I am another Dr Pepper junkie and Janisj is correct, the taste is very different in the UK than it is in the States. So I just went through withdrawal rather than drink the UK version, the flavor just didn't fix the craving. I think it tasted similar to carbonated fruit juice, not bad, just different.

Do they actually drink root beer in Britain now? I recall, many years ago, my (then) English in-laws coming to visit us in the States. I wish I could have had a camera to catch the expressions when I served them an American root beer. They thought it the "most horrid drink they had ever encountered".

I guess you have to grow up on it.

:-)

&quot;<i>They thought it the &quot;most horrid drink they had ever encountered&quot;.</i>

That's what some folks think about Dr Pepper ;)

Any addicts know how the flavor compares in Italy? Is it readily available?

I have a good friend who travels frequently to Italy. No, Dr.Pepper is not found there. In order to get her DP fix, she has been known to get other travelers to carry some for her and stash it with another friend in Florence. Jeesh! Way overboard! What's the deal??

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the taste is very different in the UK than it is in the States. So I just went through withdrawal rather than drink the UK version,
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isn't there different US versions? when i was working in texas, everyone said that the texas version (non diet, of course) is the only one made of pure sugar while the rest of the US market was sold dp sweetened with corn syrup. not sure if this is true.

walkinaround:

From Wikipedia -

<i>As a result, most U.S. soft drinks, including Dr Pepper, now use high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar.[3]

A handful of U.S. bottling plants still use sugar to sweeten Dr Pepper. Perhaps best known is the Dr Pepper bottling plant in Dublin, Texas, the product of which is known as Dublin Dr Pepper. In the 1980s, plant owner Bill Kloster (1918 – 1999) refused to convert the plant to high fructose corn syrup.[4] Since 2003, Dublin Dr Pepper has expanded its distribution to most of Texas and the Internet. Other bottlers still using sugar include Temple Bottling Company, in Temple, Texas, Ab-Tex in Abilene, and West Jefferson Dr Pepper (WJDP) of West Jefferson, NC.

On March 25, 2007, Coca-Cola bottlers in the Dr Pepper Heartland commenced sales of 16 ounce cans of Dr Pepper made with cane sugar and featuring a logo with 'Old Doc' himself on them. This product is scheduled to be a limited time release.</i>

So, you are not mistaken, but it isn't a strict Texas vs everywhere else thing.

isn't Dr. Pepper the same as Mr. Pibb? (just joking)

Re root beer=horrendous. There is root beer and there is root beer. My mother made our root beer when I was growing up and I loved it. When I went off to college and had my first bottle of it from the convenience store down the street, my reaction was, &quot;This is root beer?!&quot; I almost spit it across the room I was so disgusted; so if it came from some bottle, I understand completely the reaction of the visitors.

When I was still teaching, I made root beer with my classes (as a science experiment, of course) and the kids were usually delighted with it and remarked that it was nothing like the can or bottle stuff from the grocery store.

I forgot to say, I really like DP now, but could go a trip without withdrawal symptoms.

This European cannot get his mind around the idea of people being addicted to any carbonated soft drink.

[Sadly, he knows too much about people becoming addicted to alcoholic drinks.]

Serious question, Irishface; how does one make &quot;real&quot; root beer? Love to try some!

:-)

In N.O. we always made &quot;real&quot; or homemade root beer using the Zatarain's root-beer extract, very condensed syrupy stuff. Add water and lots of sugar. Delicious. My grown kids still ask for it every now and then. They buy the extract when they visit home and still make it for themselves too.

In New England it was Hiram's extract. I'll have to look to see if it is still aailable; I have been retired for quite a few years now and have not made it since I did it with my thirdgraders.

I googled &quot;root beer extract&quot; and tons of sites came up.

First of all, I apologize, it is &quot;Hire's&quot; extract. You also need yeast.(I thought I remembered such, but wasn't sure) Yeast fermentation is what provides the carbonation.

http//:www.wikihow.com/Make-Root-Beer gives directions for making root beer.

Nowadays directions say to use screw top plastic bottles. My mother used glass bottles with corks for plugs. I remember one summer day she had mixed up a batch and left it on the kitchen table. Usually it went to the cellar shelves immediately. We went off to the beach for the afternoon and when we got home several of the bottles had built up enough pressure to pop the corks. The ceiling, table and floor were a sticky MESS!

By the way, googling rootbeer extract also provides various sources for buying extract. I used to get it at a little store that sold all sorts of hard to find items--old fashioned stuff but they are no longer in business.

With the Zatarain's extract there is no yeast, so not carbonated. But we still like it that way. Just think of Barq's root beer without the carbonation.