My first TAB experience was in 1972, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. After a 12 pack I was convinced that Coca Cola was trying to poison us. The memory of that experience is indelible. Never again!
Got my first TAB back in 1963 or 64. Had to mix it with a real coke to make it palatable.
This was when it used saccharine, a few years before the cyclamate scare.