(can top popping) - [Patty] How best to describe Moxie soda?

- I think it tastes like licorice.

- Medicine comes in high.

- People always say bitter.

- It tastes like root beer on steroids.

- Tastes like pine needles.

I don't know, it just tastes like Maine.

- Most states have an official state drink, and in most states, that drink is milk, but in Maine, it's Moxie.

So what exactly is Moxie and why is it famous?

That's what we're diving into today.

This is "Maine Explained."

(gentle music) I'm Patty White and I went to the Annual Moxie Festival in Lisbon and a museum dedicated to the drink, and I found out lots of people love the taste of Moxie, but it's also been compared to battery acid, burnt rubber, and carbonated Fig Newtons.

So what's behind its funky flavor?

Gentian root, it's used medicinally and it wound up in Moxie because Moxie didn't start as a beverage.

It was an elixir.

- It was originally called nerve food because it was supposed to be healthful for the nervous system.

- [Patty] George Gross is what you might call a Moxie aficionado.

He's president of Matthew's Museum of Maine Heritage in Union, which has an entire wing dedicated to Moxie.

Union is where the guy who created Moxie was born in 1835.

Augustine Thompson grew up to become a doctor and set up a practice in Massachusetts.

That's where he whipped up his elixir in the late 1800s and started selling it with some bold claims.

- It cured everything.

It cured sleeplessness, it cured mental disabilities, it cured imbecility.

- Even the loss of manhood.

In the early 1900s, the Food and Drug Administration stepped in and said Moxie couldn't be marketed as medicine.

By this point, carbonation had already been added to Moxie, so it was sold as a soda, and it had some well-known backers.

- [George] Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox was a major voice for moxie.

- President Calvin Coolidge reportedly drank it after his inauguration.

Writer EB White praised Moxie for containing gentian route, which he said is the path to the good life.

For a little while, Moxie was the most popular soda in the US and the word moxie, which may have been derived from the Abenaki word "maksi," for numbing medicine, took on a new meaning in popular culture.

- A person with zest, a person with vigor.

- Moxie evolved over the years, becoming a little less bitter and a little more sweet.

Its sales declined as Coke and Pepsi rose to the top, but true to its name, Moxie stuck around and has maintained a loyal following.

Thousands of enthusiasts come to Lisbon every year for the Annual Moxie Festival.

So what's the secret to Moxie's longevity?

- Because the people who like it really, really, really like it.

- Moxie is very intergenerational.

- When I grew up, my Meme, all she had in her house was Moxie and water, so those were our choices.

So I grew up on Moxie and I love it.

- There's dozens of colas.

There's dozens of cherry sodas or orange sodas.

There's only one Moxie.

- It's literally distinctively different.

- You either like it a lot or you're not interested.

- And our family's divided, half and half, love it and half hate it.

- I've tried it, but yeah, it's not my thing at all.

- And I have given it a college try.

It's just not my cup of tea.

- After time, it kind of grows on you, and after time, you're like, yeah, I actually like that.

- [Patty] Kate Madore says it takes grit and determination to be a Moxie fan, which may also be part of the appeal.

And maybe to underscore that grit and determination, there's a chugging contest at the festival, where Moxie fans try to prove their mettle.

- Keeping the Moxie chug alive, honestly.

- I heard I gotta down nine in under two minutes to get the title here, so we'll see.

- [Patty] Beau Bradstreet of Bridgewater, Maine defended his title for the 11th time.

He drank seven cans in two minutes.

- I've always liked it.

My two boys, they love it, and I guess it's just something different though.

You like it or you don't, there's no getting used to it.

- True confession: before I made this video, I had never had Moxie.

I'm not a soda drinker, but at the festival, I figured it was time to see where I fell on the Moxie divide, champion or critic.

I wanted to try it with a professional.

So I've never had Moxie and I wanna try it for the first time.

Would you have some with me?

Are you sick of it?

- No, I'll have one with you.

Just be ready for it.

- Here we go.

I'm not gonna chug it, I'm gonna sip it.

- Okay.

- That's good.

It's good.

- It's got a different taste.

- Yeah.

- A little bite to it.

- Yeah.

A little bit herby, gentian.

- Yep.

- Path to a good life.

- That's right.

- Cheers.

- The gentian root explains Moxie's flavor and what the drink represents.

Nostalgia, uniqueness and pep are likely why it keeps a loyal fan base that maintains its fame.

For now, that's Moxie Soda explained.

Cheers.