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Topo Chico at Costco

I decided this belonged here more than in the Speakeasy, even though Topo Chico is associated closely with the Ranch Water "cocktail."

In any event, my local Costco's had a great deal on 18 half liter thick glass bottle boxes of Topo Chico, my favorite sparkling mineral water. But it seems like it has quite a while since they have had it in stock.

Does anyone know whether Costco has stopped carrying this? A shame if so. I suppose I have seen it at Walmart in plastic bottles, which seems kind of crappy. Also in expensive 4 packs at various grocery stores.

I hated that Coke took over this brand, but that at least seemed to make it more available.

Brisket is not the same without it. And a Ranch Water is simply not a Ranch Water without it!
 

DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
Topo Chico is a hit and miss in Central Texas as well. Last week I bought about 12 bottles that were in plastic.…I took the last of it on the shelf. I prefer the pineapple but I will take their twist of lime any day. I think everybody’s buying it like toilet paper. Although it seems toilet paper is in stock. If push comes to shove you could use Topo Chico as barter.
 
Topo Chico is a hit and miss in Central Texas as well. Last week I bought about 12 bottles that were in plastic.…I took the last of it on the shelf. I prefer the pineapple but I will take their twist of lime any day. I think everybody’s buying it like toilet paper. Although it seems toilet paper is in stock. If push comes to shove you could use Topo Chico as barter.
A shortage of Topo Chico in Central Texas! The horror, the horror!

I really wondered when Coca Cola took over Topo Chico whether those Mexican springs would be able to handle the additional demand.

I think Casa Noble tequila still represents that it grows all of its own agave on its estates and that all of its tequila is distilled and bottled on the estate. There was a time when it was really hard for me to get on the east coast. Then suddenly it seemed to be readily available and I think I read that their sales really had taken off. Now I understand how one can built additional distilling and bottling capacity, but I do not think one can grow additional agave mature enough to make tequila on short notice. I tasted an older bottle of blanco side by side with a new bottle and the older was much better. CN may have improved in the meantime.
 
Topo Chico has been hit with a shortage of bottles in recent months.
Literally a shortage of bottles? They seem to use a bunch of different kinds of bottles and are owned by Coca Cola now. One might think that if anyone could come up with plenty of bottles it would be Coke! Whatever the reason for the shortage, I am upset! I weaned myself off of diet soft drinks drinking this stuff and kombucha!
 

DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
A shortage of Topo Chico in Central Texas! The horror, the horror!

I really wondered when Coca Cola took over Topo Chico whether those Mexican springs would be able to handle the additional demand.

I think Casa Noble tequila still represents that it grows all of its own agave on its estates and that all of its tequila is distilled and bottled on the estate. There was a time when it was really hard for me to get on the east coast. Then suddenly it seemed to be readily available and I think I read that their sales really had taken off. Now I understand how one can built additional distilling and bottling capacity, but I do not think one can grow additional agave mature enough to make tequila on short notice. I tasted an older bottle of blanco side by side with a new bottle and the older was much better. CN may have improved in the meantime.
In a pinch:
CC0FAD1A-6B9B-4053-8079-F3EAAA87C4FD.jpeg
 
Couple things

Bottles for all kinds of food stuffs are apparently gonna be affecting supply chain very soon.

I just saw this brand in wegmans today in Va in cases. I dont know if its plastic or glass.

How does topo chico and brisket go together?

And Whats ranch water?
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
Whole (paycheck) foods usually has the 12oz glass bottle cases at a premium of course. This summer the TC website store has limited edition cases with bottle openers with fancy artwork. Of course I fell for that lol.
 
Couple things

Bottles for all kinds of food stuffs are apparently gonna be affecting supply chain very soon.

I just saw this brand in wegmans today in Va in cases. I dont know if its plastic or glass.

How does topo chico and brisket go together?

And Whats ranch water?
Thanks re Wegmans.

As I understand it TC is the standard mineral water in Texas, so necessary to Texas smoked brisket.

Ranch water is a tall cocktail of tequila, TC, and lime. Some would throw in some sweeter and/or triple sec, but that is less authentic.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Some would throw in some sweeter and/or triple sec, but that is less authentic.

Not to mention that's pretty much a Margarita.

When I first saw flavored Topo Chico years ago, I knew it would be only a matter of time before it would be hard to find.
 
Not to mention that's pretty much a Margarita.
I was going to say that! Not sure why I did not. Those are my sentiments, too. Not that there is anything wrong with a Margarita. It is just not a Ranchwater.

Kind of like the idea of a proper Old-fashioned, too. Are we drinking whiskey or having a fruit salad!

When I first saw flavored Topo Chico years ago, I knew it would be only a matter of time before it would be hard to find.
Sounds like an interesting thought that has turned out to be perceptive. What exactly was your logic for this prediction? So flavored Topo Chico was not always around? It was not a Coca Cola innovation, was it? I frankly do not get it. If I want lime in my water, I can carve up a fresh lime my own self!
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
I got some at Whole Foods today. 12 oz glass bottles for $10.99 for a case. I don’t think it was on sale. Seems like a good price.
 
I want to say the 2L plastic bottles are still available pretty readily in Texas. the 20oz plastic bottles are definitely in every gas station, and glass singles too. and they're still in the HEB register coolers as singles.

mom scarfs them up and maintains a supply. and it's my preferred sparkling water. I mainly drink my filtered well, sans bubbles.
 
Went by Wegman's at Tysons Corners today. All the Topo Chico they had was singles 12 oz bottles for $1.69 a piece.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Sounds like an interesting thought that has turned out to be perceptive. What exactly was your logic for this prediction? So flavored Topo Chico was not always around? It was not a Coca Cola innovation, was it? I frankly do not get it. If I want lime in my water, I can carve up a fresh lime my own self!

I don't really know when Coca-Cola acquired Topo Chico, but it seems like it would be something they would do. The first time I saw the flavored Topo also was the first time I saw it in plastic bottles. Maybe that was five years ago (give or take, surely)? It was at the Art Car Parade that year that I saw it. They had pretty girls in tight shirts and shorts handing out bottles.

Before then, it always was unflavored and in glass bottles. No fanfare. Nobody losing their blessed minds over it. Just there (and a good deal less expensive).

My logic was simple: flavored and plastic bottles meant that they were marketing to a larger audience--much larger--the sort of audience that wants to be able to carry their bottles around wherever they like, including the beach and pool, and also the sort of audience that can't be arsed to squeeze their own citrus.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Went by Wegman's at Tysons Corners today. All the Topo Chico they had was singles 12 oz bottles for $1.69 a piece.

That's the sort of thing I was getting to with regard to the price. I don't think I ever paid more than $1 for a single bottle of Topo, and that would be at a bar. It seems like it always was $0.69 at convenience stores, and bulk packs in grocery stores were pretty much on par with what you would pay for a bulk pack of any bottled water (a little more than that, actually, but I don't remember how much more--one of those things that's so little that you don't really care).

It's not like I bought a whole bunch in bulk, anyhow. I have a friend that always had at least a dozen bottles in her fridge and at least another dozen in her pantry. While I might be foggy on the price, I have very clear recollections of her rants and tirades about the price and availability (especially since they continue to this day).
 
Continuing my whiny saga: I Googled in "shopping" Topo Chico and came up with 12 packs of the nice, thick 12 oz glass bottles at Walmart at Tysons Corner for $8.23 a pieces, which seems like a fair price. A lot better than $1.69 a bottle, anyway. The online entry for this even provided an aisle number, and I thought a number of 12 packs in stock, although I do not find a listing of how many in stock when I go back to the entry.

So when I got there, there was zero Topo Chico of any kind. The aisle number was clearly wrong anyway, but the there was no empty section labelled Topo Chico in any of the logical places. A guy working there said more stuff was coming in at 1:30 pm today, and he was sure the Topo Chico would be restocked, but I am really doubting that.

So there seems to be a shortage of this stuff, for whatever reason. I saw an on-line item somewhere where Coca Cola did seem to be blaming the shortage on a shortage of glass, which does not seem all that credible. Why would a glass shortage affect Topo Chico in particular and not other beverages from this enormous company??
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
Continuing my whiny saga: I Googled in "shopping" Topo Chico and came up with 12 packs of the nice, thick 12 oz glass bottles at Walmart at Tysons Corner for $8.23 a pieces, which seems like a fair price. A lot better than $1.69 a bottle, anyway. The online entry for this even provided an aisle number, and I thought a number of 12 packs in stock, although I do not find a listing of how many in stock when I go back to the entry.

So when I got there, there was zero Topo Chico of any kind. The aisle number was clearly wrong anyway, but the there was no empty section labelled Topo Chico in any of the logical places. A guy working there said more stuff was coming in at 1:30 pm today, and he was sure the Topo Chico would be restocked, but I am really doubting that.

So there seems to be a shortage of this stuff, for whatever reason. I saw an on-line item somewhere where Coca Cola did seem to be blaming the shortage on a shortage of glass, which does not seem all that credible. Why would a glass shortage affect Topo Chico in particular and not other beverages from this enormous company??
Reasonable theory. But I think the price will go up. It’s a force of nature. I’ve noticed that liquid death the new sparkling water marketing brainstorm is 14.99 for a case of 16 oz cans. We’re paying for water for goodness sake’s lol

The Whole Foods price is a little less than a buck a pop for topo by the case. For now. Lol.
 
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Before Costco started carrying it, the price around DC seemed to be about $1.50 a 12 oz bottle, sold in four packs, going back to where it was hard to find at all.
 
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