GREENSBORO, N.C. — Cheerwine and Pepsi, both of these companies are based here in North Carolina. When you think of drinks and the Tarheel State, these two surely come to mind.
How about sweet tea? You could make an argument it belongs in the conversation too. But there's another drink that claims the top stop in North Carolina, and it is milk.
Check out the Tweet from the North Carolina Museum of History. It shows how Pepsi, Cheerwine, and sweet tea feel about milk being the official drink of the state of North Carolina.
The tweet was posted on January 11, 2023, because it’s National Milk Day. Of course, North Carolina isn’t the only one to claim milk. Out of the 30 states that have an official beverage on the books, milk is the beverage for 22 of them.
What are some of the other state beverages? According to NetState.com, Ohio claims tomato juice, Nebraska claims Kool-Aid, Indiana has water, Florida touts orange juice and Alabama has some sort of state-made whiskey.
The NC flag and the NC state seal were done in the 1800s, but then really the next designations were the bird and the state colors in the 1930s and 40s.
The website NetState.com has a list for every state of their designations, from flowers to plants, and festivals. We have a state shell, a rock, and even an official state toast! Here is the toast from the NetState.com site:
"A Toast" to North Carolina
by Leonora Martin and Mary Burke Kerr
Here's to the land of the long-leaf pine, The summer land where the sun doth shine, Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great, Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State! Here's to the land of the cotton bloom white, Where the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night, Where the soft southern moss and jessamine mate, 'Neath the murmuring pines of the Old North State! Here's to the land where the galax grows, Where the rhododendron's rosette glows, Where soars Mount Mitchell's summit great, In the "Land of the Sky," in the Old North State! Here's to the land where maidens are fair, Where friends are true and cold hearts rare, The near land, the dear land, whatever fate, The blest land, the best land, the Old North State!