Dublin Texas Sweet Peach

I could have sworn I'd reviewed previous sodas from Dublin, but as it turns out the only one I seem to have mentioned in this blog before was Doctor Dublin, which at the time appeared to have no relation to the folks at Dublin Bottling Works. Dublin Bottling Works is said to have been founded in 1891 and reportedly the first bottling plant in Texas. It was around this time that Sam Houston Prim, probably named after another Sam Houston associated with Texas history but of no relation, had ventured to Waco and enjoyed a Dr Pepper. Sam would go on to become the first licensed bottler of Dr Pepper after cutting a deal with Robert Lazenby, mentioned in my post on Dr Pepper. In those days most bottling was done by local bottling companies that licensed the right to sell it and purchased the syrup to be mixed and bottled in their facilities. This often meant the local bottlers sold many different flavors and brands. As the 70's and 80's saw most sodas switching from the use of sugar to high fructose corn syrup, the Dublin Bottling Works became known as the home of "Dublin Dr Pepper" because they stuck to using the original cane sugar recipe rather than changing sweeteners. Sam's daughter, Grace, inherited the bottling company on his death in 1946 and continued to run things until her death in 1991, the 100th anniversary of the company. As she had no children to pass the company on to, she willed it to Bill Kloster. Bill had been plant manager since the passing of ownership to Grace. The Kloster family still owns the lion's share of the company but ceased bottling Dr Pepper in 2012 after a lawsuit with Dr Pepper Snapple Group and changed their name from Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company to just Dublin Bottling Works. Since the mid-2000's I've encountered the Dublin brand much more often as they've stuck out with a wide variety flavors under the Dublin brand name and have reached a pretty wide distribution area. 

As mentioned in a previous post, I find a lot of peach sodas to be hit or miss so I'm curious how this one will taste. I like that the bottle had a loud crack of air release when opening, but the smell of the drink is a bit on the comical side of peach and the color is closer to orange than anything. It has good carbonation and the smoothness of the cane sugar working for it, but the taste is still too candy-like to my senses as I prefer fruit flavored sodas that try to recreate the fresh fruit, which is much rarer than the ones that go all in on that candy-like flavoring. It's not terrible by any means, but just sort of a "meh" from me.