Say it ain't so!!!!!

DUBLIN – Dr Pepper is ending its 120-year relationship with its oldest and smallest bottler, which had carved a market niche by producing Dr Pepper sweetened with cane sugar.

Plano-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. and the Dr Pepper Bottling Co. of Dublin in Erath County have agreed to end their relationship to settle Dr Pepper's trademark-infringement case against the Central Texas bottler of what had come to be called "Dublin Dr Pepper," and had become a treat for soft-drink purists worldwide.

A joint statement issued Wednesday says the bottling company will continue as the Dublin Bottling Works Inc. and produce its other brands, including Nu Grape, XXX Root Beer and Big Red, all with cane sugar instead of corn-based sweeteners common in the soft drink industry.

Dr Pepper Snapple said it will continue to distribute Dr Pepper sweetened with cane sugar for which the Dublin bottler had become famous, but the drink will be bottled in Temple. It will continue to be sold in distinctive packaging, but without the "Dublin" designation.

The corporate office in Plano filed suit against the Dublin bottler in June, claiming its "Dublin Dr Pepper" brand violated the terms of its licensing agreement. Dublin Dr Pepper filed a countersuit, and denied having done so.

"We want to thank our many customers for their support of our family-owned business during the past 120 years, and we want them to know that Dr Pepper is still a big part of Dublin," Dublin Bottling Works vice president Jeff Kloster said in a statement.

"We hope customers will continue to visit our town, the W.P. Kloster Museum and Old Doc's Soda Shop, where they can still enjoy Dr Pepper sweetened with cane sugar."

"I may not get much done, but I sure am slow"...