Convolution...

Okay, so I'm a Pepper.

Yet even as a Dr. Pepper fan, I find this particular concoction a little over the top. How many flavor modifications can a drink endure before it loses its identity?

As I type this, I am enjoying a Cherry, Vanilla, Diet Dr. Pepper.

To be sure, the diet part doesn't change the taste much - you do get that awful aspartame after taste that says, "you are drinking an unnatural chemical and your body doesn't know what to do with it" - but beyond that, when you buy a Diet Dr. Pepper, you still get (mostly) a pronounced Dr. Pepper-ness.

And were one to add cherry, or licorice, or peanut butter, or whatever to the original recipe (calories and all) - you would likely modify the taste a bit - peanut butter Dr. Pepper might be interesting, or licorice Dr. Pepper, but whatever you ended up with would have a Dr. Pepper-ness about it. There is, I believe, a diminishing return to this.

Perhaps it is just my penchant for maths, but adding an additional element to the original recipe is sort of like polluting the recipe by 50% Adding another element, would further reduce the mix to say 50% x 50% = 25% of the original mix. A third element would be (according to my reasoning) 50% x 50% x 50% = 12.5% "pure"

At some point (say at 25% or lower) it seems a more honest approach to stop calling the beverage "Dr. Pepper" and rather just affix a warning label (like they do with some candy bars) such as, "May contain Dr. Pepper flavor"

To be sure, I am drinking a Cherry, Vanilla, Diet Dr. Pepper even as I type this (my second for the day!) - and the after taste is vaguely reminiscent of Dr. Pepper. yet notwithstanding, I find the variety of flavors competing for supremacy in my mouth.

Some flavours are complementary (peanut butter and jelly, fried onions and anything, etc.), they act in you mouth like a rowing team - working in harmony with one another to produce a greater effect than any of the individual parts. Yet there is the "oil and water" variety of solutions. Here two or more flavors face each other on the field of honor - they perform a tug of war - momentarily confusing your palate until one flavor gains the upper hand. This is not unlike a union of garlic pickles with whipping cream - you may like both, but they don't belong in your mouth at the same time.

So it is with cherry, vanilla, aspartame, and Dr. Pepper. You suck it back and swallow, then leave your taste buds to try and sort out what just went on.

I feel old as I write this. Surely, I am just cantankerous -

Why, back in my day, we drank pop without all your fancy twists and whatnot. Some of the most flamboyant prigs amongst us might have put a slice of lemon or lime in their soda - but they were fancy boys, and it was right that we made fun of them. Men drank mono-flavoured pop only because they couldn't find dirt water or black coffee. Even putting ice-cream in your cola was a something you only did in the privacy of your home with the drapes closed.

Anyway, no meat today. Just posting to keep up appearances.. ;-D