Dr. Pepper, I Had it Wrong Big Time
by Ellen Ambrose in General / 09.19.08
Since as long as I can remember, I have always thought of Dr. Pepper as the ultimate hangover cure. After I graduated from college, a friend told me story about an actual doctor named Dr. Pepper who developed a soda that was used for hangovers before and during the prohibition era.
The proof he offered was that the old Dr. Pepper bottle had a clock face with 10, 2 and 4 on the front. The prescription from the good doctor was to drink Dr. Pepper at 10, 2 & 4 to cure a hangover. This sounded right because the timing was darn near close to the length of my own hangovers (of course I have only had a few in my time). Shortly after hearing this story, I saw a vintage Dr. Pepper bottle with the clock on the front and from that point forward, the story became fact.
Recently, I was curious about why and how Dr. Pepper cured hangovers. What miracle ingredient(s) does it contain? Is there another way to consume these miracle ingredients without taking in so much sugar and calories? The more research that I did, the more unsteady I felt about what I knew to be fact about the history of Dr. Pepper.
As it turns out, Dr. Pepper was invented by Charles Alderton, a young pharmacist working in Morrison’s Drug Store in Waco, TX. I thought to myself that a pharmacist is kind of like a doctor. The hang over story can still hold water. Then I read on that Charles not only mixed medicines in the pharmacy but he liked to play around with the soda fountain. He loved the smell of the drug store with all the fruity syrup smells mixed together in the air. Naturally, he decided to create a soda that smelled exactly like the drug store. Uh oh, my story is going down the wrong path.
At first the drink was called the “Waco”. People would come into Morrison’s Drug Store and say “shoot me a Waco.” Then, as the drink became more popular, the name was changed to Dr. Pepper. Some say that the real Dr. Pepper was a customer of the drug store. The year 1891 became the official year that Dr. Pepper was bottled.
In 1904, Dr. Pepper was introduced to 20 million people at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, MO. That same year at the World’s Fair, hot dog buns, hamburger buns and the ice cream cone were introduced. Wow, that puts some perspective on how long Dr. Pepper has been around. It is the oldest major label soda in the United States.
Getting back to the business of figuring out whether or not Dr. Pepper is an “official” hangover cure, I continued to research. It was at this point that I found out that I had it wrong, big time.
There was a doctor named “Old Doc” who was depicted as a country doctor with a monocle and top hat, and who became the Dr. Pepper trademark in the 20s and 30s. During this time, research was discovered that sugar provided energy and that normal people naturally experience low energy at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Dr. Pepper held a contest to see who could come up with the best ad slogan using this new powerful research as a tool to sell soda. The winning slogan was “Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2 & 4″. Then, in the 50s, Dr. Pepper used the advertising slogan “The friendly Pepper-Upper” which was used into the 60s.
Absolutely nothing officially to do with hangovers; however, there is a large following of people who believe that Dr. Pepper is the ultimate hangover cure. When I Google the words “Dr. Pepper and hangover cure”, I get 36,900 results. The one thing that might actually ruin it for me in the hangover cure department is the fact that Dr. Pepper’s unique taste contains 23 fruit flavors.
http://www.drpeppermuseum.com/About-Us/History-Of-Dr–Pepper.aspx
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Next thing you’ll be telling me there isn’t even any pepper in it.
I am not sure if pepper qualifies as one of the 23 fruit flavors. :)
Carbonated alcohol drinks with sugar are worst in terms of hangover effects. As to strong alcohol, vodka and gin cause less suffering than whiskey and brandy. The cheapest cure is to drink lots of pure water and have a good sleep, that is a universal hangover remedy.