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I don't understand the pre-amble always thought Dr. Pepper tasted like cherry cola? Maybe it's Vanilla Cola. Mastery is made of intuition and practice, but se

I don't understand the pre-amble always thought Dr. Pepper tasted like cherry cola? Maybe it's Vanilla Cola. Mastery is made of intuition and practice, but secret sauce is inherently unintuitive. I think it's unintuitive to the outside world and very intuitive to the creator.

k__ 3y ago
Isn't Dr. Pepper simply off-brand cola with almond syrup?
- randdusing 3y ago
  Dr Pepper was introduced before Coca Cola.
  - k__ 3y ago
    One more reason why it couldn't be on-brand.
    - detourdog 3y ago
      That I think is the point being the first recognized commercial soda defines the category. I didn't get it from the preamble because I wasn't aware of Dr. Pepper's iconic status. I usually drink water flavored seltzer but I'm going to have a Dr. Pepper today.
  - technothrasher 3y ago
    Huh, only by five months. Dr Pepper was officially sold starting on Dec 1, 1885, Coke on May 8th, 1886.
- toast0 3y ago
  IMHO as a soda drinker with discerning taste, Dr. Pepper is kind of its own category, but more root beer adjacent than cola adjacent.
  - k__ 3y ago
    Good point. Root beer isn't a thing here, so I don't had a reference.
  - detourdog 3y ago
    Anybody willing to make that claim has my attention. Do you think it is different than Mr. Pibb? Do you think it is like cherry Coke? Having developed some in Pennsylvania Dutch country I have to ask what about Birch Beer?
    - toast0 3y ago
      Mr Pibb/Pibb Xtra is in the same category as Dr Pepper, IMHO and Coke had originally named it Peppo to target the Dr Pepper market; incidentally Pepsi doesn't have anything in the "pepper-drink" category). I don't have a lot lot of familiarity with Pibb, because this category isn't something I desire very often, and Pibb availability is generally low; but next time I see it, if it's not one of the hideous Coke Freestyle machines where the flavors come out of inkjet cartridges, I'll give it a try and update my references. There's some similarity in initial flavor to cherry Coke, but you know, there's cherry Dr Pepper out there too, and that's distinguishable from regular Dr Pepper. I must admit I haven't had birch beer; but I'll try it when I see it too. :)
      - gowld 3y ago
        Funny that PEPsi missed the PEPper drink market.
      - detourdog 3y ago
        Yes, I assumed that Pep- was similar to -ito in the salty snack category. The untrained pallet might compare birch beer to toothpaste. I thought of cherry Dr. Pepper as just more cherry.
      - earthling8118 3y ago
        Pibb isn't bad but it certainly isn't in the same category as Dr Pepper. They aren't even remotely the same
ink_13 3y ago
Dr Pepper was formulated to taste the way Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco TX smelled in the early 1880s. It's not supposed to taste of anything identifiable.
- detourdog 3y ago
  It definitely has notes of horse or barn. I guess the point is the first vanilla, almond, or cherry cola was original. The preamble makes more sense to me with the olfactory dynamic added.
- technothrasher 3y ago
  Where did you get that info from? You made me curious, so I tried to dig in a bit. The entire early history seems a little murky when you push past the 'official' story and try to find evidence. But even so, I couldn't find anything at all referencing what the flavor was intended to be. I was trying to find Morrison's original patent from ~1885 to see what it had in it, but couldn't dig it up.
  - detourdog 3y ago
    I also found a the true story they didn't mention it. Most of the "true stories" seems to be the struggle for credit. The early drug store/soda fountain days seem pretty wild. People were freely mixing up drugs and sugar water. The early seeds of RiteAid originated in a small central PA. town. Think about all the derivative business spun out of drug store plus soda fountain.
    - technothrasher 3y ago
      The most questionable part of the "true story" to me was that the soda was named after Dr. Charles T. Pepper because Morrison was in love with his daughter. According to census data, Dr. Pepper's daughter was 5 years old when Morrison was 17 and lived in the same town, and there's no record of Morrison having worked for Dr. Pepper as claimed or having known him at all. But there was another Dr. Pepper who lived a couple houses down from Morrison when he was 17 who had a 16 year old daughter at the time.
sph 3y ago
In fact, Dr. Pepper tastes like Amarena cherry, which is a taste a bit more common in Italy that I haven't found abroad: it's often found in ice creams and other confectionery as a darker, slightly sour cherry. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarena_cherry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarena_cherry

k__ 3y ago

Isn't Dr. Pepper simply off-brand cola with almond syrup?

randdusing 3y ago
Dr Pepper was introduced before Coca Cola.
- k__ 3y ago
  One more reason why it couldn't be on-brand.
  - detourdog 3y ago
    That I think is the point being the first recognized commercial soda defines the category. I didn't get it from the preamble because I wasn't aware of Dr. Pepper's iconic status. I usually drink water flavored seltzer but I'm going to have a Dr. Pepper today.
- technothrasher 3y ago
  Huh, only by five months. Dr Pepper was officially sold starting on Dec 1, 1885, Coke on May 8th, 1886.
toast0 3y ago
IMHO as a soda drinker with discerning taste, Dr. Pepper is kind of its own category, but more root beer adjacent than cola adjacent.
- k__ 3y ago
  Good point. Root beer isn't a thing here, so I don't had a reference.
- detourdog 3y ago
  Anybody willing to make that claim has my attention. Do you think it is different than Mr. Pibb? Do you think it is like cherry Coke? Having developed some in Pennsylvania Dutch country I have to ask what about Birch Beer?
  - toast0 3y ago
    Mr Pibb/Pibb Xtra is in the same category as Dr Pepper, IMHO and Coke had originally named it Peppo to target the Dr Pepper market; incidentally Pepsi doesn't have anything in the "pepper-drink" category). I don't have a lot lot of familiarity with Pibb, because this category isn't something I desire very often, and Pibb availability is generally low; but next time I see it, if it's not one of the hideous Coke Freestyle machines where the flavors come out of inkjet cartridges, I'll give it a try and update my references. There's some similarity in initial flavor to cherry Coke, but you know, there's cherry Dr Pepper out there too, and that's distinguishable from regular Dr Pepper. I must admit I haven't had birch beer; but I'll try it when I see it too. :)
    - gowld 3y ago
      Funny that PEPsi missed the PEPper drink market.
    - detourdog 3y ago
      Yes, I assumed that Pep- was similar to -ito in the salty snack category. The untrained pallet might compare birch beer to toothpaste. I thought of cherry Dr. Pepper as just more cherry.
    - earthling8118 3y ago
      Pibb isn't bad but it certainly isn't in the same category as Dr Pepper. They aren't even remotely the same

ink_13 3y ago

Dr Pepper was formulated to taste the way Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco TX smelled in the early 1880s. It's not supposed to taste of anything identifiable.

detourdog 3y ago
It definitely has notes of horse or barn. I guess the point is the first vanilla, almond, or cherry cola was original. The preamble makes more sense to me with the olfactory dynamic added.
technothrasher 3y ago
Where did you get that info from? You made me curious, so I tried to dig in a bit. The entire early history seems a little murky when you push past the 'official' story and try to find evidence. But even so, I couldn't find anything at all referencing what the flavor was intended to be. I was trying to find Morrison's original patent from ~1885 to see what it had in it, but couldn't dig it up.
- detourdog 3y ago
  I also found a the true story they didn't mention it. Most of the "true stories" seems to be the struggle for credit. The early drug store/soda fountain days seem pretty wild. People were freely mixing up drugs and sugar water. The early seeds of RiteAid originated in a small central PA. town. Think about all the derivative business spun out of drug store plus soda fountain.
  - technothrasher 3y ago
    The most questionable part of the "true story" to me was that the soda was named after Dr. Charles T. Pepper because Morrison was in love with his daughter. According to census data, Dr. Pepper's daughter was 5 years old when Morrison was 17 and lived in the same town, and there's no record of Morrison having worked for Dr. Pepper as claimed or having known him at all. But there was another Dr. Pepper who lived a couple houses down from Morrison when he was 17 who had a 16 year old daughter at the time.

sph 3y ago

In fact, Dr. Pepper tastes like Amarena cherry, which is a taste a bit more common in Italy that I haven't found abroad: it's often found in ice creams and other confectionery as a darker, slightly sour cherry. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarena_cherry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarena_cherry