> Cola is a really hard flavor to nail.
Not at all. I brew my own cola at home using the OpenCola [1] recipe -- and speaking as a person who is very picky about colas, I find it delicious, easily on par with store-bought Coke -- which you could easily produce on a large scale.
The recipe is very close to the original Coca-Cola recipe; the Coca-Cola Company now presumably uses synthetic flavours in place of the various oils, which means the homebrew version actually tastes much more fresh and natural compared to store-bought Coke.
(I will admit Homebrew Coke lacks a little bit of the "bite" of Coca-Cola, which might come from the coca leaf.)
I use a SodaStream-style home carbonator, but it's not great. Store-bought soda water is much better.
[1] http://www.colawp.com/colas/400/cola467_recipe.html