South Jersey drink is still a popular unique treat

It's a drink that is unique to South Jersey and has been produced for more than a century.

It is a flat, syrupy caramel-colored drink called Boost!

Larry Mullen of Riverside, NJ said, "It was in my bottle when I was a baby." Seriously? "And I'm 46 I've been drinking it all my life. My dad's been drinking it all his life and he's 72."

Bernadette Makin of Delran, NJ said, "I don't drink soda cause I was raised on Boost. I don't like the carbonation and it's like a flat Coke."

Locals in towns like Burlington, Delran and Riverside, where the citrusy sweet drink is manufactured, have been known to compare Boost to liquid crack.

Action News asked Joe Malecki of Hamilton, NJ, how many times a day?

"About four a day, four quarts a day yeah. It's bad. It's good but it's bad," he said.

Sue Tevis of Vid's Deli said, "It's got a lot of caffeine in it, it's just sweet. It's really sweet like sugar."

At Vid's deli in Delran they serve 30 gallons of it a day to a constant stream of customers who come for their daily boost.

It's usually served on ice or mixed with water or in the popular slushy form. You can also take your own jug of it home.

Vid's Deli Owner Mario Scott said, "It's all day long. Some people come in three times a day, people take it on their vacation."

Boost was invented by a Riverside pharmacist in the early 1900s and is only available at a few dozen delis and stores in the Burlington county area. Outside of that, no one's really heard of it.

Eric Woodington of Delran, NJ said, "I guess I drink so much of it I'm kind of numb to the caffeine, but it's just the sweet taste of it, a refreshing kind of drink, something we've all grown up with and gotten used to."

And while the rest of the world may never get a sip, people in South Jersey love their Boost!

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