They get ’em while they’re young out here.
A little more than an hour drive from Temple, the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world carries on a tradition that began in 1891. It is the only bottler that has continually made Dr Pepper according to the original formula.
Museum director Lori Dodd points out the bottling plant has had only two owners in 117 years. The late owner Bill Kloster was a “pack rat” and amassed so much Dr Pepper memorabilia it won’t fit in the museum. About 90 percent is tucked away at another location. The museum staff continually rotates old signs and bottles so frequent visitors are never bored.
“The drink is delicious, no doubt, or we wouldn’t sell 1,000 cases a month,” Ms. Dodd said. “But it’s the 75,000 people a year we get coming through the museum as customers that just want to see that little bit of history. They want to see Mr. Kloster’s pictures and see that equipment. Because it’s from the ’20s and ’30s . . . it churns it out, slow and steady.”
The Dr Pepper bottled in Dublin today is only for an exclusive club. Membership requires 24 of those old 10-ounce bottles like the ones from the 1970s. They sell on e-Bay for about $5 each.
Once the Dr Pepper addicts, er, lovers, have amassed their bottles, they bring in the empties and trade them for full ones. If they are sold out, staff will bottle the soft drinks by hand.
At the soda and gift shop next door to the bottling plant, some wacky uses for Dr Pepper come alive: jelly beans, cake mix, beef jerky and lipstick. Aluminum Dr Pepper cans have been peeled back and shaped into airplanes and motorcycles.
Although some folks think of Waco when they think Dr Pepper (a museum there celebrates the original formula’s birth place) tour guide Keith Sage points out Dublin Dr Pepper is different because they have stayed loyal to the original recipe, never deviating from using pure cane sugar.
“Back in the ’70s, everybody was trying to switch over to a cheaper sweetener because the price of sugar cane jumped about four times,” Sage said. “So that’s why they came up with corn syrup.”
The owner at the time was the daughter of the man who bought the franchise rights for the Dublin area in 1891. Explaining to visitors, Sage said, “She got a hold of the new formula, tasted it, absolutely hated it. ‘If we go broke, we go broke. We’re not switching.’”
Today, Dublin Dr Pepper still maintains their 44-mile radius distribution area. But time has taken a toll on the old bottling machine. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And the old hands who know best how to coax along the cantankerous machine are growing fewer.
Dublin Dr Pepper lovers worldwide keep shipping clerks busy processing orders. A United Parcel Service truck backed up to the warehouse last week and the driver loaded cases bound for Canada, California and Boston.
To handle their cult-like following, management has forged a relationship with Temple Bottling Co.
You might call SH 36 the sugar highway because folks in Dublin use it to ship their sweet, syrupy formula to Temple where carbonated water is added. Then it is bottled and canned, and returned to Dublin.
“They’ve got a unique situation out there,” said Temple Bottling Co. owner Ted Floca. “We’ve been good friends with the ownership in Dublin for years.”
Dr Pepper with pure cane sugar made by Temple Bottling Co. can also be purchased locally. (If you know where to look.) But back in Dublin, Ms. Dodd is quick to point out they are the mainstay.
“Other bottlers have that capability,” Ms. Dodd said, regarding using sugar instead of corn syrup. “Temple does it occasionally . . . but we’re the only ones that do it non-stop. But any Dr Pepper is a good Dr Pepper.”
Out on the red brick road that runs in front of the museum, the Huff’s loaded their baby daughter and two cases of Dublin Dr Pepper in their SUV. They live in Fort Worth, more than an hour away, and a long enough drive for Craig Huff to get thirsty.
“I might have to stop off and get some ice.”
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