I moved to Finland so I can't get them here, but at least I'm consoled by the availability of Irn-Bru!
Although if I'm honest, I drank far too much of the stuff so it's probably a good thing I can't buy it any more.
https://www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/product/327752/Irn-Bru-virvo...
Unfortunately that's the new "not really Irn Bru" recipe :(.
Any changes made before I started drinking it are merely historical baggage, but any changes made after I started drinking it have a fundamental effect on whether I consider it the same product. See also: "New Coke".
(Also, I can taste Aspartame -- so while many people might say that the low sugar variant is sufficiently similar in taste, I really don't enjoy it. Although, as I posted above, this is probably a good thing.)
I get what you're saying, and I kinda believe the best Irn-Bru was the stuff in a glass bottle, delivered to the door, when I was a kid.
But the stuff that's out there, to my mind, is still just fine. It cures hangovers. It tastes of sugar and love, whether there's real sugar, real iron, or real love in it is almost immaterial.
Un(?)fortunately I taste Aspartame as being bitter so it's not as sweet for me as it used to be :(. Which is probably a good thing, given how much I used to drink :P.
Close, but sadly not close enough! (I enjoy both, but the Tunnock's teacakes, and their caramel logs too, are a clear winner for me. Probably due to my childhood memories and associations as much as anything else. Bias!)