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Pepper in the first place. Personally, I think the taste of the cane
sugar product is more well-rounded and less fizzy than the one with high fructose corn syrup. See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge 2.6 How can I get some cane sugar Dr Pepper? You can either: a) Visit the plant in Dublin, Texas--the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world and the only plant in the U.S. which is allowed by the Dr Pepper corporation to still manufacture the soda with cane sugar. The Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company is located at 221 South Patrick, Dublin, Texas 76446, one block south of the intersection of US377/67 and TX6. The plant is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm; Saturday, 10am-5pm; and Sunday, 1-5pm. You can also call them at 1-254-445-3466 for tour information, etc. b) Visit most stores within a 50-mile radius of the plant--which is the territory covered by it. c) Call up Old Doc's Soda Shop in Dublin at 1-888-398-10-2-4, or 1-254-445-3939 and they can tell you how much it costs to have "The Real Thing" shipped to you. You can even order it on-line now! Click on http://www.dublindrpepper.com/Store/entry.htm and all will be revealed. Be forewarned that no matter how you buy it from Dublin, there is a 25 case limit. Any more than that sold to a single person could violate franchise agreements (because you could be "dealing" if you have more than 25 cases in your possession and transport them into another franchise's territory). d) Visit the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas, in person (see question 17 for their address), and you can buy loose bottles and cans of the cane sugar soda in their gift shop--but not at their soda fountain. The way they explain it, the museum is not allowed to sell the soda "to drink" at their fountain with all their other sodas, but they are allowed to sell it "closed" at their gift shop, as long as they only sell it in person to museum customers. I telephoned the museum and asked: "Does that mean you can't drink it anywhere on the premises?" "Well, our customers can do whatever they want after they buy it," the kind woman on the other end responded. The museum does not ship the cane sugar product anywhere, which may be why you never heard of it on their web site. e) If you're visiting Dallas, Texas, you can stop by Ifs Ands & Butts (http://www.ifsandbutts.com), a combination soda pop boutique and smoke shop located at 408 N. Bishop Avenue. This is only one of two stores allowed to sell cane sugar Dr Pepper outside of the Dublin area (the other being the Waco museum above), and this store ships nationwide as well--though at a higher price than what it costs to get the soda from Dublin, of course. (Where do you think they're getting it from?) Interested parties can call them up at 1-888-712-8887, or 1-214-941-1222. f) And, if you want to drink some cane sugar Dr Pepper with your meal, you can safely do so at Love & War in Texas, a restaurant located at 601 E. Plano Parkway in Plano, Texas. A member of their staff confirmed for me that they do serve "the genuine article" every day for lunch and dinner. How do they get it? They drive up to Dublin and buy a few cases, like everyone else. They even have a web site at loveandwarintexas.com, where you can view their Texas-themed menu up close--or as up close as you can get on the web. Their phone number is 1-972-422-6201, and if you've got nine friends coming with you, they'll even let you make reservations. g) If you want to get some groceries along with your cane sugar Dr Pepper, you can find both at Central Market in Dallas, Texas, located at 5750 E. Lovers Lane at Greenville Avenue. You can email them at s545M1@heb.com or call them at 1-214-234-7000 for more detailed information. They even cater! h) If you're in Seattle, Washington, you can drop by Real Soda, a store that specializes in selling soda in glass bottles, soda with cane sugar (such as the aforementioned cane sugar DP), soda in long neck bottles, soda imported from Europe and Mexico, and so on. Their street address is 459 N. 36th St., and their phone number is 1-206-633-1092. If you don't feel like traveling there in person, they also have a web site where you can order the soda at www.sodaking.com. However, if you only want to discuss the soda, they have a separate site for that at www.realsoda.com. And you thought *I* had too much to say on the subject? 2.7 How can I get some caffeine-free Dr Pepper? Out of all the questions I see both in alt.fan.dr-pepper and in my mailbox, this one is probably the most perplexing. I mean, it's not like people looking for caffeine-free Dr Pepper are looking for anything complicated. In fact, regular Dr Pepper itself was originally caffeine-free for the first 32 years it existed. Caffeine-free Coke and caffeine-free Pepsi are certainly easy enough to find, so caffeine-free Dr Pepper must be right next to them on the shelf, right? Well, for the most part, no. For example, if you live in New York, like myself, then you won't find any caffeine-free Dr Pepper in the entire state. Does that make any sense? Living in the largest city in the United States and not being able to find one caffeine-free can of my favorite soda? Actually, now it's more likely than ever that you're probably in the same boat I am. Here's a list of all the states where caffeine-free Dr Pepper is currently on sale (courtesy of the Dr Pepper company, and others): Arizona Georgia Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Mississippi Missouri North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Texas Utah Virginia West Virginia The number of states that don't bottle caffeine-free Dr Pepper has increased dramatically since this question was added to the FAQ. Back in 1999, there were only 17 states where you couldn't find caffeine-free DP. Now the situation has completely reversed: only 17 states out of 50 sell caffeine-free Dr Pepper at present. So, even if your state is on the list now, it's no guarantee that you'll still be able to buy the caffeine-free variety there any time in the future. According to David Severs (dmsmms@mchsi.com), an area sales manager for the Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group in Iowa, the problem rests squarely on local bottlers. "Anyplace the DPSUBG has the rights to Dr Pepper it also carries caffeine free pepper," he says. "The only reason why you can't find it in other parts of the country is because most coke and pepsi bottlers choose not to carry it." As true as this may be, the Dr Pepper Company may also be a little less than enthusiastic about putting customers in contact with its caffeine-free version. The following question and answer on the corporation's web site didn't exactly ease my suspicions: Q: Where can I find caffeine-free Dr Pepper products? A: The decision to produce caffeine-free Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper is up to local bottlers, based upon market conditions such as demand and shelf space. While Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper are available throughout the U.S., their caffeine-free counterparts are not. Everything you need to know--except where you can find caffeine-free Dr Pepper products, of course. But now--thanks to some blind luck and a few toll-free phone calls--I can share with you an easy three-step solution to getting some gold-colored cans of your own: a) First, look around in your supermarket. If you're lucky, a bottle of the stuff will be sitting right on the shelf, and your troubles are over. However, I'm guessing you've probably already done that, otherwise you wouldn't need to know the answer to this question. So . . . b) If you can't find caffeine-free Dr Pepper in any store near you, call the Dr Pepper company toll-free at 1-800-527-7096, press 3 for Consumer Relations, then press 13 (that's right, thirteen) for the next available operator, and ask the operator where you can find caffeine-free Dr Pepper in your area. If you're lucky, you might be pleasantly surprised and told the number of a bottler who might not be as far away as you thought. Or, if you're not so lucky, you might be told that no one makes caffeine-free Dr Pepper anywhere at all in your entire state. In which case, you might be given the number for your local bottler so you can call them directly and tell them you want caffeine-free Dr Pepper in your area today. Or, you might be provided with the name and number of a grocery store that will ship the stuff to you for a price. But, if all else fails . . . c) Call up Old Doc's Soda Shop (that's right, the very same people who can ship you the Imperial Cane Sugar Dr Pepper in question 12) at 1-888-398-10-2-4, or 1-254-445-3939 and they will gladly ship out some genuine caffeine-free Dr Pepper to you as long as you tell them that it's not available in your area (which I'm guessing it isn't, otherwise why would you go through all the trouble to have it shipped to you from Dublin, Texas?). You can also order it online through their web site at http://www.dublindrpepper.com/Store/store_4.htm. They even have the diet caffeine-free variety for sale, if you desire. What more could you want? Bear in mind that there is no purely cane sugar version of caffeine-free Dr Pepper available; even the caffeine-free DP from Old Doc's has high fructose corn syrup in it. But I'm guessing once you have it in your hands you'll be so happy just drinking it that the sweetener issue will be the least of your concerns. And for those of you wondering how it tastes: when it's ice cold, it tastes exactly like regular DP made with high fructose corn syrup, and when it warms up it tastes just a tiny bit weaker than the caffeinated stuff--probably lacking the very "bite" the caffeine provides. But it's certainly worth it if you want to cut back on caffeine without cutting back on the King of Beverages. Now, if I can just get someone to sell the stuff in New York City, then I'll be really happy. 2.8 What's this "Red Fusion" drink I've heard about? According to a press release from Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., "Red Fusion [is] the first new flavor addition to the Dr Pepper line-up in its 117-year history. Sporting an alluring red color and use of a variety of fruit flavors, including the basic flavor profile of Dr Pepper." According to me, it tastes like Dr Pepper mixed with cherry syrup, whose color is enhanced by a good dose of Red #40. As part of a sudden surge of "alternate" major-brand soft drinks unleashed in 2002, Red Fusion is worth a try if you're in the mood for a soda that's especially sweet, not as sickening as Pepsi Blue (which looks a little too much to me like Windex), and not as mellow as Vanilla Coke. But, as far as occupying a permanent place in my fridge, the jury is still out. Section 3: Ads, Merchandise, Museums, and Literature 3.1 Why drink Dr Pepper at 10 o'clock, 2 o'clock, and 4 o'clock? (The www.drpepper.com site credits the book The Legend of Dr Pepper/Seven Up [see question 3.7] for this info.) "Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2, and 4," was the slogan for an ad campaign for Dr. Pepper in the late 1920's and early 1930's. A study authored by a Dr. Walter H. Eddy in 1927 "found that human energy dropped to its lowest point at 10:30am, at 2:30pm and again at 4:30pm daily." J.B. O'Hara of Dr. Pepper asked Tracy-Locke-Dawson Inc. (an ad agency), to design a campaign around that information. The agency held a contest, and Earle Racey, one of their copywriters, won with his "10-2-4" idea--the idea being that drinking the sugary, caffeinated soda at 10am, 2pm, and 4pm would perk you up and get you through those impending energy drops a half-hour later. The slogan has endured in one form or another ever since. 3.2 What happened to the period after "Dr" in Dr Pepper? As Max Arbogast explains it on his page ("pepper.doc"): "The change came about in 1950 when Dr Pepper adopted a new slanted block-style font. The small lower case "r" consisted of a small slanted line with a dot at its upper right. To their dismay, they found that the period and the r's dot combined visually to become a colon, thus making it Di:Pepper. The easy way out was to simply drop the period. This also helped move Dr Pepper further away from any medication association." (This also didn't stop soda jerks from calling the drink "M.D." in their jargon--according to Paul Dickson in The Great American Ice Cream Book [1972, Atheneum]--but that's neither here nor there.) 3.3 Who owns Dr Pepper? I heard it was owned by Coke/Pepsi/7-Up/etc.? "Awoodbeach" (awoodbeach@aol.com) put it succinctly when he posted this answer to alt.fan.dr-pepper on October 24, 1997: "Dr Pepper is owned by Dr Pepper / Seven Up Inc a subsidiary of the Cadbury PLC trading on the NYSE [as CSG -- Chris F.]. Dr Pepper is distributed throughout the country by a variety of some very dedicated bottlers who without them, the Dr Pepper brand would not be where it is today. Coke, Pepsi, and RC bottlers sell Dr Pepper; it all depends on who owns the franchise in a specific geographic area. The breakdown is about 30% Coke, 40% Pepsi, 20% [other? He didn't say -- Chris F.] and some who just sell Dr Pepper......like our friends in Dublin." In December, 1998, Coca-Cola caused a stir by paying Cadbury-Schweppes $1.85 billion for the right to distribute Cadbury-Schweppes sodas (including Dr Pepper) in 120 countries, but the United States was not one of them (neither were France or South Africa). So, in the U.S., Dr Pepper will still be distributed by whoever has the local franchise rights, meaning that there will still be places where Coke doesn't own the franchise and will continue to sell Mr. Pibb (and possibly another brand--see question 10) to compete. And--just so no one gets confused--Cadbury Schweppes still owns Dr Pepper. You'd be surprised how quickly rumors get started from news like this. 3.4 Is there a Dr Pepper museum? There are two: The Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute 300 South 5th Street Waco, Texas 76701 1-877-DPGIFTS (toll free), 1-254-757-1025 Fax: 1-254-757-2221 www.drpeppermuseum.com dp-info@drpeppermuseum.com and: Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Co. Museum Street address: 105 E. Elm St., Dublin, TX 76446 Museum mailing address: 221 S. Patrick St., Dublin, TX 76446 Toll free number for orders: 1-888-398-1024 Soda Shop/Gift Shop: 1-254-445-3939 Museum Office: 1-254-445-4210 Website: www.dublindrpepper.com Museum E-mail: collections@dublindrpepper.com 3.5 Where can I buy Dr Pepper merchandise? The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco has a catalogue section on its web site (http://www.drpeppermuseum.org/drpepperstore/). You can also call the Museum toll-free at 1-877-DPGIFTS (or pay the toll at 1-254-757-1025) and, for $3.00, they will send you a glossy color catalogue and add your name to their mailing list. The Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Co. Museum had a catalogue available at one point, but as of March 18, 1999, the shop was out of them and its staff didn't know when they were going to get more. Their website also doesn't have as many links to merchandise now as it once did, the merchandise these days being limited to the soda itself (which isn't a bad thing, after all). You can still take a look at http://dublindrpepper.com/sodashop.htm. And, if you want to take a gamble with online auctions, eBay has around 500 different Dr Pepper-related items up for bids every day on its site, so it's certainly worth a look. Strangely enough, even though Dr Pepper/Seven Up enacted a "strategic alliance" with eBay in June, 2003, their combined "Liquid Loot" promotion seems more geared to advertising 7-Up than anything else. (The lack of any Dr Pepper merchandise in that section was the tip-off.) 3.6 Where can I find this Dr Pepper collectible? Who can I contact to have this antique Dr Pepper item looked at? The amount of Dr Pepper collectibles in existence (don't forget, that's over 110 years' worth) is even more numerous than the amount of DP clones, so I won't even try to list them all here. You're better off visiting Max Arbogast's site, which has a lot of information about DP collectors and collectibles, and is located at http://erath.net/marbo/. And, as I said in question 3.5, eBay is a web auction site which has about 500 (more or less) different Dr Pepper items up for bids every day--many, if not all of them being collectibles. They're both worth checking out. Also, the 10-2-4 Club is, as they put it, "a national organization of people dedicated to the study of the history and collecting of memorabilia of the Dr Pepper Company." 10-2-4 membership information can currently be found at three sites: http://www.dublindrpepper.com/club.htm http://www.drpeppermuseum.com/dpcc.html http://www.erath.net/marbo/10-2-4.htm Houston, Texas, has its own chapter of the club (in fact, the only local chapter of the club), named the Houston Peppers. Jan Wright, the chapter President, informed me on July 4, 1998, that she can be contacted via email at hpeppers@swbell.net if anyone wants more information about them. The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco also does research on DP collectibles for a fee. Their rate information for research is at http://www.drpeppermuseum.com/dpcoll/research.html. Currently, their posted fee is $15 per hour of research. 3.7 What books have been written about Dr Pepper? There are at least 3: The Legend of Dr Pepper/Seven-Up, by Jeffrey L. Rodengen (1995, Write Stuff Syndicate); Dr Pepper, King of Beverages, by Harry E. Ellis (1979, Dr Pepper Co.; another edition was printed in 1986); and the Dr Pepper Centennial book, also by Harry Ellis. Of those three, The Legend of Dr Pepper/Seven-Up is the most widely available, and I was able to find it for sale on at least 5 different web sites (if not in person in any physical store near me in New York City--go figure). King of Beverages and the Centennial book are harder to find, in that order. The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco also sells all 3 books as a set on its web site (though, strangely, not in its paper catalogue), as well as separately. The Dr Pepper company has also published a slim volume titled "Cooking With Dr Pepper" in one form or another every so often since 1965. More specifically, different editions have been published in 1965, 1977, 1983, 1993, and 2001, the last two having a combination of recipes for Dr Pepper and for 7Up. The only difference between the 1977 and 1983 editions seems to be typographical, and the 1965 edition has a lot of recipes which didn't survive in future editions (such as "Bean Dip A La Dr Pepper," among others). The 1993 and 2001 editions lack the glossy color photos of the first three, instead relying on a scant amount of clip-art for illustration. However, the last two editions also contain the greatest number of recipes among the five; essentially because they also contain a whole extra cookbook of 7Up recipes as well. If you visit the link at http://www.dpsu.com/Cookbook.pdf, you can download a copy for yourself in the Adobe Acrobat format. To get a brand new paper copy gratis (additional copies $3.50 each), call up the Dr Pepper company's Consumer Relations department directly at 1-800-696-5891 and press "2" at the prompt to leave your name--that is, if an operator doesn't intercept you beforehand. (Apparently, you can also dial 1-800-527-7096 and press "5" for the same result.) Faster than you can say "Dallas, Texas," the kind person who answers will swiftly take down your name and address and send you a free booklet just for the asking. You can also write to the following address: Cookbook c/o Consumer Relations Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. P.O. Box 869077 Plano, Texas 75086-9077 Past editions of Cooking With Dr Pepper also periodically come up for auction on eBay, but I'll bet you already guessed that. For a web-based tongue-in-cheek appraisal of the 1965 edition, you can visit http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/drpepper/index.html for the "Gallery of Regrettable Food"’s take on it. In addition, there is a book titled Travels with Dr. Pepper, by Pepper Worthington (1990, Free Will Baptist Press), which is described as "travel essays." And the Library of Congress lists a rather technical-sounding volume named Consumer perspectives on national and store brands: (1994) "conducted for Food Marketing Institute and Dr Pepper Company by Marketing Spectrum." I get the feeling that last book is a little drier than all the others, but I could be wrong. 3.8 How can I contact The Dr Pepper Company? The official corporate offices of Dr Pepper can be reached by phone in the U.S. at 1-800-527-7096 (toll-free), and 1-972-673-7000. Their "Consumer Relations" department can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-696-5891. If you need to contact the company about a "media-related" issue, call them at 1-972-673-6400. And, to quote the corporation's site, "If your call is an emergency, a real, live person will answer the phone 24-hours-a-day." How's that for service? The Dr Pepper company can be reached by email at consumer_affairs@dpsu.com. There used to be a gaggle of other email addresses listed on the corporation's web site at http://www.dpsu.com/contact_us.html, but all addresses except the above seem to have been removed as of late. (Too many emails, guys?) You can also write to them via snail mail at: Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. P.O. Box 869077 Plano, Texas 75086-9077 Or: Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. 5301 Legacy Drive Plano, Texas 75024-9077 The editors of Cooking With Dr Pepper can be contacted via the address mentioned in question 3.7, above. Thus endeth the FAQ. Christopher Flaherty afdpfaq@freenewyork.net Dr Pepper FAQ http://www.freenewyork.net/dpfaq.html "... once a person becomes addicted to Dr Pepper, it's like belonging to a cult ..." -- W.W. Clements, President, Dr Pepper Co., 1969-1980 User Contributions:Part2 - Part3 [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: chrisf@pipeline.com
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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