Before there was Red Bull, Monster, or 5-Hour Energy Shots, there was the original energy drink: Jolt Cola.

If you grew up like me, you may remember Jolt Cola being kind of mythical. This drink apparently had enough caffeine to take down a horse and we all heard urban legends of the kid who died drinking it. It turns out Jolt didn't actually have that much caffeine. What it did have was the opposite approach to the diet cola movement that was taking place.

This is the look back on how the "bad boy of cola" entered an ultra-competitive market, the demographic it went after, how it never intended to compete with Coke or Pepsi, and how it defied all industry expectations to last over three decades. 

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