You aren’t a true VESS unless you have a vintage Vess Cola sign or bottle displayed somewhere in your home!


Hanging in my kitchen, is a vintage 1950 VESS COLA tin sign that I inherited from my family and eventually, (if they still have it) I will probably inherit my family’s most valuable flower vase, a vintage VESS COLA bottle.

It’s just a fun thing that nearly every VESS family does and surprisingly, VESS COLA has nothing to do with the VESS family!

History of Vess Cola

Vess Cola is quite popular and there are a lot of articles online about its complicated history.

Vess Cola is a brand of soda named after Vess Jones of St. Louis, Missouri; “Vess” being short for Sylvester.

According to Collectors Weekly, Sylvester “Vess” Jones, is the original founder of the Orange Whistle Company (1915), later to be known as The Whistle Company. History is a bit confusing, for that his company had a lot of changes throughout the years, including a bankruptcy after the Depression, several different owners and name changes.

The Vess brand appears to have been created in the 1920’s and The Whistle Company eventually changed its company name to the Vess Beverage Company. Original flavors included Cola, Cream, Grape, Blueberry, Fruit Punch, Strawberry and Blue Raspberry. In the 1970’s, they sold a Chocolate drink that is said to be comparable to Yahoo.

It is my understanding that before the Vess Cola brand, there was the Orange Whistle soda, which was created and sold by a man named Charles Leiper Grigg working for Vess Jones. Some sources say he left The Whistle Company after butting heads with Vess Jones. Grigg eventually started his own company and in 1929, he introduced the world to the amazing lemon-lime creation known today as 7UP!

Check out this article about an old Vess Cola advertisement uncovered after a fire.

What Flavors Have You Tried!

Not bottled as fancy as their predecessors, but they sure do look colorful!

Today, Vess Cola is owned by Cott Beverages, Inc. and there is supposedly 27 flavors of Vess Cola available today!

The first flavor of Vess-Cola I ever tried was lemon-lime, which is kind of blah compared to other brands and nowhere as crisp as 7UP. However, their grape and strawberry flavors aren’t too bad. They even have Vess-Cola seltzer!

I am amazed that Vess Cola is still around and I believe the variety of delicious fruit flavors makes the brand so unique.

Finding Vess Cola can sometimes be difficult, because they are often hidden behind all the other big soda brands on the shelf. So, it’s best to check the bottom shelves or the specialty soda section (due to their fruit flavors). I have found grocery stores to be the best place to find Vess Cola and occasionally, you may get lucky with Walmart.

Please share with us! Tell us what kind of Vess Cola collectable you have and let us know if you’ve tried any of the Vess Cola flavors.