Dublin Dr. Pepper

Dr. Pepper's Oldest Bottler Still Does it the Old Fashioned Way

Many soft drink makers are coming back to doing things the old fashioned way by re-introducing sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  Others never stopped doing it right in the first place.

While the rest of the Dr. Pepper empire is somewhat messy (some areas being bottled and/or distributed by Coca-Cola, others by Pepsi), the oldest bottling plant never stopped using the best ingredients -- Imperial Cane Sugar (which is not only sugar but the more expensive cane variety as opposed to beet sugar).  The result is the best version of Dr. Pepper you can get.

The Taste

Contrasted against the run-of-the-mill HFCS version, the biggest difference is that the various subflavors of the drink "pop" on your tongue; they stand out.  The smoothness of the sweet taste leaves no film behind on your tongue.  It's not quite the "smooth" effect you get with sugar Coca-Cola, but it definitely benefits the taste of Dr. Pepper.  The flavors of Dr. Pepper get a chance to dance and stand out, instead of the chemical-ish after taste of the HFCS version. 

For limited runs there has been a product called "Dr. Pepper Heritage" which also uses sugar although it is likely beet sugar and the taste is different.  Make no mistake, if you love Dr. Pepper the so-called "Dublin" variety is the best one. 

Luckily for Dr. Pepper fans across the country, Dublin Dr. Pepper can be ordered on-line at Old Doc's Soda Shop and shipped to your door.  Shipping makes it expensive but it works out to around $1.00 per can, worth it if you love Dr. Pepper as a treat.

Allentown Coke (made with sucrose)

The Taste

Let's get the important part out of the way first -- the taste.  Although this version of Coke is still made with sugar (specifically "sucrose" a.k.a table sugar on the ingredients label), it's quite different from the MexiCoke I reviewed earlier.  I've actually come to like this version more.

Compared to the mellow, lightly-carbonated MexiCoke, this version is more peppy; sweeter, but it still has a deep mellow sugar bite to it.

By comparison, the normal High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) version we are all used to has a very sweet but hollow taste to it with a kind of slimy and chemical-ish aftertaste to it.  Once you've tasted either variety of Coke made with sugar, the HFCS version is unacceptable swill.


Jurassic Park

While there is a buzz surrounding MexiCoke, I came across this version quite by accident.  I've been a Pepsi drinker all of my life but every now and then I'd like a Coke.  For a few years I worked in Allentown, PA, and I'd come to notice there was something different about the Coke in the vending machines at work.  Slowly I started choosing it (and its Cherry Coke counterpart) more and more over Pepsi.  There was definitely something different, more refreshing.  Then one day it occurred to me to read the label.  That's when I discovered sucrose in place of HFCS, and it all suddenly made sense.

The can is completely indistinguishable from the HFCS version aside from the ingredient swap.

Apparently, for unknown reasons, two Coca-Cola bottlers in the US continue to use sucrose instead of HFCS.  The Allentown/Bethlehem PA bottler and the Cleveland OH bottler use sucrose; whether they've never switched to HFCS in the first place, or they have a cheaper regional source of sugar, or if it's a stand on product quality, is unclear.  But these two bottlers stand alone in the domestic Coca-Cola empire, quietly producing a better version of Coke than their counterparts.

MexiCoke (Coca-Cola "hecho en Mexico")

The Taste

First things first:  the taste.  MexiCoke tastes great.  Much like Coca-Cola used to taste.  It comes in glass bottles, and there is something nostalgic and refreshing about drinking from a glass bottle.  From the way it looks, to the way it feels in your hands, but most importantly the way it doesn't alter the taste the way an aluminum can does.  But beyond that, the cola itself, is terrific.   The taste is very mellow and smooth, and very lightly carbonated.  You can really taste the syrup.  This is Coke the way I remember it, and the way it should be.

I'll put it to you this way.  All my life I've been a very enthusiastic Pepsi drinker.  Pepsi first, if there's a choice.  On occasion a Coke.  The taste of sugar Coke has made me flip -- sugar Coke is my first choice and I hardly ever drink Pepsi anymore.



We've Lost Our Way

Grab a Coca-Cola overseas (pretty much anywhere but the USA and Canada) and you'll notice it tastes different.  Better.  The way it used to be. That's because ironically, inside the US, the soft drink that is the face of America around the world is not made the way it used to be -- and still is in the rest of the world.  Here in the US, they don't use old fashioned sugar anymore; instead, they use High Fructose Corn Syrup, an unnatural sweetener made from corn courtesy of the corn lobby, our country's overabundance of corn and underabundance of sugar.  And despite claims that HFCS is equal to sugar, I can tell you if you know your sodas, it does not taste the same.

Oddly enough, ethnic food stores (the small corner stores such as Mexican Bodegas) not only bring in food from home but they import their Coca-Cola from home as well.  I would guess the taste of the US made stuff just isn't the same so it's in demand.  And thus was born a grey-market for importing Coca-Cola from Mexico. 

When I first discovered this, I just had to try it.  I bought a 6 pack over the web at an insane price.  Oh man was it good, but I had to treat it like gold.

One day out on errands with my wife, I drove past a bodega in traffic which had all their bottles of soda in the store front window.  I gave her "the look" and pulled over to check it out.  Not only did I score some Mexican Coke but some Mexican Pepsi as well, and at prices way better than on the internet. Finding such a bodega may be your best source and I'd recommend checking it out.

Coca-Cola Semi-Officially Imports It

The popularity of the grey-market imports made the Coca-Cola company take a stance somewhere between completely ignoring it and putting it on every store shelf.  They import the bottles and add a white FDA label, and distribute it in very limited channels.  In border states, it's easy to find in places like Costco.  I've found a somewhat steady supply as far north as eastern Pennsylvania in Sam's Club.


Now What?

Various soda companies are starting to recognize the appeal of going back to sugar instead of HFCS.  I'm sure this has more to do with competing demand for corn from boondoggles such as Ethanol than it does with taste and customer demand, but I'll take it either way.  Coca-Cola has notably abstained, aside from importing MexiCoke.  Pepsi and Dr. Pepper, for example, have done limited run "Throwback" versions of their sodas reverting back to sugar.


I'd like to see Coca-Cola do a "throwback" of their own.  Heck I'd like to see them permanently change the formula back over to sugar and ditch HFCS altogether. Two Coca-Cola bottlers in the US (Cleveland, OH and Allentown, PA) still use sugar (sucrose) in their product.  And in the weeks leading up to Passover, certain areas get Kosher for Passover versions.  I'll post a separate review of both later.  I'd like to see those two sucrose bottlers become the new model for the entire nation.  I don't fully understand the behind the scenes technicals of it, but apparently processing sugar and HFCS requires different machines, so it's not so simple as switching ingredients.

The wildcard that may explain Coca-Cola's hesitance is Truvia -- a new low calorie natural sweetener developed by Coca-Cola and Cargill.  Truvia is said to be sweeter than sugar and low-calorie.  Perhaps Coca-Cola is biding its time and waiting for Truvia to prove itself before being mainlined in the company's products.

If you love soda, you've gotta read this

Almost everybody likes soda.  Some more than others.  I know I drink way too much of it, and now I'm trying to cut it back to a treat I give myself a few times a week in moderate doses.

I've always enjoyed a good soda, but recently I discovered a secret.  If you're old enough to remember the late 70's and early 80's, or if you travel overseas, you may have noticed that the soda you get tastes different than you remember.

The truth is, the soda you buy is constantly changing formulas, and beyond that there are slight variations by bottler (e.g. a bottle of Coke you get in New York might not taste the same as one you get in California).  But the major change that happened to us in the late 70s and early 80s was the switch away from actual sugar to High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  In fact, if you start reading labels, you'll find HFCS in almost everything you eat.  Despite claims by the corn lobby, HFCS products do not taste the same as their sugar counterparts. There are also controversial claims that HFCS coincides with the increase in obesity and diabetes.  While I won't draw that direct link, I liken it to the butter-versus-margarine debate.  Neither are good for you in large quantities, but perhaps it's wiser to go with the "natural" version instead of the artificially created product.  HFCS does not occur in nature and it's produced by heavily processing corn meal in a centrifuge. 

I'll probably go on a unibomber-style rant about HFCS in a separate post, but the short version is this:  we don't grow a lot of cane sugar in the United States.  I remember seeing a lot of it in Hawaii, but aside from that the US doesn't grow cane sugar.  But we sure do grow lots and lots of corn, subsidized by the American taxpayer.  So much corn, in fact, that there's big money in finding other uses for it such as Ethanol and HFCS.  

Ironically, the United States is known around the world for Coca-Cola, and to a lesser extent Pepsi; yet in the United States, the product we buy is an inferior variation made with HFCS while the rest of the world gets it the way they used to be made, with sugar.

You might not expect the taste to be very different; if you can't tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi, you probably won't care about the difference between HFCS and sugar.  But if you savor a good cold soda, you will be interested.

There's a developing market of soda buyers that is looking for soda made the old fashioned way, with actual sugar instead of HFCS.  There are boutique soda makers like Boylan who take pride in making their products the old fashioned way.  (Try their black cherry, it's incredible).  There are ways to get soda made in other countries imported into the US; Mexican-bottled Coke is a very popular score.  There are limited-time sugar versions of normal drinks such as Pepsi Throwback.

My recommendation is, if you love a good soda, give the sugar variations a try, I think you'll enjoy it and you'll have a hard time going back to the HFCS swill the soda companies put on our store shelves.

I will review each of the sodas I've tasted individually in the coming weeks.  This includes:

• Mexican Coke
• American sucrose Coke
• Kosher for Passover Coke
• Mexican Pepsi
• Pepsi Throwback
• Kosher for Passover Pepsi
• Dr. Pepper Heritage
• Dublin Dr. Pepper
• Boylan
• RC Cola, 7-up, et al.