Sunshine Punch Kool-Aid:
Sunshine Punch debuted in 1982 and lasted for a good long time, immediately standing out from the pack with its very unique package art, a very unique taste and a Kool-Aid Man so confident in his latest concoction's greatness that he didn't just sing praises -- he outright switched colors. Everything about Sunshine Punch had a "special edition" feel to it, and kids who tagged along on grocery shopping trips and were allowed to pick their own Kool-Aid flavors from the big cardboard standee couldn't possibly resist it. Hey, I love Cherry, I love Black Cherry and I love Tropical Punch, but let's face it, certain Kool-Aid flavors felt like more than just Kool-Aid. There's about 15 flavors or so that share this regal distinction, and it's very possible that Sunshine Punch was the first. This wasn't just Kool-Aid -- this was a drink to remember!
I've Google'd "Kool-Aid" enough times over the past year to have read hundreds upon hundreds of reviews and musings from then-kids/now-adults -- Sunshine Punch is one of the flavors that really inspires those trips down memory lane. There was just such an air of magnificence surrounding the stuff when it arrived, and though I was a bit young to remember the shenanigans in full, it's easy to understand why. "Sunny D" wasn't the first beverage on the market that vied to become a more kid-friendly alternative to plain old orange juice, and as so many companies were coming up with drinks that felt more wholesome, natural and cancer-killing than soda, the folks at Kool-Aid needed their own psychosomatic strong-arm. Of the many Kool-Aid flavors I've slept with, Sunshine Punch is the single entry that wouldn't feel out of place the next morning. In fact, the stuff was probably best served with breakfast -- a well-timed Hitmonlee high-kick of citrus, sugar and sunshine. Oh yeah.
And check out that package art, perfectly capable of making anyone in the entire world smile like a jackass regardless of personal taste, creed or allergies. Between the condensation on the pitcher to the beaming strands of sunpower behind it, just
looking at the packet makes me want to jump in the pool. With some Kool-Aid flavors, it's just business. You're thirsty, you need a drink, and it's there. With Sunshine Punch, you're not just getting your quench on -- you're going to be in a mighty good mood.
Sunshine Punch probably could've afforded to suck, taste-wise. It had the crazy commercial with a yellow-tinted Kool-Aid Man and it had package art so bright you could spot it from four aisles away. In essence, it only needed to be "not bad," but boy, this stuff really set a new standard for Kool-Aid. It's SO good. It's SO unbelievably good, and I've probably said it before within other pages of this section for other flavors, but this time I mean it: It's SO, SO
sunshiney good.
Best I can tell, it's a pretty straight mixture of the Orange and Lemonade flavors, though it's impossible not to think they didn't sneak in some special, hidden ingredient that makes Sunshine Punch more than the sum of those two parts. I mentioned "Sunny D" earlier -- it's kind of like that, but without the weird aftertaste that made everyone wonder why all the kids who drank it in those commercials got so excited.
It's one of the big ones, folks. The Kool-Aid Section wasn't born for me to tell you about Cherry or Grape. I'll still tell you about those and others, of course, but I'm
really here for things like Sunshine Punch -- flavors, artifacts and glories the world is currently not experiencing even if they're fully capable of ending wars, saving civilizations and making a hundred billion people shake hands and realize that life would be a heck of a lot easier if we dropped the angst and focused on how good Kool-Aid is. Four score and seven years ago, bitch.
--
Matt
