JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In 2020, Coke killed Tab.
If you don’t remember Tab, it was a diet soda first made in 1963, but was really popular in the 1980s, famous for its pink can.
Some people enjoyed it, others not so much.
And then there’s Alan Jordan, who’s on a whole other scale. He's taken road trips across the Southeastern United States, from Piggly Wiggleys to Food Lions and everything in between, to collect all the Tab he can.
It’s like a 1980s love story for Alan.
And the tragic side of this story, in the not too distant future he'll be all out of the soda he loves so much.
“I started drinking Tab when I got out of college, probably 23-24," the Georgia man said over a Zoom call. "Those other sugar drinks tasted too sweet.”
Alan works full time at a senior living center in Georgia. His other job is traveling far and wide to collect as much Tab as he can, while he still can.
“I got hooked on Tab and in my younger days I'd drink 12 a day,” he said.
Now that Coke is no longer making it, Alan is stockpiling
“We went to a Piggly Wiggly and at the end of one of the aisles they had a stack of 70 12 packs, and I was like I’m moving to Alabama," he said laughing, but probably not exactly joking.
At one point, he had 80 cases of Tab saved up.
“Every time I went to the grocery store, I’d buy Tab, even though I had Tab.”
But now, there’s none to be found, and he still drinks at least one a day. He says he's now down to 42 twelve packs.
For those who've had Tab before, you may remember what it tastes like. But for those who haven't:
“It’s got a whole different flavor," he said. "It’s hard to describe, people say they either love it or hate it.
But time is fleeting, and so too is his, and world supply. Prices for the scarcity are through the roof.
“I saw [on Ebay] that $200 you could buy a 12 pack of Tab."
But apparently everything does not have a price, because Alan says his Tab are not for sale.
"To me, it’s one of those things that priceless, I wouldn’t sell it,” he said.
It's part nostalgia and part self-admitted addiction.
“I ran out of Tab and drank Coke Zero and got headaches."
But other than crippling headaches from withdrawal, he says he’ll be impacted most by the nostalgia of it all.
Because when it’s gone, all that’s left are the memories. Which could actually be impacted by those Tab withdrawal headaches.
“I’m never without Tab until now, when Coke did us in, so when my collection runs out, I’m not sure what I’ll do.”