The Coca-Cola Museum

August 19, 2009

On Wednesday August 19, we went back into Atlanta for a visit to the new Coca Cola Museum.

Brenda, Suzanne and Bobby pose with the big entrance exhibit at the Coca Cola Museum. Two Asian women pose on the other side, appropriate since the group at the museum was very international.

There was an introductory presentation which highlighted many of the historical coke symbols and slogans. By far, my favorite was the "barefoot boy", an original painting by Norman Rockwell for Coca-Cola. We entered in groups, and the presentation is being made to our group at upper left above. It was well done, but I was soon way overdosed with coke signs and symbols.

We headed into the museum for the tour. It is much larger than the original museum which we visited during their 2001 trip. And we found that the displays were very well done.

Brenda poked around and found a book of pictures of the original bottling companies, including one in Newport, Arkansas in 1919. She also found the original bottle type used there.

It was interesting to see the heavy mold used in the forming of the bottle.

You had to be impressed with their personnel. This lady answered questions in the press of the crowd, gave information, and was overall very nice and personable.

At left is the other original Norman Rockwell painting for Coke, trying to project a sophisticated image as Coke tried to enhance its market. It was interesting and nostalgic to us to see some of the old coke machine designs that we remembered from childhood.

There was a full bottling company there, and we saw lots of sophisticated machinery, including this big yellow robot for handling bottles.

But there was a strong artistic side as well, with the intricately designed bottle art you see below left. Brenda and Bobby examine some of the other bottle art.

The last area was the tasting area where you had the opportunity to taste Coca-Cola products from around the world. Everybody had a lot of fun with this area.

Bobby and Suzanne have a good laugh as Brenda tries an Italian Coke product called "Beverly". Their consensus was that it was beyond terrible, somewhat akin to drinking kerosene. The staff there was joking with everyone about that drink, but everyone seemed happy with lots of the drinks they tried from around the world.

Brenda and Bobby talk with a couple of the Coke representatives at the counter. Again, we would have to give very high marks to the personnel - they were good natured and helpful. And they had a sense of fun about the whole thing. The guy on the left was the one who was getting on the speaker and telling people they ought to try "Beverly", and everyone had fun with it.

Since Suzanne is the big Coke fan, we couldn't leave without getting a picture of her with the giant coke bottle. It was a fun afternoon.