Canada Dry – Carbonated Soft Drink

Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks owned since 2008 by the Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group. For over a century Canada Dry has been known for its ginger ale, though the company also manufactures a number of other soft drinks and mixers. Although Canada Dry originated in its namesake country, it is now produced in many countries around the globe, including the United States, the Middle East, Europe and Japan.

The "Dry" in the brand’s name refers to not being sweet, as in a dry wine. When John J. McLaughlin, who first formulated "Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale", originally made his new soft drink, it was far less sweet than other ginger ales then available; as a result, he labelled it "dry".

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History
In 1890, Canadian pharmacist and chemist, John J. McLaughlin of Enniskillen, Ontario opened a carbonated water plant in Toronto. McLaughlin was the oldest son of Robert McLaughlin, founder of McLaughlin Carriage and McLaughlin Motor Car. In 1904, McLaughlin created "Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale"; three years later the drink was appointed to the Royal Household of the Governor General of Canada, and the label featuring a beaver atop a map of Canada was replaced with the present Crown and shield.

When McLaughlin began shipping his product to New York in 1919, it became so popular that he opened a plant in Manhattan shortly thereafter. After McLaughlin’s death, the company was run briefly by Sam. P. D. Saylor and Associates who bought the business from the McLaughlin family in 1923 and formed Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc., a public company.

Canada Dry’s popularity as a mixer began during Prohibition, when its flavour helped mask the taste of homemade liquor. In the 1930s, Canada Dry expanded worldwide, and from the 1950s onward, the company introduced a larger number of products.

Norton Simon took an interest in the company in 1964, and it merged with Simon’s other holdings, the McCall Corporation and Hunt Foods, to form Norton Simon Inc. Dr Pepper bought Canada Dry from Norton Simon in 1982. In 1984, Dr Pepper was acquired by Forstmann Little & Company, and Canada Dry was sold to R. J. Reynolds’ Del Monte Foods unit to pay off acquisition debt. RJR Nabisco sold its soft drink business to Cadbury Schweppes in 1986. Today, Canada Dry is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, which was spun-off from Cadbury Schweppes in 2008.

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I need your help visitors, both in suggesting sodas and soft drinks from around the world and in giving your opinion on the ones presented if you know the product. And you can start with giving your opinion on the ones posted already or reading what other visitors have written  – Ted

List of soft drinks and sodas posted already
Visitors soft drinks and sodas suggestions and comments

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Dr Pepper

Dr Pepper is a soft drink, marketed as having a unique flavour. The drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton of Waco, Texas and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904 and is now also sold in Europe, Asia, Australia (as an imported drink) and South America. Variants include a non-high fructose corn syrup version, Diet Dr Pepper, as well as a line of versions with additional flavours, first introduced in the 2000s.

History
W.W. Clements, a former CEO and president of the Dr Pepper/7-Up Company, described the taste of Dr Pepper as one-of-a-kind, saying "I’ve always maintained you cannot tell anyone what Dr Pepper tastes like because it’s so different. It’s not an apple, it’s not an orange, it’s not a strawberry, it’s not a root beer, it’s not even a cola. It’s a different kind of drink with a unique taste all its own.

The U.S. Patent Office recognizes December 1, 1885 as the first time Dr Pepper was served. It was introduced nationally in the United States at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition as a new kind of soda pop, made with 23 flavours. Its introduction in 1885 preceded the introduction of Coca-Cola by one year.

It was formulated by Brooklyn-born pharmacist Charles Alderton in Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas. To test his new drink, he first offered it to store owner Wade Morrison, who also found it to his liking. Patrons at Morrison’s soda fountain soon learned of Alderton’s new drink and began ordering a "Waco". Alderton gave the formula to Morrison who named it Dr Pepper.

Flavour variations
Dr Pepper Red Fusion (2002–2004)

was available only in the US. The predominantly cherry flavoured, red-collared Red Fusion was the first new flavour added to the Dr Pepper family of beverages in the company’s 122-year history. Its production was essentially cancelled less than a year later, although in certain areas it was available until late 2004.

Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper (began 2004) was released in some areas on October 15, 2004. The beverage tastes similar to Dr Pepper but has stronger cherry and vanilla flavours added. Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper was the first drink in the planned "Soda Fountain Classics" line of beverages from Dr Pepper, a range of drinks designed to taste similar to popular soda fountain drinks from the 1950s. It is now only available in select areas of the U.S. It was available in Canada for a short period of time, but it ceased production as of mid-2007. It became available again in mid-2008 after Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper ceased production.

Dr Pepper Berries & Cream, (2006–2007) and its diet version, were released in most US locations in April 2006. It is the second beverage in Dr Pepper’s "Soda Fountain Classics" line of drinks. In Canada, the diet version of the drink was available approximately from May to August 2007 and the non-diet version was available from September to December 2007. Berries and Cream and Diet Berries Cream have also been discontinued.

Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper (2007–2008) was introduced as a limited edition flavour on November 21, 2007. It was discontinued in April 2008. It became available in Canada in early January 2008. A non-diet version was never created. The taste is similar to Canfield’s Diet Cherry Chocolate Fudge Soda but with the distinctive Dr Pepper flavour. It was featured in the song "Cherry Chocolate Rain" by YouTube celebrity Tay Zonday. Upon ceasing production, it was replaced by Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper.

Dr Pepper Cherry (began 2009) was released in some areas around February 2009. The beverage tastes similar to Dr Pepper but has stronger cherry flavour added. Variety comes in both regular and diet versions. Gene Simmons of the band Kiss was chosen to be the variation’s spokesman, with a commercial circulating on television in March/April, 2009 featuring Kiss’s song "Calling Dr. Love" ("Trust me, I’m a doctor" claims Simmons in the commercial).

Heritage Dr Pepper (aka Dr Pepper Heritage) (began 2009) became available around November 2009 in various outlets around the United States, including major retailers such as Walmart & Target. As its name implies, it is a "re-release" of sorts of Dr Pepper’s original formula, which uses real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, which Dr Pepper and other brands of soft drink started to use around the early 1970s. It is assumed that the formula of Heritage Dr Pepper and Dublin Dr Pepper are one and the same, but that Heritage Dr Pepper is a larger scale, national release aimed at capturing the same marketing essence as the Pepsi and Mountain Dew throwbacks.

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United Kingdom’s version of Dr Pepper, along with various other countries, is manufactured with sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup (much like Heritage Dr Pepper in the US, as mentioned above). Along with Sprite and Fanta soft drinks, a "Zero" version was introduced, meaning no added sugar/low calorie, but maintaining a taste more in line with regular Dr Pepper than its diet variant. Text from Wikipedia 

The highly unofficial Dr Pepper FAQ:

The Dr Pepper Museum:

Dr Pepper’s Homepage:

You can get Dr Pepper both in cans and bottles here in Norway too and after some friendly nagging I have trained the guys in the newsagent around the corner to keep a small store in the fridge for me, as far as I know I’m the only one who buys it – Ted

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