Texas. . .Dr. Pepper Anyone?

Have I mentioned Texas has a lot of firsts. Yep, I thought I had. Well one of those first just happens to be Dr. Pepper. You know 10, 2 & 4.

I actually visited the first bottling plant for Dr. Pepper. Well, actually. . .I visited two first bottling plants for Dr. Pepper. Not sure which was first. One in Waco, Texas, and the other in Dublin, Texas. You get conflicting reports by both places, but I do know that the Dublin Dr. Pepper Plant is the only plant still making the drink with pure cane sugar. . .the original way of making the soft drink.

My eleven-year-old grandson loves Dr. Pepper. When one of his school chums told him he had visited the Dublin Plant, and the pop was bottled with pure cane sugar well—that’s all she wrote—he had to go too.

Now you have to understand, Dublin isn’t just around the block. That little town is out in the middle of nowhere, but smack-dab in the middle of God’s country. For a scenic drive, you couldn’t ask for any better. It sits in Texas hill country, where you see rolling hills, trees, prickly pears, beef on the hoof roaming, and the people are good-naturedly friendly and speak with even more of an accent then you’ll find in the big cities. (But I’m getting sidetracked. . .back to Dr. Pepper.)

The bottling plant is well worth the drive. For a price you can tour the facility with a guide telling you all about the bottling process, how Dr. Pepper is made, some museum pieces of Dr. Pepper’s past advertising props, and about XXX Root Beer, not bottled any place else but there. In fact, the crux of the matter is if you don’t own any of the original bottles from years ago, you can’t buy refills of XXX Root Beer. They will only fill the original bottles and there’s not many of them left to fill. The way the guide talked, people take pride in being among just a few of a hand full of individuals left that can actually buy XXX Root Beer.

Back to the Dr. Pepper part. . .

The original shop is where you buy your ticket for the tour, buy souvenirs, and stand up to an old-fashioned soda fountain with a real soda jerk. They sell sandwiches, sodas, floats, and ice cream. You can stand and watch them squirt the flavor in the bottom of a glass, then fill the glass with soda water and stir. I still can remember the old drug store soda fountains of years ago. When I was small, I loved placing my dime on the counter, watching the soda jerk fix my pop right in front of me.

In Waco, you will find the Dr. Pepper Museum and a soda fountain also. The museum has three full floors to explore, again for the price of admission. In the museum you’ll see all the different types of soda pops, pop machines, and all sorts of memorabilia for bygone years, featuring the Dr. Pepper of course. Waco boasts of being the place where Dr. Pepper was born (invented by a pharmacist).

So, if you’re a Dr. Pepper lovin’ type of dude (or woman) mosey on down to Waco or Dublin. You can help but find some fascinating and interesting things and facts from Dr. Pepper’s past that are sure to please.

And if it’s Dublin you take in, then don’t forget to buy a case or two of the original sugar cane Dr. Pepper. Folks swear by the stuff and say it’s the best Dr. Pepper you will ever drink. In fact, they come from miles around Dublin, just to buy the pure cane Dr. Pepper.