Product Review: Dr. Pepper Ten

Pretty much since the very invention of diet soda beverage companies have been trying everything they can possibly frickin think of to make that very thing they invented taste more like the stuff they were already selling.  Frankly, I don't get it.  When I drink pop I prefer diet.  Not really so much for it's "diet" properties, but I like it simply because I prefer the less sweet taste that accompanies it.  Call me crazy, but it's what my parents drank when I was growing up and it's what I'm used to.  However, typically for me this usually just applies to Coke vs Diet Coke.  Diet Coke has it's own distinct flavor and isn't trying to be something it isn't.  Unfortunately, the same can't really be said for other "diet" beverages like Coke Zero, Diet Mt Dew and Diet Dr. Pepper. 

Oh Dr. Pepper, you are the most curious of beverages.  It has a flavor you can't quite place, but most people either love it or hate it.  Personally, I'm in the former camp having converted from the latter within the last year or so.  It's even the one kind of pop that the manufacturer proudly claims that it "tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper".  Or at least they used to anyway.  Maybe one of the wizards at Dr. Pepper Snapple decided like I did that maybe their diet version doesn't have so much appeal after all.  Hence the creation of Dr. Pepper Ten. 

Dr. Pepper Ten was so new that when I bought it at the gas station it wasn't even entered as a product into the cash register yet, but the premise behind the drink is an old one.  People like regular Dr. Pepper.  People are trying to cut calories.  People don't like Diet Dr. Pepper.  Compromise and give them a Dr. Pepper with some but not zero calories.  In this case the caloric count is 10 per serving or 20 per bottle.  I had my hopes up for something a little less cloyingly sweet than regular, but a little less unappealing aftertaste than diet.  After drinking the whole bottle I honestly have to say the results are a little inconclusive.  I will say definitively that it really doesn't taste like regular Dr. Pepper, but more importantly I couldn't really discern what makes it different than the diet version already on the market.  It tasted no sweeter and hand no different or stronger flavors.  A swing and a miss here.  Chalk it up as just another marketing ploy to sell more of what is basically their already existing Diet Dr. Pepper formula.  Try it out yourself and let me know if you agree or disagree.