Originally Posted by mofizz

No, Regular Pepsi has HFCS. Throwback has a combo of cane/beet sugar.

Couldn't say about Passover Pepsi. You could be correct.

Bottlers not equipped for Sugar either had to get the product eleswhere or not participate.

Pepsi: CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, SUGAR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, CAFFEINE, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR

Regular Pepsi's ingredients list both HFCS AND Sugar, I wondered whether that sugar is just beet or the cane/beet combo. A combo would make regular pepsi a mix of 3 sweeteners (corn, cane, beet)

mofizz is right. You can't produce cane sugar or beet/cane sugar sodas on hfcs-only machinery. I don't know the specific equipment required, but there are differences. That is why Kosher for Passover sodas are produced only at a few locations and shipped far distances - those production facilities are set up to handle both.

For specialty items like KP soda, Throwbacks, Heritage, etc... it would be more likely that smaller bottlers would buy from the larger ones, just due to the investment of packaging, syrup/sweetener storage, equipment investment, etc for such a small run (comparatively).

On a similar note, ABARTA Coke in Bethlehem, PA has the dual machinery. The sugar colas are distributed only in their Bethlehem territory, while they produce and ship hfcs colas to their Coatesville territory. Sometimes I'll get lucky and find the sugar stuff in the Coatesville territory, but it's really hit and miss. Fairly recently I found a cache of sugar Coke at a Wal-Mart, and some 12 pack Cherry Coke at another store, but during my last trip last week, I found no sugar colas at all, in any packaging. Everything was hfcs. Good thing I bought 6 24 packs at the Wal-Mart!

I'm really hoping Heritage makes it out this way. I have fairly easy access to Pepsi-distributed Dr Pepper in Maryland (from PBG) and in central/southern Delaware (from PBV).

And to Dewman - once the merger between PepsiCo, PBG and PAS goes through, PepsiCo will relinquish rights to all DPS sodas other than Schweppes, Dr Pepper, and Crush in the US. The rights will return to DPS. This includes Vernors, Hawaiian Punch, Sunkist, Squirt, and any other DPS brand that PAS or PBG may be carrying outside of the above three. I know Pepsi sells a lot of Vernors in Michigan, so that will hurt them some. I don't know if PBG kept Sunkist in any of the markets they've acquired in the past few years or not. I do know that a few indie Coke and Pepsi bottlers have Sunkist as their orange soda.

Until 2006-2007 Pepsi had "HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP AND/OR SUGAR",

Now they have "HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, SUGAR" suggesting that it is a blend (although not 50/50 like the early 1980s).

So regular Pepsi must be made at a few places and shipped to the smaller locations then since that formula calls for sugar as well as HFCS (unless some places still list "HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP AND/OR SUGAR"). The Pepsi product website has "HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, SUGAR"

Or, it's possible that the sweeteners come pre-blended. I'm sure that the small amount of sugar in Pepsi has little to no effect on the properties of the hfcs, and doesn't require any special machinery, like with pure sugar.

Last time I was on Cheraw, SC area, 2009, Pepsi still had Sunkist.

I recently had a chance to try Heritage Dr Pepper (via 12 pack cans). Naturally, I first tried chilling it and drinking it straight. There definitely was a better flavor than ordinary HFCS Dr Pepper, with perhaps some honey-like quality to the sweetness, but there was also a bit of bitterness (YMMV). I later tried some with ice and found that, while the intensity of the flavor was reduced slightly, the bitterness was reduced quite a bit, leaving the overall flavor quite enjoyable. I wonder if the quality of the tap water for the ice makes a difference....

I'm not sure exactly what goes on, but perhaps you may find this tip useful.

-Doug

I think it tastes like Diet Dr Pepper. I will be able to purchase a 12 pack from another bottler later this week and compare tastes. Maybe the Wytheville, VA bottled Heritage, what I have now, was a bad batch.

Originally Posted by fusion

You can't produce cane sugar or beet/cane sugar sodas on hfcs-only machinery. I don't know the specific equipment required, but there are differences. That is why Kosher for Passover sodas are produced only at a few locations and shipped far distances - those production facilities are set up to handle both.

Technically, that is not exactly right. If you leave the religious aspect out of it, a bottling plant can switch sweeteners on the fly. In fact, at some market points, a manufacturer will play one sweetener off against the other for the best price (this market condition has not existed in the USA for some time, but commodity markets change over time, it may happen again).

The religious aspect is where the seperate line comes in. To be "kosher for Passover" the entire operation has to be overseen by Rabbis. Obviously they charge for their services, so it just makes sense to only pay as few as possible, overseeing a smaller operation. Further, the very reason HFCS is not "kosher" is because corn (maize, the word "corn" in the KJV is used in the British meaning, which is synomonous with "grain") is, of course, is a New World grain unmentioned in the Bible. The kosher issue is that as a grain it theoretically could get a trivial amount of yeast from the air in it, and yeast (levening) is prohibited. So, since on a theoretical basis a line used for HFCS could, have a tiny drop of HFCS in it somewhere and thus could have an atom or two of yeast, the Rabbi would require a cost prohibitative industrial and religious cleaning of the whole set up.

This is why a seperate line is used.

I have been wondering where to actually find this in the area of Frederick, Maryland. I think Dr. Pepper is bottled by the R.C. Cola bottler around here. I could be wrong though. Other people have said they have found it here in Maryland. Any one else from this area seen it?

You are correct - Dr Pepper in Frederick County is from RC Winchester.

I'm thinking the closest to you would possibly be the Super Fresh and the Wal-Mart in Mount Airy - they are on the Carroll County side of the town. Since distributorships generally follow county lines, Pepsi would have Dr Pepper in those stores. It's been a long time since I've been in those stores to remember if that's true or not.