Anybody who’s been to Epcot’s Club Cool knows what Beverly is: A strong, bitter, some would even say foul beverage by Coca-Cola, which is said to be popular in Italy to whet one’s appetite before a meal. I developed a strange fondness for Beverly on my last couple trips actually . . . a fondness which neither my child nor my BFF can fathom.
Last fall I had an inexplicable craving for the stuff (no, I am not pregnant), and went shopping in Boston’s North End, a strong Italian neighborhood with many stores specializing in groceries imported from Italy. Beverly was nowhere to be found.
I work with a woman whose family is from Italy, and who maintains close ties there. She’d never heard of Beverly, and neither had anyone she talked to. We both searched the interwebs, she in Italian and me in English, and found nothing to indicate that Beverly’s actually distributed in Italy.
I started to wonder if perhaps Club Cool’s stretching the truth a little, and googled “beverly drink club cool hoax.” Turns out that I’m not the only one wondering about this . . . the Google cached version of Beverly’s wikipedia page includes the fact that some speculate that it’s a hoax, but Wikipedia’s been purged of that reference (here’s a link to the current, hoax-allegation-free Beverly page).
So, what gives? Anybody have evidence of Beverly actually being distributed in Italy, or anywhere else outside Future World for that matter? Inquiring minds want to know.
UPDATE 9/21/11: In episode 932 of WDW Today, Len Testa reports seeing Beverly on the shelves in Italy. Case closed.
Broke Hoedown 
Beverly is awesome… it’s very possible that Beverly is no longer distributed in Italy however, or is (more likely I think) a slightly modified version of a product Coca-Cola makes which is intended to be representative of an Italian apertif. I wouldn’t totally rule out it not being on the internets however, there’s nearly nothing on a beverage called Manhattan Special, a carbonated espresso, which was once impossible to find above 14th street in New York (!). And anybody who’s ever had Moxie can tell you that Beverly is still small beans in the realm of awesome bitter soda!
The same thing is said here at the World of Coke in Atlanta. I chalk it up to the same thing as the Pickle ornament in Germany. No one in Germany or from Germany has ever heard of this tradition.
I asked my wife (whose mother was part German) about the pickle thing when we were last in Epcots WS. She said her mom used to hide a single pickle in the tree on Christmas morning. Who ever found it first, got a special surprise. My wife has six siblings. Can you imagine the chaos?
I know in Holland it’s called Crodino, Aperetivo Non Alcoholico.
And as an aperitif it is very nice, kind of like Campari.
I don’t know if you can get it in the US, it is however a product of Campari and not Coca Cola.
good luck in your search!
Ken, the German pickle story reminds me of when I went to Mexico for the first time (I was about 19), and was shocked to discover that the “Mexican” food I’d been served in the US bore precious little resemblance to what I found in the restaurants in Acapulco. I’m sure at some point some visitor to the US may have been similarly shocked to discover that in fact, very few of us look anything like the cast of Baywatch.
Ciao from Italy… beverly doesn’t exist in italy so i really don’t know why Cocacola said that it’s italian… it’s not abolutely true-
i went on a feild trip whith summercamp and tasteded the death trap. i got two words 4 u… BIG MISTAKE. it is absolutely desguisting!!!
gross!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ewwwwwwwwww….. NASTAY!
Beverly is a complete fiction, never seen it, never heard of it…but having looked at the packaging it looks like a cheap rip off of campari, which is actually quite first quenching in a tonic water sort of way. Anyway its not meant to be drunk unmixed so its hardly surprising peoples reactions to the drink.
I’m 31, I was born in Italy and I still live there but I’ve NEVER heard about this thing in my whole life! I’m pretty sure that Beverly never existed in Italy.
I have found the “Beverly” in Italy. it is Fanta Amara Arancita.. Its a bitter orange. I love Beverly and i can only get it when i am in Las Vegas at world of coke, Atlanta at World of Coke and Epcot. The Fanta is clear like Beverly and it taste exactly the same. The can has http://www.fanta.it. its a 330ml can
Beverly as in Beverly Hills. Looks good but is actually awful. It’s an industry joke.