11 Discontinued Dr Pepper Flavors Every Fan Should Know

Classic Dr Pepper is already made up of 23 flavors, including cherry, vanilla, and other notes like licorice, almond, caramel, and a whole lot of other stuff. But Dr Pepper didn’t stop there. Over the years, the brand has added even more flavors to create new Dr Pepper variants.  

Current fancy flavors of Dr Pepper include Blackberry, Strawberries & Cream, Cream Soda, Cherry, and Coconut. But, if you can believe it, there used to be even more Dr Pepper flavors! You could fill a museum with this stuff! In fact, one does exists. 

Dr Pepper has thrown some crazy, now-discontinued flavors our way, and the list of those flavors runs the gamut from “actually, that sounds good” to “okay, but why?” Some were exclusively for their rewards program giveaway. Some were available to the general public. All were for the flavor fanatics that thought 23 flavors simply weren’t enough. Here 11 dearly departed discontinued Dr Pepper flavors ever Dr Pepper lover needs to know about. 

Rewards Program Exclusives:

Fantastic Chocolate

Vanilla soda? Commonplace. Chocolate soda? We can understand why fans were not just curious, but curious enough to work for it. The drink was released exclusively to “Pepper Perks” members. Customers had to buy a Dr Pepper product, scan their receipts, then visit Twitter to search for instructions and a points system that would eventually lead to the “chocolate holy grail.” Was it more work than we’re used to putting in for a soda? Yeah, but some things are worth working for. 

Fansville Reserve 

Bourbon-flavored Fansville Reserve blended the smokey, woody notes of bourbon with the sweet flavor of the classically complex soda. This Pepper Perks member exclusive came in a collectors’ box and was non-alcoholic. It was perfect for the consumer who couldn’t decide if they were feeling more “suave lumberjack in a cigar bar” or “quiet night and no hangover for my corporate 9-5 tomorrow.”

Icing on the Cake

You might assume that this tastes like birthday cake-flavored Dr Pepper. You’d be right. This Dr Pepper flavor was sent as part of a birthday package only available to Pepper Pack members. In addition to the beverage, the package came with a Dr Pepper balloon, confetti, a birthday hat, and a card that you could put right next to the one you somehow still get every year from your childhood dentist.

Hot Take

True to Dr Pepper’s strategy of keeping their flavors vague, Hot Take included “the bold flavors of spicy peppers.” What peppers? Beats us. Apparently, this drink was not for chugging but for sipping, because it really did pack a punch. It was for Pepper Perkers of 2023, but the memories and mouth tingles live on. 

Available to the Public:

Dark Berry

This fruity Dr Pepper flavor has an on-again-off-again relationship with the store shelves. It came out for the first time in 2019 as a collab with Spiderman: Far From Home, disappeared into the darkness, and came back for Jurassic World Domination before abandoning us again. It may return again when capitalism pairs it with another fiscally symbiotic movie but for now, we have the memory. The “dark berry” in question was a mix of black currant, blackberry, and black cherry. 

Vanilla Float

This is an only-kinda-discontinued Dr Pepper flavor. There are still places that carry it, but it’s pretty hard to find. It showed up this past summer on shelves at Walmart and on Amazon, but all signs suggest that we shouldn’t get too attached. That’s a shame, because it’s plenty close enough to a Dr Pepper float.  

Diet Cherry Chocolate

This limited edition Diet Dr Pepper flavor lasted a year from 2007 to 2008. It was said to taste like “Dr Pepper mixed with Cherry and Chocolate flavoring.” Checks out. Reviews were mixed, but feedback ranged from comparing it to taking a sip of Dr Pepper after eating a cordial cherry to “YUCK!!!!!!!” To each their own, we guess?

Cherry Vanilla

This winner of a soda shoppe flavor combination has fans begging for its return. Online reviews pretty unanimously demand a comeback. We wouldn’t say we’re expecting an angry mob in front of the Dr Pepper headquarters, but we wouldn’t be surprised. 

Red Fusion

An OG of sorts, Red Fusion launched in 2002 as the brand’s first new flavor. What does Red Fusion mean? Well, a blend of cherry, strawberry, and raspberry flavors, of course! The early aughts beverage packed a punch and the packaging screamed, “I saw an ad for this during All That,” but it was only with us for a couple short years. 

Berries & Cream

Not to be confused with the presently available Strawberries & Cream variety, Berries & Cream Dr Pepper was initially released as a permanent flavor, but was discontinued after a few months. It then came back in 2022 as part of the Pepper Perks awards program, and was discontinued again. The poor sales were surprising because the berries in question were blueberry and raspberry, accompanied by a sweet vanilla finish. Yum! 

Dr Pepper Ten 

This was a 10-calorie version of a classic Dr Pepper, but lives in infamy in part because of the marketing that advertised it as “not for women.” To appeal to men who can’t drink regular diet drinks because their testosterone surges torch calories, the packaging resembled gunmetal grey ammo boxes, and the slogan resembled our worst nightmare.