Nuka-Cola was invented in 2044 by John-Caleb Bradberton. Its unique taste gained widespread popularity, quickly becoming the most popular soft drink in the United States with an extremely dedicated following. The widely known dazzling blue bottle color was adopted as standard in 2052, after market research programs indicated that the blue color was the favorite in 86 people out of 100 polled.
The ingredients of Nuka-Cola include: carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate (to protect taste), natural flavors, citric acid, and caffeine. What gives it a unique flavor is the essence of seventeen different fruits mixed in just the right proportion to give the beverage its trademark taste. Some versions of the drink also include vita-minerals and health tonics. During the Great Passion Fruit Famine of 2044, people actually noticed the taste difference when the recipe was changed.
Nuka-Cola was the most popular flavored soft drink in the United States before the Great War. After the War, Nuka-Cola is still one of the most popular soft drinks of the post-nuclear world, as large quantities of it were preserved in a fairly pristine state, although it tends to be warm, irradiated, and flat. In Fallout 4, Nuka-Cola bottles take on a newer look.
In Fallout, Nuka-Cola tends to play a background role. Dugan, an addict, can talk about the drink, but otherwise it has no direct effect on the storyline.
The drink has several minor uses for quests and items in Fallout 2. One of the three ingredients of a super stimpak as crafted by the artiste of the test tube known as Myron. Also, the Chosen One can use any sort of status-modifying drug to trigger a fatal heart attack in Big Jesus Mordino.
Shops in Klamath and the respective machines. The bottles can be obtained from vending machines by left-clicking on a Nuka-Cola machine and dragging the mouse to access the backpack and putting coins in the slot.
Nuka-Cola machines, other than for reasons of gameplay, restock every one to seven weeks. In Fallout Tactics, there is a special encounter with a man pedaling a bicycle cart. This is Phil, the Nuka-Cola dude, who claims via bubble text to be personally responsible for restocking the vending machines of the wasteland. An unlimited quantity of Nuka-Cola can be purchased in the Broken Hills bar (this may be explained indirectly by the Homebrewed Nuka-Cola recipe in Fallout: New Vegas).
According to Dugan, the Nuka-Cola addict in the Boneyard Downtown, there is a diet version of Nuka-Cola. Also according to him, the Blades had run out of it sometime before 2161.
During the 2008 E3 as a promotional item, people were given a real drinkable version of Nuka-Cola. It greatly resembles the 1950s look of the Coca-Cola brand bottles.
During 2015/2016 a real version of Nuka Cola Quantum could be purchased online and in Target stores worldwide.
The name of the Nuka-Cola creator, John-Caleb Bradberton, is an amalgamation of the inventors of Coca-Cola (John Pemberton) and Pepsi-Cola (Caleb Bradham).
Its logos, bottle designs, market crash, and even its name are heavily based on Coca-Cola.
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