It Was Almost the 'Dr Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'
Robb Walsh tells serious eaters everything they could possibly want to know about Dr Pepper in a brilliant piece of reporting and commentary, including these facts:
- There are now three local Texas bottlers making the original Dr Pepper with pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup (which Walsh objects to just on principle). Visitors to the original Dr Pepper bottling plant in Dublin, Texas, can buy 20 cases for "personal use"
- Bootleggers and legit concerns are now distributing said Dr Pepper in convenience stores, gas stations, and even in upscale Texas grocery store Central Market
Walsh had passers-by blindly taste both kinds of Dr Pepper. Younger people thought the original Dr Pepper tasted weird. Walsh himself likes to cook with and drink the originally formulated version.
Click through for some more Dr Pepper picker-uppers.
- Cane sugar-sweetened Dr Pepper plays a surprisingly important role in many Texans' lives. To those lucky or unlucky folks, the real Dr Pepper is likened to crack
- The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco is kind of a dud
- Paul McCartney originally wanted to call the Sgt. Pepper album Dr. Pepper's Lonelyhearts Club Band. At the time he didn't know about the soft drink. Eventually John Lennon grew to love it so much he would have it shipped to him in England
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9 Comments:
Speaking as a young person, after I really cut out HFCS from my diet, it's really, really easy to tell the difference between HFCS and cane sugar. Not so much from the taste, but the aftertaste. These young people Robb found must just not have ever before had the pleasure of Mexican Coke or Dublin Dr. Pepper.
Deep9x at 12:43PM on 06/07/08
Where can I get some?!??
I love Dr Pepper but drink very little of it bc the HFCS does not like me.
jdshd at 1:49PM on 06/07/08
You can order it online @ www.dublindrpepper.com
homesicktexan at 2:11PM on 06/07/08
Fantastic article! I wish all journalism was this thorough and well written.
peekpoke at 2:23PM on 06/07/08
I love Dr.Pepper.
I go to Sonic Drive-in (Houston,TX) every morning about 10:00 and get one over Sonic's crushed ice.
When I was growing up, we would visit my grandmother in Longview, TX and she always had bottles of it. I remember looking at the 10-2-4 label.
There are many Dr.Pepper fanatics in my family including my sister in law who lives and grew up in Virginia.
I haven't had one with sugar for a long time.
eatorama at 3:57PM on 06/07/08
Dr Pepper sweetened with Imperial cane sugar is available in Houston at Spec's, Central Market and the Kroger on Montrose.
The Roanoke Valley of Virginia consumes more Dr Pepper per capita than anywhere else east of the Mississippi. The drink was named for Dr. Charles Pepper of nearby Rural Retreat, Virginia.
Robb Walsh at 4:26PM on 06/07/08
http://pops66.com
That place has 500 different types of Soda Pop, including Dublin Dr Pepper.
FastFoodCritic at 7:50AM on 06/08/08
Jason's Deli (at least the one's in the Nashville, TN, area) has switched to Dublin (cane sugar) Dr. Pepper. It's delicious!
Emsev333 at 10:59AM on 06/09/08
@FFC, Have you been to Pops? It's a thing of beauty. Go at night when the neon is lit up.
I miss Pepsi (and Dr. Pepper, too) made with cane sugar. My dad would pop open a glass bottle of Pepsi every summer night and have it over crushed ice or occasionally vanilla ice cream. (This was in the '70's.) I remember sitting near him, hoping he would give me a little sip. It only happened once in a while but it kept me nearby on summer nights when the air was filled with the sound of crickets.
holdthemayo at 6:21PM on 06/09/08