Rye-Ola

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Rye-Ola bottle.jpg

Rye-Ola was a soft-drink created in Birmingham in 1905 and bottled and sold in the city until 1922.

It was the invention of chemist Jefferson J. Peek, who had previously been involved with Nervola and Wiseola. He incorporated the Peek Beverage Company with offices in the Watts Building and an adjacent bottling plant at 2006 3rd Avenue North. Two years later he changed the name of the business to The Rye-Ola Company and began licensing the drink to other regional bottlers. The company was moved to Southside, with a plant at 1726 3rd Avenue South.

In 1918 Peek sold the Rye-Ola Company to Ben Barbour and Harry Speaker. They relocated the plant to 322 19th Street South and added Cheri-Chum and a ginger-ale to the product line. A new Rye-Ola Bottling Company of Birmingham was incorporated in 1920 by A. J. Monfee, Joseph Elliott, and John Elliott with $10,000 capital. The business closed in 1922.

A Rye-Ola bottling plant was located in the town of Cedar Bluff in Cherokee County around 1913. It is unclear whether the two bottlers were related. [1]

References

  • "Notes of the Bottling Trade" (May 1920) American Bottler Vol. 40, No. 5, p. 62
  • Smith, Dennis I. Birmingham Bottlers: 1883-1983 (1983) Birmingham, D. I. Smith.