Infamous Jolt Cola returns to steal your sleep
"All the sugar and twice the caffeine." Jolt Cola is coming out of retirement and wants to make you hyper just like back in the '80s.
Break out your Jordache jeans, tease your bangs and get ready for an all-night Q*bert marathon on your Atari. The '80s geek fuel of choice, Jolt Cola, returns to store shelves this month, and it will live up to its original slogan: "All the sugar and twice the caffeine."
Jolt, which originally launched in 1985, calls itself "America's first carbonated energy drink." The high-octane soda went defunct as a national brand around 2009, which the company chalks up to "some bad business decisions." The revived cola will come in classic red cans with the lightning-bolt Jolt logo.
The cola will try to cash in on both nostalgia and its pop-culture cachet. The drink made cameo appearances in some major films, including "Jurassic Park" and "Hackers."
According to the nutrition label on the Jolt site, a 16-ounce serving of the cola packs 190 calories and 50 grams of added sugar. An equivalent serving of Coke has the same calorie count and 52 grams of sugars. That fits the bill for Jolt's "all the sugar" claim. Things go off the rails with Jolt's 160 milligrams of caffeine compared with Coke's 45 milligrams.
Jolt can look to Coca-Cola's successful 2014 relaunch of the 1990s carb-loaded soda Surge as a blueprint for reviving a cult soft drink. A single can of Jolt will cost $1 and will be available exclusively at Dollar General stores across the US on Sept. 21.
