Generic Dr Pepper Knockoffs

04/01/2026

File under "Dr Pepper Adjacent":

Hats off to Jason Soliday for the heads up on "Sandwiches of History"...SALUTE!!

I've only watched a few of these, but they are pretty entertaining--the guy finds sandwich recipes in old cookbooks, makes the sandwiches, and reviews them.

In this particular segment, the cookbook in question is "Cooking with Dr Pepper", which I'm gonna have to track down.

Help me make even more sandwiches and get access to perks by joining this channel!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBrC-rXudnuQuh3G5V5WNMg/joinKicking 2026 o...

26/12/2025

Wow, almost didn't get this posted ON Christmas!

I hope everyone made it through the year without too many troubles, and that the art and music of 2026 is weirder, but maybe 2026 itself, less so.

We only got two reviews in this year--I spent some time on the road but unfortunately not anyplace that had a local knockoff. Perhaps we'll do better in 2026.

I'm realizing that I've been doing this long enough that some of my research is getting outdated--not that I'd want to remove any of the old reviews but I think it'd be productive to start revisiting some of the grocery chains I've been to before because the house brand I wrote about some time ago, no longer exists. Will try to make this part of the mandate for the upcoming year.

As always, thanks for reading along with me this year, and thanks for letting me know about knockoffs you are seeing in your locale, I really appreciate it. Above all, thanks for being my friends.

"We're all in this together, kid!" -- Archibald "Harry" Tuttle

09/12/2025

Dr Neat
Neat Soda
Layton Fruit Market, Milwaukee

Yeah, well sometimes it pays to split hairs, sometimes it doesn't. I think that when I first started writing the "Generic Dr Pepper Knockoff" page, I was looking primarily at "Generic Knockoffs", the off-brand sodas that most grocery stores have to give a cheaper alternative to the "real thing". By my reckoning, this cuts out Mr Pibb, since that's a Coca Cola product, and not designed to be a cheaper alternative. But what do you do with Dr Snap, the Whole Foods house brand? Its the ONLY Dr-Pepper-like product on the shelves, and it sure isn't a "cheap alternative" to anything--I actually reviewed it anyway. The third "eh, i dunno" category is the "we're going to make something that's BETTER than Dr Pepper (or healthier, more organic, what-have-you). I kind of think this goes against the very idea of a "cheap alternative" soda--and there's a slight difference here: "Better than Dr Pepper"-clones use cane sugar and enough other stuff that the soda comes out the consistency of motor oil, say around 5W-30. The "Better for you" variants use artificial sweeteners like stevia, weird ingredients like "monk fruit extract", and use maybe citric acid as a flavoring rather than phosphoric acid. Of course, i didn't bat an eyelash about reviewing Dr Sprecher, Dr Bill, or Dr Becker.

So, I admit my criteria is a little arbitrary. I wouldn't have really given Mr Pibb a thought anyway, since it stopped being Mr Pibb and became Pibb Xtreme at some point, but I saw a billboard the other day that said that Mr Pibb was back!

I did a little soul searching at that, but ultimately decided not to review it since its not like the brand got sold to "Sure-Fine" or some such, its still a Coke product. At any rate, I stopped by Layton Fruit Market a few days ago, and lo and behold, there's DR NEAT in the cooler, along with several other Neat Soda flavors. I dig Layton Fruit Market, it reminds me of what grocery stores looked like when I was a kid, definitely a "mom and pop" kind of place. Its also the only place in town that I can get Madelaine Chocolates--I can't find those anywhere else!

Back to Dr Neat. I usually list the ingredients at the end of the review, but in this case, I think its relevant to mention it now. What's in it: Carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors, acacia gum, caramel color, citric acid, sea salt, stevia and monk fruit extract, coffee fruit extract. 60 calories per 12oz can. 40mg caffeine per 12oz can.

Uh-oh. This seems to be going for BOTH "Better than Dr Pepper" and "Better for you than Dr Pepper". I press on, regardless.

I like the graphic design a lot. the "Neat" logo is fun and incorporates a "thumbs up"in the swirl. There's funny little characters with googly eyes that I guess represent ingredients like stick cinnamon and star fruit? I like those, will have to see what's on the Neat Cola can next time I hit LFM...

I crack open a can. It smells very similar to Dawn® Dish Soap (the original blue, not the green stuff*) with a slight note of artificial cherry.

So how does it taste? Well, not much like Dr Pepper. This is more like, say, cough syrup (not quite the "cherry flavored" cough syrup, closer to the yellow Triaminic they used to give you when you were actually coughing stuff up...). There's an unfortunate aftertaste of Dawn® Dish Soap (the green stuff, not the original blue*). I wouldn't want to drink more than one of these in one sitting.

I dunno. Maybe I should have split the hairs the other way and gone with Mr Pibb...

12/10/2025

Dr Lou
Schnucks Grocery
Roscoe, IL

Frank Smith, this one's for you!

Wow, its been nearly a year since we've had a new Generic Dr Pepper Knockoff to review. I sometimes wonder if we're coming to the end of what is available in the US, as the grocery chains are consolidating and the little "mom and pop" grocery stores are disappearing. Maybe not, though. We'll keep drinking 'em as we find 'em...

So, back in 2018 I happened to be driving through Dekalb IL and stopped at the Schnucks Grocery to pick up some Dr Vess (which I referred to in a previous post as "Dr Schnucks" because my memory is sometimes a little questionable). A few years after that, Dr Vess got the heave-ho and Dr Lou became the Schnucks house brand. My cynical heart always assumes that when a store suddenly has a new house brand Dr Pepper knockoff, its just the previous soda with a new name/graphic design. I'm not sure why I think that, though, as this is almost never the case: Dr HyVee got replaced by Dr 38 (a vast improvement); Dr Storm was replaced by Dr K when Kroger steamrolled into town; Dr Dynamite became, ah, a different brand Dr Dynamite with different ingredient list though similar flavor. Similar situation here--Dr Lou is a completely different animal from Dr Vess. I've been hearing about Dr Lou for awhile now, but just haven't had the time to roadtrip back to Dekalb to pick some up.

Today we took an early morning jaunt to Gretta's Goats*, a goat farm in Pecatonica, IL. Gretta's Goats is a neat place--you can take a hike through the woods nearby, while a herd of friendly miniature goats will hike right along with you.

Heading home afterwards, we discovered that there is now a Schnucks in Roscoe, IL, so I had to make the pilgrimage to get a 12-pak of Dr Lou. I dig the graphic design of this can--it feels like a modern recreation of a 1950's "Space Age" or perhaps "Googie Architecture*" logo. Something like that. I haven't been able to suss out whether some version of Dr Lou actually existed back in the 1950s for this to hearken back to, but that's the vibe the current logo seems to be going for.

Before sampling a can of Dr Lou, I referred back to the review we did of Dr Vess, back in 2018, to see if the two sodas were all that different.

On popping open the can and taking a sniff, Dr Lou smells like Sanford Laundry Markers (I recall that Dr Vess smelled more like Fresh-Scent fabric softener).

Sure, but what does it taste like? Not much like Dr Vess, and really, not much like Dr Pepper proper, either. It’s that "biting through a cherry tootsie-pop and hitting the caramel center"-type flavor, which fades within 3-4 seconds. The aftertaste is similar, though maybe more like amaretto? It's not bad. I know some people really swear by this stuff, but I don't think it’s an improvement over Dr Vess. Your mileage may vary.

What's in it? Carbonated Water, HFCS, Caramel Color, Phosphoric acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Benzoate (preservative), caffeine. 150 calories per 12oz can.

11/04/2025

Hey folks, hope everyone is doing well. Mostly I’m posting this to indicate that I am still alive and thinking about Generic Dr Pepper Knockoffs. I’m in Naples Italy at the moment trying to find out if there are any knockoffs here. So far no dice. I did pick up a 6 pack of this here Conad zero-sugar cola at the grocery store down the street. It’s ok, but man, zero-sugar is right—I dunno if I’d call this savory, but it’s the first cola I’ve ever tasted that’s not the least bit sweet. Wild stuff.

Onward to Munich!

01/01/2025

Hey folks--its that time of year in which we take stock of how things went in the last 12 months, and give thought to what we can do better in the next. There were lots of things I had planned to get to in 2024 that didn't quite pan out--a friend challenged me to watch Stanley Kubrick's entire filmography over the course of the year...but I didn't even make it through Paths of Glory*. I had a stack of books on my nightstand that I planned to read this year, but never quite managed to do so **. My running practice completely fell apart in September for some reason ***, not sure what happened there.

Still, on the positive side, most of my friends and family made it through the year happy and healthy. Jen had a complete knee replacement and came through that pretty darn well. We managed to review a record FIVE Dr Pepper Knockoffs. I considered doing a quick review of Olipop's Dr Goodwin, but figured, hey, why end the year on a down note?

I tried to make some arrangements to get a 6-pak of a new Generic Dr Pepper Knockoff here by the end of the year, but it didn't quite pan out. So made a trip down to Mars Cheese Castle on Sunday to try to grab a couple bottles of Moxie (a long-standing New Yrs Eve tradition), and somehow that didn't work out either--I stopped in on the day they happened to be out of Moxie. I did manage to score some Sioux City Sarsaparilla, though, so things ain't all bad.

As always, many thanks to all of you for your continued encouragement as I pursue this noble cause--I appreciate all of the suggestions for which knockoffs to try to dig up next, and many many thanks to the folks that were kind enough to ship me some varietals (sp? that doesn't look right) when necessary. thank you for being my friends.

27/10/2024

Dr Boylan
Boylan Bottling Co
New York, NY

On Saturdays at noon I usually meet up with some folks for Noise Coffee--we go to the airport observation lot, drink coffee and etc, and listen to the jets take off, from about as close as you can get to them (FYI: Southwest jets are the loudest!). So last weekend at NC, Chris Momsen handed me a bottle of Dr Boylan. "tried this one?" he says. I had not, and it was one of those occurences that made me really happy--here was a new knockoff I was unfamiliar with, available right under my nose (at one of the local Pick n Saves, in this case)!

Boylan sodas are generally found in the "fancy soda" aisle of most grocery stores. They have been in business in one form or another since 1891, when Dr William Boylan (actually a pharmacist, tho wasn't everybody a Dr then?) brewed up a batch of birch beer and offered it up for sale. Boylan sodas are still known for their well-crafted, cane sugar sodas--their "core four" are Ginger Ale, Root Beer, Black Cherry, and Creme Soda. I'm not sure when Dr Boylan joined the roster. I just realized that this is the first time in awhile I've seen a knockoff that was named after an actual doctor?

Visually, Dr Boylan follows the graphic design of all the Boylan sodas--pretty basic, simply stating the brand, the soda name, and a rough color coding that identifies it as a "Dr"-type concoction.

I don't quite want to say the taste and aroma of Dr Boylan hearken back to my childhood, but I can say that I am reminded of flavors I haven't tasted in about 50 years or so...your mileage may vary.

On popping off the cap, the scent is reminiscent of Childrens' Chewable Tylenol (citrus-y), grapefruit, and way in the background, freshly tilled earth. I had to sniff pretty quick, as the scent seemed to completely dissipate after about 20 seconds.

Taste: on first swig, let's see: there is the Childrens' Chewable Tylenol again, also a note of those old Bottlecap candies (I dunno if they still make these--a sort of hard, chalky disc that tasted like an iron supplement pill) or *maybe* those Flintstone vitamins? There's also that sort of wintergreen taste of Rootbeer Barrels hard candy. After a few seconds there's an aftertaste of Creme soda. Dr Boylan is not too sweet, which is surprising considering the selling point of Cane Sugar on the label...usually they hit you over the head with that stuff. Here the sweetness is just about right.

Considering the clinical-ness of this review, I have to say I like this a lot. It doesn't quite reach for that "we're going to make a soda that's BETTER than Dr Pepper" level, which I appreciate. Dr Boylan is a good knockoff, I would definitely go get some more of this stuff.

Mouthfeel: Dr Boylan is just *slightly* viscous--not too much so, like recent "gourmet" sodas that have a mouthfeel like cough syrup. This is just a tad thicker than straight carbonated water would be.

What's in it? Carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavor, caramel color, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate (preserves freshness), potassium sorbate (preserves freshness), caffeine (from coffee). 150 calories per 12oz bottle. Caffeine content is about 100mg per 12oz bottle, quite a bit higher than most knockoffs.

(it should be noted that Boylan Bottling's diet sodas use sucralose and/or acesulfame-potassium as sweeteners instead of cane sugar, but at this time, they do not offer a diet version of Dr Boylan. So there.)

05/08/2024

Doc Pop
Poppi
Austin, TX

(been trying to get this review out for a few weeks, one thing after another, and then I got Covid and couldn't really taste anything for a week or so. taste buds are now firing on all cylinders so ramblers, lets get rambling...)

A tip of the hat to Michael Jurlow for sending me a couple cans of Poppi Doc Pop. SALUTE!!

My favorite passage from Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" goes like this:

"He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. The way it functioned was very interesting. When the Drink button was pressed it made an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism and then sent tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centers of the subject's brain to see what was likely to go down well. However, no one knew quite why it did this because it invariably delivered a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea."

I've always been struck by that idea--of a product that tries to emulate something else, but only gets maybe 15% of the way there...you can tell well enough where its trying to go, but honestly its not really getting there. I guess we see this often enough in our research.

Well, what the heck is a prebiotic soda? I had to look this up, especially to see what is different from probiotics. So probiotic foods contain micro-organisms that are meant to help maintain the natural micro-flora (that's "gut bacteria" for you and me)...prebiotics are food for those same human micro-flora. that's all well and good, but I think we're on uncertain ground as far as our research into "Generic Dr Pepper Knockoffs" go: a number of years ago someone asked whether we'd review a Dr Pepper-flavored kombucha, and I decided that I wouldn't, because strictly speaking its not a soda, but some other beverage that happens to be flavored with Dr-Pepper-like flavoring. I had to admit that my criteria were pretty arbitrary, though. So now we have a prebiotic soda, which I guess is still a soda, but it actually has a different purpose--I'm not sure if you'd drink a bunch of these things on a Saturday afternoon, say. I dunno. At any rate, I have a couple cans here, there's a "Doc" in the name and the can has some burgundy bubbles on it, so we're reviewing it. Here is my report:

I like the graphic design of the can. Doc Pop follows a similar iconography of other Poppi sodas--they are all color coded with an image of simple objects taking up most of the front of the can. The cola variety has, I'm not sure, are those gears? Actually I think they are meant to be bottle caps. The orange variety is orange and has an orange slice on it. In most cases the can is a darker color with the front image being a lighter color. Except for Doc Pop here...this has a lighter lavender can with darker burgundy bubbles or spheres or something. The background color also serves as the highlight on the bubble. Its cute.

On cracking open the can, ok, first check: this prebiotic soda absolutely smells like the bubble-blowing fluid that comes in those neon-colored plastic bottles (do they still make those? I admit I haven't really looked for those in about 40 years). I'm not sure if this is a good sign.

I gotta state this very carefully so as to not give any false impressions: the first thing you taste when you take a swig of Doc Pop is apple cider vinegar. you can actually still taste it if you hold your breath as you take a drink from the can*. The next thing that pops up is very similar to that artificial cherry flavoring they use in cough syrup. there's also an undercurrent of something like apple juice? The aftertaste is sort of earthy--like that wholesome smell of a root cellar, translated to taste. But you know what? I actually like this. I dunno if I could drink more than 2 in one sitting, but I think it tastes better than it really should! Even if it is "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Dr Pepper"...

What's in it? Sparkling water, Organic Cane Sugar, Natural Flavors, Organic Agave Inulin, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Apple Juice (concentrate), Stevia, Natural Tartaric Acid, Natural Caffeine. 25 calories/5g sugar/32mg caffeine per 12oz can. Label reminds us that there's no fake stuff, and that Poppi Doc Pop is infused with Apple Cider Vinegar.