Since 1998, Moxie has been Maine’s official state drink. Although it is owned by Kirin of Japan and its U.S. headquarters are in New Hampshire, no one can dispute Maine’s claim on it. The inventor, Augustin Thompson, was born in Maine, and more important, Moxie is a soft drink with character well-suited to the stereotypical dour personality of the Pine Tree State. It is more bitter than sweet; even its bubbles are not so much frothy as they are sharp. Marketed in the late nineteenth century as a nerve tonic that prevented “softening of the brain,” Moxie has come to be synonymous with such words as chutzpah and cojones, used to describe someone who is bold, unafraid, and in your face. We met just such a woman a few years back at a lovely lobster pound along the Downeast Coast, where she was in charge of selling beverages. When we asked her for a bottle of Moxie to go with our shore dinner, she didn’t hesitate to say bluntly, “No. You won’t like it. You’ll have Coke instead.” That’s moxie.
Moxie is a good antidote for nutrition nags who wail about soda being too sweet.