooden barn on his family’s poultry farm. In its early decades, Avery’s focused on flavors such as birch beer, cream soda, root beer, and ginger ale, and for a period also bottled Coca-Cola and later Pepsi under franchise agreements. After World War II, Avery stepped away from the business, which was subsequently run for decades by William Bonney Sr., who had joined the company as a teenager in the late 1920s.

Over time, Avery’s became known for its unusually wide range of flavors and a willingness to experiment within the boundaries of traditional soda making. Alongside long-standing staples, the company has introduced countless short-run and novelty varieties. In recent years, this approach has been most visible in the Totally Gross Soda series, often developed with input from children visiting the factory, with variants such as Alien Snot, Zombie Brain Juice, and Dog Drool finding a market well beyond Connecticut.

From 1904 until 2025, production took place in the same iconic red wooden building, which became inseparable from Avery’s public image and local identity. Over roughly 120 years, the company changed hands only a small number of times, reinforcing its reputation for continuity rather than reinvention. In 2025, Avery’s was sold to the local family-owned company Hilltop Apiaries, marking the end of production in the historic building. The change of ownership also brought investments in modern equipment and a more scalable production setup. While the red barn is now part of Avery’s history, soda production continues in New Britain, supported by new facilities and supplier agreements with supermarket chains.

Cappy Cola

One of Avery’s more unusual novelty releases is a small series of hot dog–themed sodas created in collaboration with the New Britain hot dog institution Capitol Lunch. The line includes Cappy Cola and the citrus-flavored Wiener Water. Cappy Cola, whose name refers to Capitol Lunch’s nickname “Cappy’s,” has been available since at least the summer of 2024 and carries the catchphrase “A Dog’s Best Friend.”

The collaboration draws on a long local relationship, as Capitol Lunch has sold Avery’s sodas alongside its hot dogs for years. Founded in 1929, Capitol Lunch has deliberately cultivated a 1950s-inspired aesthetic, an image that is also reflected in the retro presentation of Cappy-Cola.