Of Dr Pepper and Dublin

I drink Diet Coke, but there was a time in my life, like most native Texans, when nothing but Dr Pepper would pass these lips. My great-uncle owned a grocery store…a small one on the town square with wood floors and a big green metal soft drink cooler with sliding doors on the top. I remember going in on sweltering summer days in the 1950s and 1960s, grabbing the familiar “10, 2 and 4” bottle, popping the cap and taking a long swig of that cold, delicious concoction.

I also remember my grandmother’s big kitchen clock--a Dr Pepper advertising model that she undoubtedly received from her grocer brother.

Dr Pepper originated in 1885 at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas. It is the oldest of the major brand soft drinks in America. Charles Alderton, a young pharmacist working at Morrison's store, is believed to be the inventor of the now famous drink.

Patrons at Morrison's soda fountain soon learned of Alderton's new drink and began ordering it by asking him to shoot them a "Waco." Morrison is credited with naming the drink "Dr. Pepper,” but the period was dropped in the 1950s.

Just 100 miles away from Waco is tiny Dublin, Texas, home to the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world. And while the little Dublin franchise is one of beverage giant Dr Pepper Snapple Group's smallest, it's consistently ranked near the top in per capita sales. In fact, Texas-based upscale Central Market grocery store can't keep up with demand...even at $8 a six-pack.

The reason: the Dublin plant has returned to making Dr Pepper the old-fashioned way, with pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup and selling it in special retro-styled bottles, proving that what’s old really can be new again.

From iscnewsroom.com and drpeppermuseum.com

Old Dr Pepper bottle
ioffer.com

Vintage Dr Pepper vending machine
retroplanet.com

Dr Pepper delivery truck
drivingusa.us

Dr Pepper advertising clock
worthpoint.com

Dublin Dr Pepper
iscnewsroom.com

Update: 1/12/2012 - As a result of a lawsuit with the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Dublin Dr Pepper will no longer be bottled at the Dublin plant. Jeers to the Dr Pepper Snapple Group for destroying another piece of history.