Taps run dry on birch beer served for decades at Grotto Pizza

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comment from Coca-Cola.

If you were anticipating a visit to a Grotto Pizza location and planning to order an icy cold cup of birch beer to chase down a couple of slices, well, sorry, you can't.

Oh, you can still get the pizza, you just won't be able to get the birch beer that has been served as a fountain soft drink at Grotto since at least the 1970s.

The taps have run dry at all 23 restaurants.

The Fanta birch beer flavor, made by Coca-Cola, that the Delaware-based pizza chain has been using in its beverage dispensers for decades is no longer available.

It appears to be gone, apparently for good.

"All locations ran out over the past couple of weeks," Grotto Pizza marketing head Lauren Todd told Delaware Online/The News Journal.

"I know for certain the Grand Slam ran out last weekend," she added, referring to the Lewes restaurant.

Don't blame Grotto. There was no companywide decision to stop serving Fanta birch beer, a nonalcoholic, summery, carbonated beverage that some say has a minty and wintergreen flavor.

"Coca-Cola has discontinued their line of birch beer syrup. We have added Barq's Root Beer as an alternative selection," Todd said.

No, no, no, say birch beer lovers. Birch beer, a reddish-brown soft drink made from herbal extracts and birch bark, is known for its sharp "bite." Root beer, which tends to have a more creamy flavor, is not the same.

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And the loss of the iconic, old-school soda at Grotto Pizza is not going over well.

A June 26 post on the iDewey.com Facebook page about the lack of Fanta birch beer at Grotto Pizza already has generated more than 170 comments.

"Whaaaat? I've been ordering that since I was a kid," wrote one Grotto customer.

"It has been my go-to since 1978!" wrote another.

"This is devastating," added a birch beer fan.

Grotto isn't too happy about the change either.

"We're just as disappointed as our customers, as we have been serving it for several decades," Todd said of the regional soft drink. "It's a fan favorite, for sure!"

Grotto Pizza isn't the only one sorry to see the apparent retirement of fountain Fanta birch beer.

Alaska Stand, a burger and fries restaurant at Ninth Street on the Ocean City, Maryland, boardwalk that has been serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner for more than 90 years, also is lamenting the loss of the birch beer.

"I had a feeling the day would come, as for the last 3 years we have struggled to keep birch beer in stock," read a June 16 post on the Alaska Stand Facebook page.

"I have been informed today that it has been discontinued. We know there are many of you that love it, and we are not completely out of it yet but probably will be soon," continued the post from the restaurant that has been in operation since 1933.

"The alternative is Barq's Root Beer … which we have had in the past," read the Alaska Stand post.

On June 17, Roy Rogers restaurants said it too has had to pivot away from fountain Fanta birch beer which it has served since the Frederick, Maryland-based chain's debut in 1968.

The drink had been one of Roy Rogers's best-selling beverages, according to the company. The chain has 24 company-owned restaurants and 17 franchise restaurants in seven states.

In response to a customer question about the absence of birch beer, Roy Rogers Restaurants tweeted "Due to unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, we had to set Birch Beer out to pasture. We're sad to see it go, but all good things must come to an end. We hope you find Barq’s Root Beer a suitable substitute."

So what gives?

It appears likely the Coca-Cola Co. has downsized or discontinued its birch beer production, which has mainly been sold in the Northeastern region of the United States.

Fanta Birch Beer is no longer listed as one of Fanta's soda flavors, which include orange, pineapple, strawberry, peach, grape and pina colada, according to its website. Fanta birch beer once was sold in cans and bottles, but in recent years it has been available only as a fountain drink.

Barq's, a 125-year-old soda brand purchased in 1995 by Coca-Cola, had a birch beer flavor available in May 2019, according to Philadelphia-based Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages, which distributed it but now it is no longer listed as one of Barq's soda flavors. The brand still produces root beer, zero-sugar root beer, red creme soda and creme soda French vanilla.

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Is this a pandemic-related supply issue shortage, or is birch beer made by Coca-Cola gone for good?

"Due to high demand of certain products and supply disruptions, we’ve had to temporarily shift our focus toward producing the products with the highest demand," the Coca-Cola Co. Consumer Interaction Center of North America told Delaware Online/The News Journal on Thursday.

The company did not specifically mention Fanta Birch Beer, but said, "At this time, we can confirm that in the U.S. we will be phasing out AHA Black Cherry+Coffee and AHA Apple+Ginger, Odwalla, ZICO, TaB, Fresca Unsweet Strawberry, Coca-Cola Life, Barq's Creme Soda, Dasani Strawberry, Fanta Mango, Fanta Green Apple, Fanta Wild Cherry, Gold Peak Blueberry Tea, Gold Peak Unsweetened Lemon Tea, Gold Peak Unsweetened Raspberry Tea, Honest Tea Green Tea with Jasmine & Honey, Honest Tea White Peach & Apricot Black Tea, Mello Yello Cherry, Mello Yello Peach and regional brands Northern Neck, Delaware Punch and Mendota Springs."

In the meantime, Fanta birch beer lovers on social media sites are suggesting alternatives for restaurants to use such as stocking up on cans of Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer, contacting some local breweries to produce birch beer or even serving Cheerwine, a cherry-flavored soft drink made by Carolina Beverage Corp. of Salisbury, North Carolina.

Still, others say there is no substitute for Fanta birch beer bubbling from a beverage dispenser.

"Birch beer is one of my favorite things about the Eastern Shore. I can still find it in bottles in some stores, but that fountain mix hits different[ly]," wrote a customer on the Alaska Stand Facebook page.

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Grotto Pizza Food & Beverage Director Michael Jones said the pizza chain is open to the option of testing other birch beer brands.

But, he said, Grotto won't move forward with serving anything in their locations "until we find a quality birch beer product that's comparable."

Contact Patricia Talorico at ptalorico@delawareonline.com and follow her on Twitter @pattytalorico Sign-up for her Delaware Eats newsletter

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Birch beer tap runs dry at Grotto Pizza; it's likely gone for good