Clearly Canadian
The sparkling flavored water in the teardrop-shaped glass bottle that made every '90s kid feel fancy. Wild Cherry, Mountain Blackberry — nursed like it was champagne.
Clearly Canadian was the sparkling flavored water that made every '90s kid feel a little fancy. Launched out of Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1988, it came in a distinctive teardrop-shaped glass bottle — flavors like Wild Cherry and Mountain Blackberry, sweetened with cane sugar and colored with nothing at all.
It rode the early-'90s 'New Age beverage' wave alongside Snapple, and sales rocketed to a record of roughly $155 million in 1992. The fall was just as fast: revenue dropped by more than a third the very next year as the fad cooled and competitors piled in.
The brand limped through decades of ownership changes and never regained its peak, though a 2013 fan crowdfunding campaign pre-sold tens of thousands of cases and briefly brought it back. For most people, though, Clearly Canadian is frozen in that heavy glass bottle you sipped slowly to make it last.
Similar items
Snapple
The iced-tea and juice-drink brand that defined 1990s refreshment, served in a distinctive glass bottle with a metal cap (the famous "Real Facts" printed under the lid didn't arrive until 2002). That satisfying pop when you opened it, the quirky trivia, and flavors like peach and raspberry made Snapple a generational memory.
Crystal Pepsi
The clear cola that tasted like 90s optimism and regret mixed together. Crystal Pepsi was caffeine-free, marketed on a fever dream of purity, and backed by a Super Bowl ad that tried desperately to make it cool.
Zima
The clear, faintly citrus malt beverage Coors pushed as "Zomething different." Part of the '90s clear craze, it was briefly everywhere before late-night jokes turned it into a punchline.
Fruitopia
Coca-Cola's psychedelic, tie-dyed fruit drink 'for the mind, body, and planet.' The trippy kaleidoscope vending machines and New-Age flavor names — Strawberry Passion Awareness — were peak-'90s marketing weirdness.