7 Question Interview with John Winter
There is perhaps no one out there who is more active in the fight to save SURGE than John Winter. Throughout his involvement in SaveSURGE.org, he has been a daily fixture over on the SaveSURGE.org Bulletin Board and has made several contributions to the site. But his involvement doesn't stop there. John has printed up hundreds of SaveSURGE.org Flyers (and has even gotten into hot water in school for doing so!) and he also dedicates his time to making phone calls to Coca-Cola bottlers and chatting with any Coke representative he can find. Here's what he had to say about SURGE and becoming a Hall of Famer:

1. Tell us about your first time...drinking SURGE, that is!
It was quite some time ago, but I remember it was right after I had moved to Washington in summer of '97. The area I lived at before didn't have SURGE yet so I had definitely been missing out on this phenomenal drink. Tasting SURGE, the citrus flavored soda, for the first time was an experience that many people had also shared. The experience? Sad to admit, it wasn't that great at all. It was completely unexpected and the taste that I had witnessed just wasn't what I wanted. Fortunately, I gave this great soda another chance and I become addicted to it. I try to tell people who didn't like SURGE to give it another chance, if they can, because you can't base everything on one experience. To this day though, I couldn’t describe what I didn’t like about it when I had taken that first sip, as now it’s my favorite drink and there is absolutely nothing to complain about.

2. What is it that separates SURGE from every other beverage?
Many would say that it's just another imitation but if you take the time to taste it a couple of times, you'll understand that it isn't just the same soda that we've all have had. It's not some wasted branch-off and it's not another generic soda. This isn’t Sam’s Choice, this isn’t Safeway Select, it's an innovation and after you begin to drink it more and more you begin to respect it even though it is just a soda. It may be a hidden respect. It’s not like we were going to stop and say to ourselves, I respect SURGE when SURGE was still out there screaming to be purchased. However, now, we look at it in an entirely different way. From the outside to the inside, the image and the taste draws to you and makes you crave this soda we only know as SURGE. Is it an addiction to the caffeine? I wouldn’t say so. In fact most people assume that my addiction to SURGE is because of its caffeine content but I want to state that this is not true. I am not entirely, if at all, affected by caffeine. It doesn't keep me up and it doesn't give me energy. That may seem like a lot coming from a person literally obsessed with SURGE, but it’s true, I choose SURGE for its taste and maybe, it's carbohydrates. To summarize this long paragraph, it’s an amazing soda and I was one of the many who lost it.

3. Do you have a favorite SURGE-related memory?
One time in 7th grade, my best friend, Kaleb and I had brought ice-cold SURGE to school. It was still hours until lunch and we were staring at our unopened SURGE cans. We continued talking about how great SURGE was and how we wanted to drink it at that moment but all the distraction forced the teacher to come by and take both our SURGE cans. Without further delay, we created a plan to retrieve the SURGE located at the teacher’s desk. Kaleb jumped on the table and started to dance in front of the entire class. I then proceeded from point A to point B (the SURGE) and took the SURGE while the teacher was distracted. The SURGE was again in my grasp but seconds after the teacher demanded me to return the SURGE and I refused. Kaleb and I were sent to the office, but we laughed the entire way. We were determined to get that SURGE, much like we are all determined to get it now. I have dozens and dozens of other memories with SURGE but in my opinion it always seemed that whenever I think of the good times, SURGE was quietly in the background. My memories may not been based on SURGE, but most of them included SURGE.

4. How has SURGE changed your life?
SURGE has taught me to live in the moment. It’s all okay if we’re drinking SURGE! SURGE has also, like many things, taught me to never take things for granted and to never give up on anything. If you try hard enough then you will probably succeed. I'm not the optimistic kind of guy either; I just know that hard work pays off.

5. If Doug Daft, the CEO of Coca-Cola, were sitting across from you right now, what would you say to convince him to bring SURGE back to every store in America?
I would try to convince him that SURGE is a product that would sell if given the correct solutions. SURGE is a great product that just needs to be properly adjusted for the market. I would bring up issues like public schools. Why is SURGE banned in schools? Because it has too much caffeine? Pepsi's Mountain Dew has more caffeine than SURGE yet it's still easily obtainable in schools around the nation. Sometime ago, I discussed the meaning of "Mountain Dew" and how it's actually surprising that Mountain Dew doesn't have a bad reputation when it comes to parents and schools. I’d tell Doug to be more competitive, don't let Pepsi run over you and make you look inferior. Don't forget SURGE fans are hardcore; we won't give up until we get our SURGE!

6. What gives you hope that SURGE will be brought back?
All our hard work at SaveSURGE.org. The petition, the people and all of the effort we've shown. Everyday it feels like the community at SaveSURGE is growing bigger and getting closer toward the goal of bringing SURGE back. I feel that SURGE will come back because of these things as well as the great feedback we are getting from Coca-Cola and its bottlers. It may have started rough but the more and more we try to contact Coca-Cola, the better answers we receive. Now, years after SaveSURGE.org's birth, we are getting interviews and exciting breakthroughs.

7. Lastly, why do you think you are being inducted into the SaveSURGE.org Hall of Fame?
The first thing that comes to my mind is the number of posts I have on the boards. Don't get me wrong, I've been to boards that have had users with a lot of posts, up in the thousands and thousands, but given the amount of users at SaveSURGE.org boards, which is 80, it's a lot of post. Of course though, I don’t think that’s exactly worthy for the Hall of Fame. I've contributed three of the many SURGE commercials from back in the late 90s, a review from a recipe, 3 or 4 SURGE sightings/deletions and some pictures from my SURGE 12-Pack purchase, which was 50 bucks by the way ^_^. Well, given all of the above, I'm not quite sure how I found myself in the Hall of Fame. After all, the people who have been inducted here have really accomplished spectacular things. In the Hall of Fame lies the creator of the petition, the man who brought SURGE back to his 7-11 and a few more. I just hope I can continue to help SaveSURGE.org and its request for SURGE!!!

I’d like to thank Eric Karkovack and Avery Lund for the everything. Without either one of you, SURGE would have NEVER had any chance of coming back. You guys have helped accomplish something big! In fact, you two are the ones who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame!

Thanks everyone!

Back to John's Hall of Fame Home