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From: [email protected] (Christopher Flaherty)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.dr-pepper,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: alt.fan.dr-pepper FAQ v. 2.3
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Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2000 13:10:36 GMT
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Summary: Answers to most questions about the soft drink Dr Pepper.
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Archive-name: drink/dr-pepper
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Last-modified: 2000/04/06
Version: 2.3
URL: http://www.pipeline.com/~chrisf/dpfaq.html

The Highly Unofficial alt.fan.dr-pepper FAQ
compiled by Christopher Flaherty from various sources
version 2.3  April 6, 2000
List of Questions:

a.      What's a FAQ?
b.      Where can I find the latest version of this FAQ?
c.      What are the sources for this FAQ?
d.      What changes have been made to this FAQ?
e.      Why did you put this FAQ together?
f.      How can I contribute to/make suggestions/submit corrections to
this FAQ?

1.      Who invented Dr Pepper?
2.      Is Dr Pepper older than Coca-Cola?
3.      Was there ever really a person called Dr. Pepper?
4.      Is there now a town named Dr Pepper?
5.      What's the connection between the Beatles and Dr Pepper?
6.      What's the connection between the JFK assassination and Dr
Pepper?
7.      Does Dr Pepper contain prune juice?
8.      Okay, so what's in Dr Pepper?
9.      What's the recipe for Hot Dr Pepper?
10.     What Dr Pepper imitations exist, and where can you find them?
11.     What's the difference between Dr Pepper made with Imperial
Cane Sugar, and Dr Pepper made with high fructose corn syrup?
12.     How can I get some cane sugar Dr Pepper?
13.     How can I get some caffeine-free Dr Pepper?
14.     Why drink Dr Pepper at 10 o'clock, 2 o'clock, and 4 o'clock?
15.     What happened to the period after "Dr" in Dr Pepper?
16.     Who owns Dr Pepper?  I heard it was owned by
Coke/Pepsi/7-Up/etc.?
17.     Is there a Dr Pepper museum?
18.     Where can I buy Dr Pepper merchandise?
19.     Where can I find this Dr Pepper collectible?  Who can I
contact to have this antique Dr Pepper item looked at?
20.     What books have been written about Dr Pepper?
21.     How can I contact The Dr Pepper Company?

And now, the questions with the answers:

a.      What's a FAQ?

FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions, and there are several of
them that pop up in alt.fan.dr-pepper all the time.

b.      Where can I find the latest version of this FAQ?

This FAQ is posted to alt.fan.dr-pepper, alt.answers, and news.answers
as often as it may be necessary (at least once every three months).
The latest version can always be found on the World Wide Web at
http://www.pipeline.com/~chrisf/dpfaq.html.  The following mirror
sites (or, more accurately, mirror sites for the newsgroup postings of
the FAQ) also exist:

http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/drink/dr-pepper.html
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet-faqs/bygroup/alt/fan/dr-pepper/_drink:dr-pepper.html
http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news.answers/alt.fan.dr-pepper/
http://ftp.eu.net/ftp/documents/faq/drink/dr-pepper
http://ftp.lth.se/cgi-bin/gfaq?drink%2fdr-pepper.gz
http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/faq/archive/drink.dr-pepper.html
(this site doesn't seem to get updated as often; it was displaying a
copy of version 2.02 when I was already up to version 2.06)

As of 11/12/98, a link to this FAQ can be found on Yahoo! in the Home
: Society and Culture : Food and Drink : Drinks and Drinking : Dr
Pepper category (as opposed to the more corporate Home : Business and
Economy : Companies : Beverages : Soft Drinks : Dr Pepper category).
It took a while, but hey--what's five months between friends?  Anyway,
there was an additional happy side effect to the Yahoo! listing
besides increased traffic, but I'll elaborate on that in question 10,
so stay tuned.

c.      What are the sources for this FAQ?

This particular FAQ was first put together in its present form by
Christopher Flaherty ([email protected]).  A smaller FAQ was
previously compiled by Max Arbogast ([email protected]) and can be found
at http://erath.net/marbo/faq.htm.  Major web site sources include
pepper.doc (http://erath.net/marbo/), the corporate Dr Pepper site
(http://www.drpepper.com), Old Doc's Soda Shop (http://www.drpep.com),
and the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute of Waco, Texas
(http://www.drpeppermuseum.com).  Many old posts to alt.fan.dr-pepper
were retrieved via DejaNews (http://www.dejanews.com), so thanks to
them also.  Other sources are also quoted and attributed throughout
the FAQ.

d.      What changes have been made to this FAQ?

The chronology of this particular FAQ's development is as follows:

11/8/97 -- Version 0.001:  First preliminary version; questions only.
Did not include answers.  Not distributed.

6/2/98 -- Version 0.002:  Included answers to questions as well as a
chart listing 38 DP clones.  Not distributed.

6/15/98 -- Version 0.003:  Eliminated chart/list of DP clones.
Expanded and renumbered questions and answers.  Not distributed.

6/28/98 -- Version 0.004:  Included personal comment about book
availability in my hometown.  Limited distribution through email for
proofreading and corrections.  First HTML version created.

6/30/98 -- Version 0.005:  Corrected number of flavors in answer to
question 8.  HTML publication only.

7/2/98 -- Version 1.00:  First plain-text version created.  First
submission to alt.fan.dr-pepper, alt.answers, and news.answers
newsgroups.

7/7/98 -- Version 1.01:  Added information about Houston Collector's
Club (question 19) and ingredients in UK Dr Pepper (question 8).

8/6/98 -- Version 1.02:  FAQ approved for posting to alt.answers and
news.answers newsgroups.  Specified posting frequency in question b.
Modified question 3 and one other question ("Who started the prune
juice rumor?" -- eliminated in version 2.00) to address the "love
story" rumor.

9/27/98 -- Version 1.03: Added two more sites to question 10.

9/29/98 -- Version 1.04: Corrected stock symbol for Cadbury Schweppes
(question 16).  Not distributed.

10/2/98 -- Version 1.1: Added new question about the Beatles (question
5) and rearranged the others.

10/12/98 -- Version 1.11: Added another site to question 10 and META
tags to HTML version.

10/28/98 -- Version 1.12: Added ingredients of Australian and Canadian
versions of Dr Pepper (question 8).

11/7/98 -- Version 1.13: Added list of "mirror sites" to question b.
Corrected name and address of source of Canadian ingredients (question
8).  Added information about year of origin and distribution of Mr.
Pibb (question 10).

11/14/98 -- Version 1.14: Added information about Yahoo! link
(question b); updated URL of Mr. Pibb site, updated name of Wouldn't
You Like To Be A Pepper Too... site (formerly known as Impostors,
Pretenders, and Frauds), and added information about new Yahoo!
category (all question 10).

1/31/99 -- Version 2.00: Added ingredients for Diet Dr Pepper to
question 8.  Eliminated the question "Who started the prune juice
rumor?" (where question 9 is now).  Added international distribution
information to question 16.  Added information about eBay to questions
18 and 19.

2/20/99 -- Version 2.01: Added more information about flavors and
changed one email address in question 8.  Added more information about
Hot Dr Pepper to question 9.  HTML publication only.

2/23/99 -- Version 2.02: Added facts about Cooking With Dr Pepper to
question 20.

3/4/99 -- Version 2.03: Added more information about "Cooking With Dr
Pepper" to question 20.  Added more contact information to question
21.

4/4/99 -- Version 2.04: Added information about catalogue from Dr
Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas (question 18).  Added information about
potential new clone from Coca-Cola (questions 10 & 16) and corrected
release year of Mr. Pibb (question 10).  Added note about 25-case
limit on sales of cane sugar Dr Pepper (question 12).  Revised book
information and availability in question 20.

4/22/99 -- Version 2.05: Added information about caffeine content to
question 8.  Revised addresses in questions 12 and 17.  Added soda
jerk lingo to question 15.  Added toll-free Museum number to question
18.

5/2/99 -- Version 2.06: Corrected bad HTML code in first link to
question 5.  HTML version only.

6/12/99 -- Version 2.1: Added 3 more "mirror" sites to question b.
Added information about Straight Dope Online article to question e.
Corrected bad HTML code in question 11.  Added new question about
caffeine-free Dr Pepper (question 13) and rearranged the others.
Negligible change to question 20.

7/9/99 -- Version 2.11: Added extra disclaimers to question e. Added
more flavor information to question 8.  Added three more "clone" sites
to question 10.  Changed wording of question 13 to match its wording
in the list of questions, and made small grammatical correction in
question 13's answer.

8/23/99 -- Version 2.12: Added info about prune juice rumor to
question 7.  Reformatted part of question 8.  Added 6 more "clone"
sites and information about dmoz.org to question 10.  Added phone
number for Bottling company to question 12.  Added fax numbers for
museums to question 17.

11/13/99 -- Version 2.2: Slight changes to descriptions of versions
1.02 and 2.00 in question d.  Added new question about the JFK
Assassination (question 6) and reformatted the others.  Added
publishing information to question 15.  Slight HTML correction in
question 21.  Tiny revisions to questions 10 and 20.

2/12/00 -- Version 2.21: Slight change to question b (re: Yahoo!
link).  Added info about web site stats to question e.  Modified
question 6 for clarity.  Added notice of Bill Kloster's death to
question 8.  Added links to two new clone sites; updated information
about potential Coca-Cola knock-off, total number of clones, and link
to Dr Kenton's Generic Dr Peppers, all in question 10.

4/6/00 -- Version 2.3: Moved question 22 and changed it to question f.
Added more stats about Bill Kloster to question 8.  Corrected
population status of New York City (it is indeed "the largest city in
the United States") in question 13.

e.      Why did you put this FAQ together?

There seemed to be a calling for one, and no one else was posting a Dr
Pepper FAQ in the newsgroups (or at least not in alt.fan.dr-pepper),
so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I must be doing something right
because this FAQ was cited as a reference in the June 10, 1999,
edition of the Straight Dope Online, in an article so generously
cribbed from the FAQ that they might as well have asked me to write
the thing myself.  Example:

My sentence: "The most famous (or is that infamous?) imitation, Mr.
Pibb, is Coca-Cola's unsuccessful effort to drive the good Dr out of
the market."

Their sentence: "Mr. Pibb is Coca Cola's unsuccessful effort to drive
the good Dr out of the market."

Coincidence?

Judge for yourself at
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdrpepper.html.  Anyway, the other
thing I can't figure out is why they supplied a link to a mirror site
of the FAQ (and an old mirror site at that--version 2.02), and not a
direct link to the HTML version of the FAQ itself--especially when
there was information in the article which had to have come from the
most recent version at the time (2.06).  Oh well.  At least now
everyone will know where to go for the very latest info: right here of
course.  "Get a life," indeed.

Right now I'd like to stress that this FAQ is UNOFFICIAL, meaning that
it is not endorsed or authorized by The Dr Pepper Company, Dr
Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., or any other corporate or business entity
connected with Dr Pepper. Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. owns all Dr Pepper
copyrights and trademarks.  Additionally, I'm not employed by Dr
Pepper, nor do I work for the Dr Pepper Company in any capacity, and
Dr Pepper does not compensate me for the time I dedicate towards
writing this FAQ (though I probably wouldn't stop them if they did).
I just put this together in my spare time for the purpose of providing
quick answers to common questions about Dr Pepper which appear
frequently on alt.fan.dr-pepper.  So, in other words, please don't sue
me.  I'm too broke as it is.  Let me know if you like it!

(Apparently, a lot of you like it enough to visit, because the FAQ's
web site received its 10,000th hit on December 22, 1999.  Not bad for
a page without multimedia.  Thanks, and keep visiting!  I wonder how
long it'll take to get to 20,000...?)

f.      How can I contribute/make suggestions/submit corrections to
this FAQ?

Post them to alt.fan.dr-pepper or email me at [email protected] with
"DPFAQ" in the header someplace.  As far as I know, everything here is
accurate, but if it turns out something is incorrect, let me know and
I'll correct it as soon as possible.

1.      Who invented Dr Pepper?

Dr Pepper was first created in 1885 by Charles Alderton, a pharmacist
who was working at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas, at
the time.

2.      Is Dr Pepper older than Coca-Cola?

Yes.  Coca-Cola was not invented until 1886, making Dr Pepper the
oldest of the major-brand soft drinks in the United States.  (For the
record: Pepsi was created in 1898 by Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North
Carolina; 7-Up a.k.a. "Lithiated Lemon" was "introduced" by Charles
Grigg of St. Louis in 1929; and Sprite was created by the Coca-Cola
company in 1961.  For the really curious: Moxie was invented by
Augustin Thompson of Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1886 as well.)

3.      Was there ever really a person called Dr. Pepper?

Yes.  Before Wade Morrison (the owner of the drug store where Alderton
worked) moved to Texas, he had lived in Virginia, and worked there as
a pharmacist for a drug store in Rural Retreat owned by a Dr. Charles
Pepper.  Dr. Pepper had given Morrison his first job, so Morrison
returned the favor by naming the new drink after him.

(There is a rather persistent rumor that alleges Morrison invented the
drink and named it after Pepper so that Pepper would approve of his
daughter marrying Morrison; but since all the "official" sources agree
that Alderton was the one who invented the drink, and Dr. Pepper's
daughter was "only about 8 years old" when Morrison moved out of
Virginia, I think that story can safely be classified as an urban
legend.  The Soda Fountain [http://www.sodafountain.com] explains the
matter quite concisely on their Dr Pepper page
[http://www.sodafountain.com/softdrnk/dr_pepper.htm].)

4.      Is there now a town named Dr Pepper?

Yes and No; it depends on the time of the year.  Rita Reed of the
Dublin, Texas, Chamber of Commerce told me on 6/8/98 that every year
for the last 4 or 5 years (she wasn't quite sure) the town has renamed
itself "Dr Pepper, Texas" for one week in June to celebrate the
anniversary of the opening of the Dr Pepper plant there (which, by the
way, is the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world, having been
in business since 1891).  So, for one week out of the year there is a
town in the US named Dr Pepper.  On the bright side though, for the
rest of the year you still have Dublin.

5.      What's the connection between the Beatles and Dr Pepper?

It sounds pretty obvious once you know it, but I never would have
guessed until someone pointed it out to me: The original title of Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band -- one of the Beatles' most popular
albums (and consequently one of the most popular albums period) -- was
*Dr.* Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band!  Wild, huh?  When I asked the
fine folks at rec.music.beatles for confirmation, Jim Demes
([email protected]) wrote me on 9/29/98:

According to BEATLESONGS by William J. Dowlding: "The album was
originally titled Dr. Pepper's...until the Beatles realized an
American soft-drink company had rights to that name." Dowlding got his
info from THE BEATLES A TO Z. (1980)

Whether or not the Beatles were fully acquainted with the soft drink
before they began work on Sgt. Pepper is still subject to debate.  But
bottles of Dr Pepper have been spotted in the Let It Be movie, so they
had definitely seen the light by then.  Imagine what else might have
been if only a few letters hadn't changed . . .

6.      What's the connection between the JFK Assassination and Dr
Pepper?

I tell ya, I never in a million years expected this question to show
up.  I mean, I admit it's a pet theory of mine that almost everything
in the United States has some sort of Kennedy Assassination connection
to it, but after seeing this one I might have to remove the "almost"
from the theory!

"Okay, smart guy, what is the connection?"

In the book, Conspiracy Of One (1990, The Summit Group), author Jim
Moore presents a variety of reasons why he believes Lee Harvey Oswald
was the sole assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.  One of those
reasons is on page 53, detailing the period immediately after the
assassination when Oswald was spotted in the lunchroom of the Texas
School Book Depository:

       "Oswald...put a nickel in the soda machine and selected a
Coca-Cola.  It may be that this single action on Oswald's part holds
the key to his guilt.  Oswald habitually drank Dr Pepper.  There can
be only one realistic explanation for a miser like Oswald to fail to
select his soft drink of choice--he was nervous.  Three other
possibilities exist, all unlikely:

       1. Oswald really bought a Dr Pepper and every witness
questioned recalled it as a Coca-Cola
       2. The soda machine was out of Dr Pepper.
       3. The soda machine--a Coca-Cola product, malfunctioned in
favor of its manufacturer."

Next to one of those sentences was a footnote, citing "The Day Kennedy
Was Shot" (1968, Funk & Wagnalls; 1992 HarperPerennial) by Jim Bishop.
Sure enough, on page 183 of Bishop's book, there is a less verbose
description of the same event:

       "Oswald dropped a coin in the soda machine.  He got a
Coca-Cola.  This was nervousness because he invariably drank Dr
Pepper."

Who knew he wanted to be a Pepper, too?

7.      Does Dr Pepper contain prune juice?

In a word: NO!

In addition, "Bottlecaps" (the "Official Newsletter of the Dr Pepper
Museum and Free Enterprise Institute") emphasizes in their Vol. I,
1999, issue: "Prune juice is not and never has been in Dr Pepper.  The
prune juice rumor is an old story that has been in circulation since
the 1930s."

8.      Okay, so what's in Dr Pepper?

On the label in the US, the ingredients are: Carbonated Water;
Imperial Pure Cane Sugar [or "High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar,"
if you're not so lucky]; Caramel Color; Phosphoric Acid; Artificial
and Natural Flavors; Sodium Benzoate (Preservative); Caffeine.

Chris Dunthorne ([email protected]) told me on 7/3/98 that the
ingredients on the label in the UK are a little different: "Carbonated
Water, Sugar, Colour (Caramel E150d),
Phosphoric Acid, Flavourings, Preservative (E211), Caffeine."

John Neely ([email protected]), a formerly anonymous Canadian,
submitted "Ingredients from The Great White North" on 10/27/98:
"Carbonated Water, Sugar/Glucose-Fructose, Carmel colour, Artificial
and Natural flavors, Phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate, Caffeine,
monosodium phosphate, lactic acid, polyethelene glycol."

Trace McLean ([email protected]) also on 10/27/98 posted the
ingredients for Australian Dr Pepper "taken straight from the bottle":
"Carbonated water, sugar, colour (150), flavours, food acids (338,
270), preservative (211), caffeine."

[Just for the hell of it, here's the ingredients for Diet Dr Pepper in
the U.S., as posted by Tom Reed ([email protected]) on
11/23/98: "Carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric
acid, artificial and natural flavors, sodium benzoate (preservative),
caffeine.  Phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine."]

Dr Pepper contains 39.6 milligrams of caffeine in every 12-ounce can,
according to the Caffeine FAQ
(http://aomt.netmegs.com/coffee/caffaq.html) maintained by Daniel Owen
([email protected]). This is a little more than Pepsi
(37.2mg/12oz), a little less than Coca-Cola (45.6mg/12oz), and nothing
compared to coffee, which could contain anywhere between 111 and 300
mg of caffeine in a 12-ounce serving, depending on how it's prepared.

The Dr Pepper company had this to say in a pamphlet it published
sometime in either the late 1950's or early 1960's: "Its unique flavor
results from the blending of pure fruit flavors (gathered from
throughout the world) with mystic spices, from far-off Madagascar, and
clean, clear distilled sparkling water."  You don't suppose one of
those spices is vanilla, do you?

Max Wolheim ([email protected]), who "can't guarantee the accuracy of
any of this," posted this interesting article (with a small caveat) on
6/20/99:

"Yes, I've heard the '23 fruit flavors' of Dr. Pepper [sic] for years.
I can tell you this is nonsense!  I can't reveal the source (he'd get
fired), but here is a list of some of the real flavoring ingredients:

       Vanillin (imitation vanilla)
       Extract of almond
       denatured rum (no joke)
       Oil of orange
       lactic acid (optional; once listed separately from
'flavorings')"

Max goes on to say: "None of this is will be confirmed by the PR
people of the company, who reply with the evasive 'Dr. Pepper contains
neither rum nor vanilla.'  Substitutions are possible, depending on
the bottler, so that Dr. Pepper in one part of the country might not
taste quite the same as in some others.  But denatured rum is
universal to the formula."  Take it for what it's worth.

Brian McElroy ([email protected]) posted to alt.fan.dr-pepper on
1/19/98 (and emailed me a correction on 6/30/98) about his visit to
the Dublin Dr Pepper plant, which I think definitively answers two
questions at once:

"Just got back today from the Dublin bottling plant and museum.  There
has been a lot of debate on what flavor Dr Pepper really is, so I
asked Mr. Kloster [Bill Kloster], the plant owner, who has worked in
that plant for almost 60 years.  According to him, Dr Pepper is a mix
of 23 different fruit flavors. The original creator wanted to create a
drink that tasted like the smell of a soda shop.  When you walked into
a soda shop in that day, you smelled all the fruit flavors of the
different sodas all mixed into one.  So he basically took a bunch of
flavors and mixed them, and came up with Dr Pepper.  He said Dr Pepper
does not and has never had prune juice in it."

Alas, Brian may have been one of the last people to ask Bill Kloster
that question.  Mr. Kloster passed away on September 24, 1999, at age
81, having spent 67 of those years working for the Dublin Dr Pepper
plant (minus two years off for service during World War II).  His
dedication to keeping pure cane sugar in Dr Pepper will be sorely
missed.

9.      What's the recipe for Hot Dr Pepper?

*Hot* Dr Pepper?  Yes, indeed.  It's a real drink, and it's been
around for quite a while--at least since the early 1960's (even though
there's no mention of it at all in the 1965 edition of "Cookin' With
Dr Pepper"--go figure).  However, since Dr Pepper--and the soft drink
industry in the U.S. as a whole--switched from cane sugar to high
fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, many people have complained that
Hot Dr Pepper does not taste nearly as good as it did before the
switch, so the Dr Pepper company has refrained from promoting the
recipe as ardently as it had in the past.  Nevertheless, people still
drink it hot, with the recommendation that Dr Pepper with cane sugar
be used for best results (see question 12 for how to get some cane
sugar Dr Pepper for yourself).

The recipe itself is quite simple:  First, cut a nice, thin, round
slice of lemon for yourself and place it in the bottom of a cup--I
suppose a coffee mug or teacup works best.  Next, heat your Dr Pepper
in a saucepan until it looks like it's boiling (even though it'll only
be about 180� F, the carbonation will make it look hotter).  Then pour
your "steaming" hot Dr Pepper into the cup, over the lemon slice.
That's it!  I haven't tried it yet myself, but people who have swear
it's pretty good.

(There is an official recipe on the www.drpepper.com web site, but
it's not too much different from the one above.  Then again, how many
different ways can you say "Heat Dr Pepper and pour it over lemon"?)

10.     What Dr Pepper imitations exist, and where can you find them?

The most famous (or is that infamous?) imitation, Mr. Pibb, is
Coca-Cola's unsuccessful effort to drive the good Dr out of the
market.  According to "Advertising Age," Mr. Pibb was not let loose
upon the world until 1972 (although "Larry"
[[email protected]] posted that he remembers seeing the drink
in 1971), and Chris Houser on his Pibb page (http://bluWeb.com/pibb/
and  http://bluWeb.com/us/chouser/info/pibb/) states the drink was
"originally sugar-free."  Now, how a sugar-free knock-off could
compete with a soda which--in its purest form--is almost synonymous
with cane sugar, I have no idea.  Apparently, neither did Coca-Cola,
since various fructoses and sucroses now come second after carbonated
water on Pibb's ingredient list.  You can find this beverage in most
places in the Southern and Midwestern U.S., and almost nowhere in the
Northeastern U.S.

Interestingly enough, Advertising Age also reported in their December
1, 1997, issue that Coca-Cola was planning to release a brand new
knock-off of Dr Pepper sometime in 1999--probably due in no small part
to sluggish sales of Mr. Pibb, which had only a 0.6% share of the US
soft drink market in 1996, compared to Dr Pepper's 5.8% share.
However, as of this writing, I have yet to see any evidence that this
new concoction has been released anywhere, so maybe Coca-Cola decided
to quit while they were ahead--or is that behind?

Originally, I had a table here listing 38 different DP clones, but
then I saw a web site with a table listing over 50 clones, including
pictures and locations where they were all bought, so I decided to
leave well enough alone. Suffice it to say, if all accounts are
accurate, there are over 70 different past and present Dr Pepper
imitations out there--and none quite as good as the original, of
course.  If you want to know more, these sites stand out:

Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too . . . is the largest index of
clones and clone sites that I've seen.  The leader in the field with a
mega-list of imitations and a picture next to each name.
http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~dschul/drp/dr.html

Not Quite What The Doctor Ordered is a comprehensive, well-researched
site which has been reorganized and is now more user-friendly than
before since it no longer takes forever to load.
http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~mpresto/

The Dr Pepper "Clone" Page has a table with links to photos of each
"clone."
http://library.cmsu.edu/kw/pepper/imapep.htm

Kibo's Fake Dr Pepper Roundup has a taste test of several fakes.
http://www.kibo.com/kibofood/dr_pepper.html

Dr Pepper Clones is a no-frills site maintained by Charlie Smith
([email protected]) describing all the Dr Pepper clones he's
tasted.
http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/~bmasmith/drpepper.html

Dr. Beverages Page is a colorful list of the various Pepper-like soda
cans collected by
Lars Christensen ([email protected]).
http://members.tripod.com/lchristensen/drs/index.html

The Authoritative Doctor Soda Page doesn't quite live up to its title,
listing only 20 sodas total (and that's including Dr Pepper and Diet
Dr Pepper).  But since the author's from MIT, I'll forgive them;
people there have more important things to do than track down all the
DP clones in existence.
http://www.mit.edu/afs/sipb.mit.edu/user/dfm/www/doctorsoda/index.html

Generic Dr Pepper Clones is a pleasant short page about the search for
clones by a group of friends in North Dakota.
http://space.acm.ndsu.nodak.edu/~debilt/docs/docs.html

Dr Kenton's Generic Dr Peppers is an ambitious table of 70 clones with
some nice thumbnails of cans where available.
http://www.angelfire.com/nc/drdrinks/  (a page with annoying popups)
and
http://www.senselessknowledge.com/drkenton.html  (a page without
annoying popups)

Dr Pepper Rip-Off Page is an evangelistic clone page, waging war
against all "infidels" who dare to doubt the superiority of the
original.
http://members.tripod.com/skintigh/drpepper/index.html

OOO's list of Dr. Pepper Clones which calls itself "officially the
original list" of clone sites (a claim which I personally doubt), is
perhaps the skimpiest site of the bunch.  The only site more sparse .
.
http://www.polyholiday.com/lists/pepperclones.html

. . is this one: The Dr. is IN!!! which contains the exact same list
as the one on polyholiday.com, minus some extraneous links.
http://members.aol.com/zumbles/clones.html

I'm a Pepper! is a well-intentioned site cataloguing a taste-test of
clones, its single glaring flaw being the author's assertion that the
"pruney-ness" of DP is what sets it apart from the imitations!
(Grrr...)  Once the author reads question 7, my opinion of the site
may change.  Until then, take their opinions with a grain of salt.
http://www.archenemy.com/pepper/pepper.html

Dr. Pepper Rip Off Reviews [sic] is an interesting attempt at clone
comparisons, hindered only by its significant lack of clones: only 9
are listed and only 2 are tasted.  Good luck.
http://polar.ucdavis.edu/~kitmitto/pepper.html

Dr. Schnee Memorial Chapel is a site dedicated--obviously--to Dr.
Schnee, of all things, listing a few other clones in the process.
http://thespleenpress.org/schnee/

The Van Gogh-Goghs' Doctor Sodas Page is a site that shows promise,
with some interesting facts the other sites lack.
http://www.fringenet.com/vgg/drsodas/

Dr. Pepper and the Imposters is a short page which offers some large
pictures of the original and some imitations to those interested.
http://www.pusateri.org/cruft/pepper/pepper.html

In addition, a brand new category was added to Yahoo! on 11/12/98 (the
same date this FAQ was added to Yahoo!): Home : Society and Culture :
Food and Drink : Drinks and Drinking : Dr Pepper : Imitations.  And
all six "New" sites in this category were--drum roll please--the first
six of the 17 sites you see listed above you now (back when there were
only six sites to choose from).  In other words, this FAQ is now
responsible for a new Yahoo! category!  And to think I thought I
wasn't influencing anyone . . .

But, lest you think Yahoo! is the only game in town, another engine
named dmoz.org also has a category for DP pretenders:
http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Collecting/Food_and_Drink_related/Soda/Dr_Pepper/Imitations/.
Last time I checked, dmoz.org had more sites listed than Yahoo!, but
both had less entries than the list above you now.  Whether either one
will catch up before the other is anyone's guess.

11.     What's the difference between Dr Pepper made with Imperial
Cane Sugar, and Dr Pepper made with high fructose corn syrup?

In the opinion of everyone who's tried it and commented on it here on
alt.fan.dr-pepper and to me in person, the cane sugar version tastes
better.  It's also the sweetener which was originally used to make Dr
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.

12.     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 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.

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).

13.     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.  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?  No, I can't figure it out either.  In fact,
here's a list of all the states where you won't find caffeine-free Dr
Pepper on sale (courtesy of the Dr Pepper company):


Alaska
Connecticut
Delaware
Hawaii
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Montana
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Dakota
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Vermont
Wyoming


You say your state isn't listed?  Your state is not one of the 34%
devoid of caffeine-free Dr Pepper?  Congratulations--but don't get too
confident.  According to the operator I spoke with, "even a state that
has it could have large areas that don't carry it," such as
California, for example, which bottles less caffeine-free DP than West
Virginia.  Florida, Nevada, and Washington are similar to California
in terms of caffeine-free sparsity.

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
Customer Service, and press 3 again 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 . . .

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?).

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.

14.     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 20] 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.

15.     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.)

16.     Who owns Dr Pepper?  I heard it was owned by
Coke/Pepsi/7-Up/etc.?

"Awoodbeach"  ([email protected]) put it succinctly when he posted
this answer to alt.fan.dr-pepper on 10/24/97:

"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% 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.

17.     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), 1-254-757-2433
Fax: 1-254-757-2221
www.drpeppermuseum.com

and:

Old Doc's Soda Shop
105 E. Elm
Dublin, Texas 76446
1-888-398-1024 (toll free), 1-254-445-3939
Fax: 1-254-445-4677
www.drpep.com

(Even though Old Doc's museum is located right next to the bottling
plant, and they share the same phone numbers, their street
addresses--or at least their mailing addresses--are slightly
different.)

18.     Where can I buy Dr Pepper merchandise?

The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco has a catalogue section on its web site
(http://www.drpeppermuseum.com/catalog/index.html).  You can also call
the Museum toll-free at 1-877-DPGIFTS (or pay the toll at
1-254-757-2433) and, for $3.00, they will send you a glossy color
catalogue and add your name to their mailing list.  Old Doc's Soda
Shop had a catalogue available at one point, but as of 3/18/99 the
Shop was out of them and its staff didn't know when they were going to
get more.  In the meantime, the Shop still has links to merchandise
within its site at drpep.com.  And, if you want to take a gamble with
online auctions, eBay.com has around 300 different Dr Pepper-related
items up for bids every day on its site, so it's certainly worth a
look.

19.     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 18, eBay.com is a
web auction site which has about 300 (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 3 sites:

http://www.drpeppermuseum.com/dpcc.html
http://www.drpep.com/clubpage.htm
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 7/4/98 that she can be contacted
via email at [email protected] 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.

20.     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, and 1993, the last one 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 edition lacks the glossy color
photos of the previous three, instead relying on a scant amount of
clip-art for illustration.  However, the 1993 edition also contains
the greatest number of recipes among the four; essentially because a
whole extra cookbook of 7Up recipes was added to it.  To get a brand
new copy for yourself *gratis* (additional copies $3.50 each), call up
the Dr Pepper company at 1-800-527-7096 and press "3" for Consumer
Affairs.  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 Editor
Dr Pepper/Seven-Up Companies, Inc.
8411 Walnut Hill Lane
Dallas, Texas 75231-4372

Past editions of "Cooking With Dr Pepper" also periodically come up
for auction on eBay, but I'll bet you already guessed that.

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.

21.     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.  You can
also write to them 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

The editors of "Cooking With Dr Pepper" can be contacted via the
address mentioned in question 20, above.

Thus endeth the FAQ.

Christopher Flaherty
[email protected]

Dr Pepper FAQ
http://www.pipeline.com/~chrisf/dpfaq.html

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