One of New England's most iconic flavors is that of Moxie, and it's not even made in New England! But you can find the classic orange Moxie can at gas stations and convenience stores in Maine and New Hampshire, less often in Vermont and the southern three states.
The first time I tasted Moxie, I spit it out. I thought I had gotten a spoiled can. It tasted like a cross between cough medicine and diesel fuel.
Actually, the cough medicine idea wasn't so far off the mark. Moxie was one of the original "tonics" (sodas are still called tonics in much of New England), and it was meant to nourish the nerves. It is flavored with gentian root and wintergreen, and used to contain sassafras, before that was found to be carcinogenic. There's some great information about the origins and history of Moxie in this article from the Marietta Soda Museum, Marietta, OH.
The flavor of Moxie has changed over the years. In thelate '60s it was made much sweeter, and that didn't work out to well, so they changed it back. The last one I tried seemed sweeter than I remember, but maybe it's just the taste of summer on the Cape that comes back so sweet.
I came to like the taste of Moxie, and though I don't drink much soda these days, I can't resist a cold Moxie on a warm night at a Cape Cod League Baseball game!