Coca-Cola has won more trademark battles than almost any company in American corporate history. So when a small-town Kentucky bottler took the world’s most powerful beverage brand to court in 1930 and won, it was the kind of outcome nobody expected. The soda at the center of that fight wasn’t even the one you’ve likely heard of.
The drink that beat Coca-Cola in court was called Roxa-Kola. George Lee Wainscott, a civil engineer turned beverage entrepreneur from Winchester, Kentucky, had introduced it in 1906, naming it after his wife, Roxanne. Roxa-Kola ended up the subject of a lawsuit battle with Coca-Cola, which alleged the soda was a trademark infringement. Both companies had been selling their rival colas in Kentucky for almost a decade before the lawsuit was filed – and this turned out to be one of the few trademark lawsuits Coca-Cola lost. Wainscott didn’t just survive the legal fight. He used it as a springboard.
After the court battle, Wainscott did something unexpected. He went to Europe. Thinking about new flavors for his carbonated water business, he became acquainted with ginger-based recipes during his travels, and based on that discovery, he introduced his newest creation – Ale-8-One – in 1926. That drink is now 100 years old, still made in the same Kentucky town, still owned by the same family, and still going strong enough that most people outside the Bluegrass State have never heard of it.
Born at a County Fair, Built to Last
Ale-8-One soda got its start at a county fair in 1926. It debuted at the Clark County Fair in Winchester, where Wainscott not only unveiled his new ginger-citrus formula but held a public contest to name it. The winning entry was “A Late One” – 1920s slang for the latest thing – which was then phonetically compressed into “Ale-8-One.”
Ale-8-One Bottling Company was founded in 1902 by G.L. Wainscott in Winchester, Kentucky, and remains the oldest privately held bottler in the United States still owned and operated by the founding family, according to Kentucky Living. While Coca-Cola was already a national giant by 1926 and Pepsi was fighting for its own survival, Wainscott was quietly building something small, local, and extraordinarily durable.
The only soft drink invented in Kentucky still in existence, Ale-8-One’s proprietary blend is flavored with ginger and citrus and contains less carbonation and fewer calories than conventional sodas. That lighter profile, combined with a flavor that doesn’t overwhelm, is part of what’s kept it relevant across four generations of the same family.
The Coca-Cola Lawsuit Nobody Talks About
Roxa-Kola’s popularity came to the attention of Coca-Cola, which around 1930 sued Carlisle Bottling Works – the bottler and seller of Roxa-Kola – for trademark infringement, and lost. According to Kentucky Tourism, the case was decided in Fayette County court, with the ruling upheld on appeal in Cincinnati – making it a double legal defeat for the Atlanta-based giant.
The lawsuit rested on Coca-Cola’s claim that “Roxa-Kola” was confusingly similar to its own name. Courts disagreed. The fact that Coca-Cola and Roxa-Kola had been co-existing in the same Kentucky market for nearly a decade prior to the suit likely didn’t help Coca-Cola’s argument that consumers were being deceived. Wainscott won the suit and continued in the independent soda business.
Roxa-Kola eventually outlived its legal trouble by decades. It was pulled from shelves in the late 1960s, about four decades after Wainscott’s newest creation, Ale-8-One, was introduced. After more than 55 years dormant, Ale-8-One brought Roxa-Kola back as a limited seasonal release in November 2023, giving a new generation a taste of the drink that once made Coca-Cola blink.
What’s Actually in the Bottle
After discovering ginger beer in Europe, Wainscott created a carbonated drink that combined ginger with a hint of citrus – refreshing without being overwhelmingly sweet or spicy. The result is a soda that tastes closer to a sophisticated craft beverage than a mainstream soft drink, which is probably why it pairs so naturally with bourbon – a combination Kentuckians have embraced for decades.
The precise formula has never been made public. According to the Ale-8-One official fun facts page, Wainscott’s great-great-nephew, Fielding Rogers, personally blends every batch of Ale-8-One’s secret formula, mixing the proprietary blend from Wainscott’s original handwritten notes. The secret recipe has been passed down through four generations of the Wainscott and Rogers family – one of the few true culinary secrets in American food history that has never leaked.
For those watching caffeine intake, according to Chef’s Resource a standard 12-ounce serving at approximately 28.8 mg of caffeine – that’s below the roughly 34 mg in a can of Coca-Cola. If you’re managing overall soda consumption, this breakdown of how sugary drinks affect cardiovascular health covers the science in plain terms.
A Family Company in a Corporate World
“To still be bottling Ale-8 in Winchester after 100 years is truly special for our family, employees, and community,” said Fielding Rogers, Owner and Chairman of the Board of Ale-8-One Bottling. Rogers isn’t just a figurehead. He personally climbs a spiral staircase to a private batching room in the Winchester plant, where he mixes the proprietary blend from Wainscott’s handwritten recipe – a hands-on connection to the product that’s unusual for any consumer brand of this age.
The company’s expansion has been deliberate rather than aggressive. A 2001 distribution deal brought Ale-8-One into parts of southern Ohio and Indiana, and in 2016, Cracker Barrel began stocking it across all its locations nationwide, giving the brand its first true coast-to-coast retail footprint. Ale-8-One is widely available in Kentucky and surrounding states, nationwide online, at most Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, and at Fresh Markets.
The product line has also grown carefully. Diet Ale-8 arrived in 2003, Caffeine Free Diet Ale-8 in 2011, and the flavor range now includes Cherry, Orange Cream, Peach, and Blackberry alongside the original. None of that expansion has come at the cost of the Winchester roots. Every bottle is still made in the same Kentucky town where Wainscott first carbonated water more than 120 years ago.
Kentucky’s Official Soda
A 2021 designation made official what Kentuckians had known for generations: Ale-8-One is the official state drink of Kentucky. That puts it alongside bourbon as one of the state’s defining cultural products – a remarkable position for a regional soda brand that never ran a national TV ad or hired a celebrity spokesperson.
The Winchester bottling facility now offers free guided tours, letting visitors see exactly how the drink is made – though the formula itself stays locked away.
The centennial year has brought fresh attention. Ale-8-One is celebrating 100 years on July 13th, with an official birthday bash taking place on August 1st in downtown Winchester. The family-owned company is celebrating the historic milestone with commemorative packaging and a series of events honoring its heritage, including a Historical Society marker unveiling, parade, and block party with Ale-8 ice cream floats and live music.
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What This Means for You
A soda brand surviving 100 years without selling out to a conglomerate, reformulating its recipe, or abandoning its hometown is genuinely rare. Ale-8-One’s staying power comes from a distinctive ginger-citrus flavor, four-generation family stewardship, and a community that treats it as part of its identity rather than just a consumer product. For anyone who hasn’t tried it, the lower carbonation and reduced calorie count compared to mainstream sodas make it one of the more interesting alternatives – especially for those who find most sodas too sweet or too fizzy.
Roxa-Kola’s arc adds another layer to the story. Wainscott created it in 1906, named it for his wife, won a landmark legal battle over it in 1930, and then watched it quietly fade from shelves in the late 1960s – only for his descendants to bring it back more than five decades later to a warm reception. The drink that started it all ended up outlasting its own legal trouble and returning to shelves in a new form, while the company it launched kept on going for another century.
AI Disclaimer: This article was created with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by a human editor.
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