Dr Pepper

Dr Pepper, first marketed in 1885 and introduced nationally in the United States at the 1904 World's Fair, is a caramel-colored carbonated soft drink. The drink is named after a former employer of drugstore owner Wade Morrison, who formulated it. Unlike Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Dr Pepper is not a "cola" drink. Supposedly, Dr Pepper's flavor is derived from a mixture of soda fountain flavors popular when the drink was first devised. Also, contrary to a popular urban legend, Dr Pepper does not and has never contained prune juice.

In the United States, Dr Pepper/7Up does not have a network of bottlers and distributors, so it is frequently bottled under contract by independent Coca-Cola or Pepsi bottlers, though in some areas independent distributors exist. In other countries, Cadbury-Schweppes has licensed distribution rights to the Coca-Cola company.

The period after "Dr" was discarded for stylistic reasons in the 1950s.

External links

• Dr Pepper official website (http://www.drpepper.com/)
• The Highly Unofficial alt.fan.dr-pepper FAQ (http://www.pipeline.com/~chrisf/dpfaq)