There are horses for courses, of course (of course) and Ale-8-One is certainly a thoroughbred the folks in their old Kentucky home can bet on. When your home turf is bluegrass, it’s a matter of instinct to break into a gallop when it comes to growth—and in its part of the world, the brand’s growth isn’t shy about picking up the pace. For the carbonated soft drink pride of Winchester, Ky., USA, however, sometimes a trot will do just as well. Ale-8-One has been running for more than 80 years. This regional favorite’s finish line is, happily, nowhere in sight.

Circa 1926, who knew G.L. Wainscott—bottling flavored soda water since the turn of the century—was onto something more lasting than a few ounces of refreshment when he conceived and created his own take on ginger in Winchester? Who knew Wainscott’s latest thing, dubbed “A Late One” for being, well, the latest thing, would outlast everything else Wainscott had produced? Who knew that far from Kentucky...far from Ohio, even...that Ale-8-One drinkers in the next century would be determined to obtain their favorite soda pop by the case, even if it meant having them transported well beyond Ale-8-One territory?

If Winchester is a Mecca of sorts for devotees of historic regional CSDs, then let’s say Ale-8-One has a nice little side business in bringing its mountain of flavor to Mohammed, so to speak. At the brand’s website, ale8one.com, as surely as you can buy Ale-8-One shirts (like the one Orlando Bloom wore in Elizabeth-town) and hats and barbecue sauce (yep, you read that right), you can order cans and bottles of the flagship product at US$9.25 per case of two 12-packs of cans, or for US$7.75 a dozen glass bottles—plus shipping. Shipping can make it a bit of an investment, but as executive vice president Fielding Rogers notes, people do like to invest in what they love to drink.

“We have mail-order customers all over the country,” Rogers marvels. “Shipping can cost twice as much as the product itself,” more if you’re in a rush. Nevertheless, Ale-8-One ships out as many as 200 cases in a typical month.

“A lot of people have just gotten hooked on it,” Rogers says. “They just like the product.”

Many do, particularly in Kentucky, southern Ohio, a well-situated corner of Indiana and Huntsville, Ala., where shipping, thankfully, entails merely walking or driving to the store and grabbing a can or a bottle or as many as you can carry home. Ale-8-One has a loyal core market and returns the favor by keeping its eye on the ball. The company’s brand portfolio is Ale-8-One and Diet Ale 8 and that’s it. Ginger, fruit and caffeine define the drink and comprise the company’s liquid stock-in-trade. It was working well enough in 1935 for Wainscott to convert a Winchester livery stable into a bottling operation. It persevered into 1968 so that its former stablemate, Roxa-Kola, was put out to pasture. It captivated enough Kentuckians to make all other company flavors superfluous by 1974. The diet version, long in the planning, became a reality in 2003 when Splenda plus acesulfame potassium (ace K) equaled a taste that satisfied the Rogers family, led by Fielding’s father Frank. But that’s it: Ale-8-One, Diet Ale 8, nothing more.

Ale-8-One customers wouldn’t have their favorite soft drink or company any other way, says Rogers, though naturally enough you don’t maintain and build a following this long based on quirkiness and goodwill. It does take help. The Rogers work with Coca-Cola Enterprises in some of the brand’s largest markets, including Louisville and Cincinnati, and enjoy a beneficial relationship with Corbin (Ky.) Pepsi. But at the heart of it all is Frank Rogers III, great nephew of C.L. Wainscott, and his three children, including Fielding. Well, them and their 16,000 friends who account for the Ale-8-lovin’ population of Winchester.

“People do take pride in it,” Rogers says. “They see us as a good, warm company, their own Kentucky soft drink,” even if only four citizens of Winchester are actually shareholders.

Those would be the Rogers. They’re not only the owners, but they are the keepers of one of the best soft drink secrets north of Atlanta. “We are,” Rogers says, “the only four people who know the Ale-8 formula.” Indeed, as necessary, one of the four will mix a batch of flavoring for concentrate. Nobody else knows how. Nobody else will as long as any of them is alive. “It’s locked away and secure,” Rogers insists, adding it might not be the best idea for he, his father, his brother and his sister to fly on the same airplane. Devotion to Ale-8-One by its most outspoken devotees, however, soars.

VITAL STATS
ALE-8-ONE BOTTLING CO.
PRESIDENT & CEO: Frank Rogers III
HEADQUARTERS: Winchester, Ky., USA
’07 REVENUE: US$14.3 million
EMPLOYEES: 80
GOALS: To get more availability to consumers who want Ale-8-One, grow distribution yet stay small and maintain “a good, homey feeling.”

From Beverage World March 15, 2008