DUBLIN DR PEPPER PLANT: Dublin, Texas

DUBLIN DR PEPPER PLANT
Dublin, Texas

DUBLIN DR PEPPER PLANT

      It's billed as the Oldest Dr Pepper Bottling Plant in the World! A True Texas Original! In fact, it's probably the oldest soda bottling plant of any kind anywhere on the planet, in operation more than a century, still washing and refilling glass bottles -- long after aluminum and plastic made them collectable items.
      The Dublin Dr Pepper plant is still filling bottles made in the 1940s, though you can no longer buy them without empties to exchange. "If you happen to come across twenty-four of these," said Jeff Pendleton as he held up an empty so old it was made before color could be put in the glass, "bring them on in and we'll refill a case for you. The last time we took deposits (several years ago) the deposit amount was 300 dollars. We no longer do that. If you want a case you have to bring us a case."
      The distinctive taste of the Dr Pepper bottled here is another reason people come to this small central Texas town from all over the country. Back in the 1970s, soda makers switched their recipes, going to cheaper corn sweeteners -- all that is except the Dublin Dr Pepper plant, which always has and, apparently, always will use pure cane sugar. Dr Pepper was invented in nearby Waco, Texas by a pharmacist who, legend has it, named the drink for the father of a girl he was trying to impress. The Dublin plant was the first bottler outside Waco, opening in 1891. For decades it was managed and later owned by Bill Kloster, whose grandson owns it today. "They had tried the (corn sweetener) product and didn't feel it had the quality they were used to," explained Mark Kloster. "They decided to stay with the good stuff, to stay with the cane sugar."
      Today, through their internet business, Mark Kloster and his employees ship their sugar-sweetened Dr Pepper to people all over the world, who people who swear it is better.
      Thousands of visitors come each year to tour the plant, to browse through its memorabilia museum and to enjoy long forgotten taste treats at Dublin Dr Pepper's old-fashioned soda fountain.
      "I haven't had a fountain drink in a long time," said Judy Jennings, part of tour group from Denton, Texas. "This really tastes different and good. Like I remember."
      Judy's husband Bill was impressed by the memorabilia. "My grandmother and grandfather ran a little store when I was growing up. So, a lot of the thermometers and posters are things I remember." And the Dr Pepper? "Tastes like they used to when I was a kid."
      For more information on tours and times at the Dublin Dr Pepper plant you can call toll free 888.398.1024. Each year in June the whole town throws a birthday party that includes popular 10, 2 and 4 kilometer runs -- for those who know the story on the 10,2,4 advertising campaign it makes sense. The rest of you can get the explanation from anybody in town.
      You can also check it all out on line at www.dublindrpepper.com