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Whatever happened to Dublin Dr Pepper? Curious Texas tells the sad soda story

Jilyna Hodge asked Curious Texas why Dr Pepper took away the Dublin soda and if the town's soda museum is still open to the public.

For generations, it was a Texas tradition.

Drive to Dublin — about 120 miles southwest of Dallas — load up the car with pure cane sugar Dr Pepper and enjoy the special bottled beverage only available in a 44-mile radius of the small Texas town.

It was a sweeter beverage than the Dr Pepper you could get at the nearby grocery store, and any Texan would tell you it tasted downright better.

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That changed in 2012, when Dr Pepper Snapple sued the Dublin Bottling Works for breach of contract. Dr Pepper production stopped in the town, and many people began to wonder if Dublin was dead.

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They were folks like Jilyna Hodge, who asked Curious Texas why Dr Pepper took away the Dublin soda and if the town's soda museum is still open to the public.

This question is part of Curious Texas, an ongoing project from The Dallas Morning News that invites you to join our reporting process. The idea is simple: You have questions, and our journalists are trained to track down answers.

You can send us your Curious Texas questions by texting "DMN" to 214-817-3868. Follow the prompts and introduce yourself to us, share your story or questions and we'll text you with information as we report the story.

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Although Dr Pepper was born in Waco, it was raised in Dublin, where the bottling plant opened in 1891 as one of the original distributors of the bottled soda. Eventually, Dublin Bottling Works had a deal with then Plano-based Dr Pepper Snapple that their "Dublin Dr Pepper" could be sold in only a small area around the town.

In 2011, Dr Pepper Snapple Group sued the Dublin company, claiming it was diluting the Dr Pepper brand by printing "Dublin" prominently on bottles. The corporation also contended the small plant violated its contract by selling online, outside a six-county distribution area. The suit was settled in 2012, when the Dublin company agreed to not make Dr Pepper or anything like it.

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In 2017, we visited Dublin to report on how the town had changed in the five years after the Dr Pepper lawsuit. We learned that although the Dublin Bottling Works was no longer producing Dr Pepper, it was still churning out new flavors of soda and was climbing back.

At the Old Doc's Soda Shop, tourists could sample root beer, lemonade, berry and cola flavors, all made with pure cane sugar. The highlight, however, was a dark cherry flavor called Dublin Original. It tasted suspiciously like the old Dr Pepper product and was generally marketed with a nod to the nostalgic customers looking for a "DDP" fix.

That story brought new attention to the town, and similarities between Dr Pepper and the Dublin Original brand. After it was published, Dr Pepper reached out to the Dublin company, reminding them of the terms of the 2012 agreement. In response, Dublin Bottling Works immediately stopped production of the Dublin Original brand, and destroyed the product left in the warehouse.

"It got out of hand. We got out there and we pushed the envelope," plant owner Jeff Kloster said at the time. "The Dublin Original black cherry was pushing the envelope and was in violation of the agreement."

Today, Dublin Bottling Works is still open for business and distributes pure cane sugar sodas throughout the state. Dublin's Old Doc's Soda Shop and W.P. Kloster Museum — a collection of Dr Pepper memorabilia — are still open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. During the summer, both are open seven days a week.

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