Did you ever have an old friend, who you were close to, but you kind of drifted apart, and then you heard they were gone? This kind of feels like that.

The Coca Cola Company announced Friday that they are discontinuing TaB Cola. The brand and several others have been under-performing for a while now, and well, you know....

“We’re forever grateful to TaB for paving the way for the diets and lights category, and to the legion of TaB lovers who have embraced the brand for nearly six decades,” - Kerri Kopp, group director, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola North America.

Maybe you remember your mom or dad drinking TaB, when they were watching their calories. In my case, my ex drank it every morning in place of coffee, which she didn't like. It gave her the caffeine without the calories (nor the taste of coffee.)

Actually, my dad was diabetic, and he drank a ton of Coca-Cola's other diet drink, Fresca. (Here's a funny story from this past summer when supplies of Fresca were low and rumors were high.)

TaB came out in 1963. It was the first of the diet sodas, and did great through the rest of the 1960's and 1970's.  But Coke cannibalized itself, leading to it's diet first-born's demise, when it introduced Diet Coke in 1982.

A tshirt with the Tab Cola logo. Coca-Cola announced Friday they are discontinuing the brand after 60 years. (Photo: The Village T Shirt Shop via Amazon.com)

Now, Kopp says, Coke wants to pour their money into market leader Diet Coke and something called Coca Cola Zero Sugar. (turns out they have a one ingredient difference.)

But this isn't supposed to be an autopsy. It's a wake, for a wonderful old friend. Yes, there are plenty of diet colas, but people closely bond with products like this. This is going to hurt.

Thanks, TaB for the memories and for keeping my waist line a little smaller.

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