Are You A Pepper?

[Duckster]

If so, grab it now!

If you’re a real sugar fan and you spot a really old looking can of Dr. Pepper at your grocery store in the next few weeks, you might want to stock up. To celebrate its 125th anniversary, the soda brand is going retro with its can designs – and its sweetener.

Dr. Pepper “Made With Real Sugar” began rolling out in stores over the holiday weekend and should be available through early September. Though like many limited-run things, there’s always the chance it could disappear sooner.

Much like Pepsi’s recent – and highly successful – “throwback” versions of Pepsi and Mountain Dew, you can spot the real sugar Dr. P by the cans and bottles with redesigned artwork and logos meant to recall the soda’s past. There are six different can designs in all.

Dr. Pepper Temporarily Ditches HFCS To Celebrate 125th Birthday

[Darth_Sensitive]

So it’s like roadtripping to Dublin without the actual work?

[control-z]

Yum. I’m off the stuff (and soda altogether except maybe once a week), but I might need to get me some of that.

[Long_Time_First_Time]

This is completely, totally, off topic, but I can’t resist.
I work at a test barn at a local race track. It’s the place where horses that win races are sent so that their urine and blood can be collected to be drug tested. Just like one can lead a horse to water and not make him drink, one can also put a horse in a stall with all the right stimuli, and he will pee when he damn well feels like it.

Last night we had a filly who wasn’t cooperating and an elderly, cranky owner. After waiting for about an hour with no success, he came into the office and asked if we had any pepper. (We didn’t). A pee-catcher (the job title of the folks who sit with a cup and wait) asked him why he wanted pepper. “You put it in the horse’s pussy and she’ll go.” he explained. Yes, he said pussy. No, we didn’t let him do it to his poor horse.

He immediately became known as Mr. Pepper.

[Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley]

I don’t understand this promotion. It amounts to a straight-up confession that they use an inferior sweetener in their normal product.

[Bosstone]

@Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley

I don’t understand this promotion. It amounts to a straight-up confession that they use an inferior sweetener in their normal product.

I don’t think anyone has any illusions that HFCS is any better than cane sugar, it’s just cheaper. These are just test balloons to see if it’s worth the cost of going off HFCS entirely.

[sqweels]

@Long_Time_First_Time

Last night we had a filly who wasn’t cooperating and an elderly, cranky owner. After waiting for about an hour with no success, he came into the office and asked if we had any pepper. (We didn’t). A pee-catcher (the job title of the folks who sit with a cup and wait) asked him why he wanted pepper. “You put it in the horse’s pussy and she’ll go.” he explained. Yes, he said pussy. No, we didn’t let him do it to his poor horse.

He immediately became known as Mr. Pepper.

In that case, no I wouldn’t like to be a Pepper too.

[control-z]

@Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley

I don’t understand this promotion. It amounts to a straight-up confession that they use an inferior sweetener in their normal product.

I agree. Wish they would get rid of the stuff like sodium benzoate too. But if they sell more with cane sugar, maybe they will change.

[Harmonious_Discord]

No free give away for the 125 anniversary? It’s not a promotion then. What a gyp. There’s a reason their in 3rd place.

[Duckster]

@Bosstone

I don’t think anyone has any illusions that HFCS is any better than cane sugar, it’s just cheaper. These are just test balloons to see if it’s worth the cost of going off HFCS entirely.

It’s a simple promotion to garner a limited increase in sales using a quality product (sugar) rather than the usual (HFCS) which is developing a bad reputation. As stated in the article:

So why are things like this 125th Anniversary Dr. Pepper, the Pepsi Throwbacks and Kosher Coke not available everywhere all the time? The editor of Beverage Business Insights thinks the cola companies don’t really want to know that customers prefer sugar over HFCS:

“In some ways their worst nightmare is that this thing sells through the roof, because then that’s telling them something about how consumers feel about their product."

I still have ten cases of Mountain Dew Throwback in the back room.

[thelurkinghorror]

I tried Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback. It was slightly different, but I’d be very hard pressed to say it’s better (or worse). I’ve had Mexican Coke too, and it just seems sweeter, which isn’t always a good thing. I’ll grab some of this anyway if I see it, I usually buy Diet Dr. Pepper though, which is one of the few diet sodas that tastes okay.

[percypercy]

I’ve had Dr. Pepper from the Dublin plant, and I wasn’t impressed. I’m a Dr. Pepper fiend, and my sister got me some.

[Taomist]

I’m a Pibber, not a Pepper.
I have no idea what kind of pib you would have to put up a filly’s funhole to get her to run.

[DChord568]

@percypercy

I’ve had Dr. Pepper from the Dublin plant, and I wasn’t impressed. I’m a Dr. Pepper fiend, and my sister got me some.

We must have been a early test market for the anniversary promotion, because throwback Dr. Pepper was available here for a few weeks several months ago.

I too am a Dr. Pepper fiend…and have been for 45 years or more. I was prepared to be knocked out by the real stuff. I liked it OK, but not as much as I thought I would.

Out of all the variations they’ve tried in recent years, Cherry DP is the only that has really “taken” with me.

[EvilTOJ]

We had Dr Pepper, Pepsi and Mountain Dew all with real sugar a long time ago. I still have a case of Pepsi Throwback in the pantry.

[Tangent]

Fortunately, Dublin is on the way to my parents’ house so I usually pick some up on the way home if I feel so inclined. Actually, I probably stop and buy it more often in Stephenville. I’m off all soda now, though, so I’ll have to pass it up even in my local grocery.

My favorite Dr Pepper variation so far has been the Berries and Cream. Mmmmm… But they don’t sell it anymore. I really wish they’d sell a Vanilla Dr. Pepper (the Cherry Vanilla stuff sucks).

[jackdavinci]

I’ve never been able to find these limited with sugar drinks in my local stores…

[Dogzilla]

No, but sometimes I feel like a nut.

[BigT]

Only if they release a caffeine free version.

(i.e. probably not.)

[dangermom]

I bought some today, though I’m usually a diet caffeine-free Dr. Pepper addict. (I like me a bunch of fake chemicals.) I don’t know if I should be embarrassed to say that I prefer the usual HCFS Dr. Pepper to this stuff. I think maybe it wasn’t as carbonated? It tasted strong and odd to me. My daughter loved it though, so I don’t think it will be wasted.

There were about 8 cases of the sugar stuff at the store, and piles of the usual kind. So it doesn’t look like we got a ton of it.