Moxie -

Homework assignment doing double duty as a blog post! Our assignment was to read the article and write about a product that wasn't included but could have been, I chose Moxie and it turns out I chose something that our teacher had never heard of before. :)

Growing up I

lived for a time in an extremely

rural town in

Maine called

Union.

One of its little

claims to fame Is being home to the

invention of Moxie soda. Moxie was invented there in

approximaely 1876, however its original purpose was as a

patent medicine called Moxie Nerve Food due to its ingredient gentian root extract which lends to Moxie soda’s bitter flavor

and is said to have various medicinal properties. These

medicinal properties include improving liver function, solving

digestive issues and has even been used by an Illyrain King for treating wounds and as an antidote for poisonings as long as

2000 years ago.

Today gentian root is still used as a natural medicine. With

poisonings being a thing of the past, and much more

advanced medical care for wounds available than 2000 years ago, in today’s society it is used primarily by herbalists to

protect and stimulate the livers function in our bodies.

Personally I have only tried Moxie a time or two in my life.

The flavor, to my taste buds, is horrible. I do find it an

interesting product with a unique and distinct ingredient which has been used for multiple purposes over a time span

of 2 millennium and somehow despite its bitter taste has

remained available in some markets as a carbonated beveragefor over a century making it well worthyto be included in the

article

“From Kleenexes to Zippers: the

Unpredictable Results of Entrepreneurs” by Burton Folsom Jr.