Featured image for Jones Soda's Turkey & Gravy Makes a Return For Thanksgiving 2021

Jones Soda's Turkey & Gravy Makes a Return For Thanksgiving 2021

by Rudy Sanchez on 09/23/2021 | 2 Minute Read

After a years-long hiatus, Seattle-based Jones Soda will revive a Thanksgiving dinner-themed soda. 

For the uninitiated, Jones’ Turkey & Gravy concoctions inspired by the autumnal holiday feast approximates their namesakes with sufficient accuracy to be nauseating.

Although perhaps best known for its labels featuring fan photography, Jones Soda made headlines in 2003 by offering a turkey-and-gravy flavored soda with proceeds supporting Toys for Tots, a nonprofit organization run by the US Marine Reserves dedicated to distributing o toys to children in need for Christmas. The Thanksgiving-themed sodas continued for a few years, with Jones extending the autumnal offering to include side dishes like mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green bean casserole. They also created dessert-inspired drinks like pecan pie and even made an antacid-flavored soda in 2006. The strange and savory sodas were then put on the shelf after a few years, with Jones focused on more soda-friendly holiday offerings around Halloween, Christmas, Chanukah, and Valentine’s Day.

Editorial photograph

Jones teased the new Turkey & Gravy on social media with a mock screenshot of a group chat between “Special Release Flavors” with a notice at the bottom announcing Turkey & Gravy’s inclusion.

According to an interview with Adweek, Jones Soda tweaked the recipe, so it is slightly different from the original 2003 release. Of course, one has to wonder by what metric one improves turkey-and-gravy-flavored soda. CEO Mark Murray also told Adweek that the brand believes enough time has passed where Gen Z and young Millennials may have heard of Jones’ Thanksgiving flavors but have never tried them and that a return was long overdue.

Gen Z and younger millennials are also the same folks eating Tide Pods and walking on milk crates for social media clout, so Jones Soda might be onto something.