In article om>, spamtrap1
@cwdjr.info says...
>
>I ran into several other references to Matilda Bay. I will just post
>some random quotes from them below:
>
>"Oh yeah! I also remember Matilda Bay which you could get in a little
>box. We used to get this or the Sun Country 2-liter and fill up our
>7-eleven cups. So sneaky.
>
>AP Published: September 8, 1989
>LEAD: The Miller Brewing Company said it would stop production of its
>Matilda Bay wine cooler in early November because of poor sales.
>
>Matilda Bay Wine Coolers
>Remember when wine coolers were all the rage? These were supposedly
>Australian wine coolers with bizarre commercials. The characters had
>bad accents and did wacky things.
>
>Some coolers, such as Matilda Bay, come in four-packs, a tactic that
>not only makes them look more like a soda, but also ensures that people
>will buy the product in quantity.
>
>Matilda bay wine cooler mirror with palm trees. The mirror measures
>approximately 16 inches wide by 19 inches high, with a plastic frame.
>
>Through college, my beverage of choice was wine coolers - Bartles and
>Jaymes (which now I believe is utterly undrinkable) and the favorite
>Matilda Bay (Australian accent: "Comes in a box, so it's easy to pour!"
>- I also have a neon signn with lovely rasta colors).
>
>Well, the unopened case (of four one-gallon boxes) of Matilda Bay wine
>cooler I bought back in 1989 are still good. Does anybody remember OK
>Soda or Matilda Bay? Fond memories?
>
>do you remember a wine cooler called Matilda Bay? you could buy it in
>bottles or in a little package that had a spout. they quit making it in
>the late 80's. it didn't taste like alcohol at all, and the girls would
>get pretty farked up on it pretty damn quick. if any of you guys
>remember this stuff, and miss the taste of a "matilda kiss", then try
>this stuff. it's stronger than matilda bay, but it tastes exactly like
>it.
>
>You are bidding on a Matilda Bay wine cooler plastic lined bottle cap,
>from Miller Brewing Co, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This one is the rarest
>variation of Matilda Bay.
>
>matilda bay wine coolers, noncarbonated so you can chug 'em faster
>unfortunately they've been out of business since the early 90s, so i
>make do with strawberry-kiwi-everclear daquiris."

WOW, the mother lode! I'm guessing that our market, New Orleans, got the b-n-b
version, and maybe much sooner than other parts of the US. Since we left there
for Denver in 1981, I suppose that the product packaging was changed over
time, and I never saw the later incarnations. I recall when the "coolers" were
the rage, but I'd place that in the mid-eighties. By then, the boxed version
(hm-m-m sounds like a compilation of Pink Floyd CDs... ) was probably long
gone. The boxed wines from Franzia, et al made it big in the Denver market by
the mid-eighties also. I still recall arriving at a "wine party" with a
few btls. of Ch Gloria under my arm, only to discover the hostesse's counter
covered with boxes of wine. Seems that the Gloria was gone in the blink of an
eye, and boxes were all that were left! This was when I decided that I would
always squirrel-away a btl. for MY private consumption, at these events.

Thanks for the tidbits on Matilda Bay - Miller Brewing huh?

Hunt