fedward, tumbling

The one in the middle is standard retail Dr Pepper containing high fructose corn syrup. On the right is Heritage Dr Pepper, containing real sugar; on the left is Anniversary Packaging (which I will now call AP), also made with real sugar (both include this information on the labeling).  All contain 40g of sugar, regardless of which sweetener was used.

Heritage Dr Pepper was made available earlier this year, and I have been hoarding my last twelve pack.  A couple weeks ago I found the AP (at Target and bought all six twelve packs on the shelf.  This enabled me to do two things:

1. Stop hoarding the Heritage stuff and worrying about when it would start to deteriorate;
2. Perform a taste test between the two real sugar variants and the one with HFCS.

Methodology: I put ice in the glasses and poured the drinks myself so I could see the fizz.  Bubbles in HFCS Dr Pepper are larger and the foamy head took longer to break down. The two real sugar variants both had finer bubbles, with the newer AP stuff forming a thicker head than the older can of Heritage.  I then engaged my assistant, who handed each glass to me in random order.

Results:

1. HFCS Dr Pepper was immediately identifiable. It has a more immediate sweetness, coupled with more of a lingering aftertaste.
2. Real Sugar Dr Pepper had more bite initially, with the sweetness coming afterward.
3. I could discern a slight difference in sweetness between Heritage and AP, but I’m not sure that I would be able to repeat that result with two different cans of each.  In this small sample, Heritage tasted sweeter and AP had slightly more bite. This is consistent with loss of carbonation over the time that the Heritage can has been stored, but it wasn’t a strong enough factor to determine a true favorite.
4. My assistant, who did not perform her taste test blind, preferred the Heritage.

In the end I showed a strong preference for Real Sugar over HFCS, and while the one can of Heritage tasted a bit sweeter than the one can of AP I’d be happy if you handed me either one on a sunny afternoon.

ilovecharts:

(via blaketh)

I grew up in pop country, went to college in coke country, moved back to pop country, and then spent two summers in and subsequently moved to soda country.  I can order without embarrassing myself in any of them.

But I’ve always preferred to ask for Dr Pepper by name.