Good point.

Root beer isn't a thing here, so I don't had a reference.

Anybody willing to make that claim has my attention.

Do you think it is different than Mr. Pibb? Do you think it is like cherry Coke?

Having developed some in Pennsylvania Dutch country I have to ask what about Birch Beer?

Mr Pibb/Pibb Xtra is in the same category as Dr Pepper, IMHO and Coke had originally named it Peppo to target the Dr Pepper market; incidentally Pepsi doesn't have anything in the "pepper-drink" category). I don't have a lot lot of familiarity with Pibb, because this category isn't something I desire very often, and Pibb availability is generally low; but next time I see it, if it's not one of the hideous Coke Freestyle machines where the flavors come out of inkjet cartridges, I'll give it a try and update my references. There's some similarity in initial flavor to cherry Coke, but you know, there's cherry Dr Pepper out there too, and that's distinguishable from regular Dr Pepper.

I must admit I haven't had birch beer; but I'll try it when I see it too. :)

Yes, I assumed that Pep- was similar to -ito in the salty snack category.

The untrained pallet might compare birch beer to toothpaste.

I thought of cherry Dr. Pepper as just more cherry.

Funny that PEPsi missed the PEPper drink market.

Pibb isn't bad but it certainly isn't in the same category as Dr Pepper. They aren't even remotely the same

Well... I had some with dinner tonight, and I disagree. It's definitely distinguishable, and as a sibling mentioned Pibb is a lot more sugary, but it tastes pretty similar to Dr Pepper to me.

Pibb used to be cherry-forward, smoother-drinking Dr Pepper (nb I preferred Dr Pepper).

Pibb Xtra is mostly just SUGAR punching you in the taste buds.