Around here it seems like someone is always opening a can of soda. That click and hiss are so suggestive. I can hardly think of another sound that has got me so trained that I respond like Pavlov's dog. It's a downward spiral from there. You see, I've been trying not to drink Dr. Pepper -- all that sugar is so bad for me . . . but it tastes soooo good. Once I hear that sound all I can think about is opening my own can of Dr. Pepper.
When we went back to Utah for a visit recently, Stoker and I got Dr. Pepper at the Maverick gas station. You won't believe this, but it tasted so much better than the fountain drinks you find in Nashville. I'm not kidding. I don't know what it is. The water? Someone laughed at me when I explained that I think it's the water. But Dr. Pepper in the western U.S. isn't bottled at the same place as the Dr. Pepper in the south. And ask anyone, the water in Utah tastes better than pretty much anywhere.
So you combine better water with a delicious soda and you get a better soda. If I'm not mistaken, water is an important ingredient. In fact, I think it's the first ingredient listed on a can of Dr. Pepper. I'll have to check that later, since I don't have one sitting in front of me (oh, but don't be so quick to judge -- I have a fountain drink Dr. Pepper at my desk).
Back to the water thing . . . last year Stoker and I went to Lynchburg, TN, to the Jack Daniels distillery, and guess what makes Jack Daniels so special (one of the things)? The water. That's right. I'm not a big fan of Jack Daniels, but I do know that the big barrel house smells like pickles. So if you ever visit, be prepared to want two things at the end of the tour, pickles and whiskey. I'd advise you to just go for the pickles because the whiskey will only let you down in the end.
And if you ever visit Utah, make sure you try a fountain drink Dr. Pepper. Then come back and tell me it doesn't taste better than anywhere else you've tried it.
2 comments:
i would travel to Utah just to taste the fountain dr pepper, that is how much I love it. I prefer the fountain, generally, over cans. I have a mental list in my head of all the places, mostly in Seattle, I can get Dr Pepper from the fountain, and whether or not they have a good "mix."
The problem is, I live in Canada now, and there is just not as much Dr Pepper. Not even in places that serve it in the states, like Burger King. But I can find it. I can SMELL it.
I knew there were other people out there like me, who love the fountain drink Dr. Pepper better than say, a can. My preferred style is from a fountain, then then a can, then a bottle.
I have to say, there are too many places in Nashville that have terrible "mixes," as you call them. You know the kind, where it's totally all syrupy?
If you make it to Utah, the Maverick in Richmond (by Idaho), was the best. But pretty much the entire state has great tasting Dr.Pepper.
I feel your pain. When I was in Philly just recently, none of the restaurants had Dr.Pepper. I'd ask for it and they'd say, "We don't have that. We have root beer?" As though root beer is the soda equivalent of Dr. Pepper. Really, there is no equivalent.
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