Cherry soda

Cherry soda is a sweet, carbonated soft drink flavoured chiefly with cherry, giving it a bright, tart-sweet fruitiness and, in most versions, a deep ruby-red colour. It is non-alcoholic, and while a handful of brands use real cherry juice, the great majority lean on cherry flavouring — often a rounded, almost almond-like "maraschino" note — over sweetened, acidulated carbonated water. Sold both as a standalone fruit soda and as a cherry variant of colas and lemon-limes, it anchors a distinct fruit-soda archetype and includes fiercely regional traditions such as North Carolina's Cheerwine, which sits alongside cream soda, root beer and orange soda in the family of classic American sodas.