Answer: Dr. Pepper

The lines in the cola-wars are fierce and deeply drawn, except when it comes to the curious case of Dr. Pepper. The dark cola was invented in the 1880s, at the heyday of the soda explosion, by Charles Alderton of Waco, Texas. To this day the Dr Pepper brand remains rooted in Texas and is currently owned by the Dr Pepper-Snapple Group Inc. (a company formed after several beverage manufacturer splits and mergers in the 1990s and early 2000s).

Although Dr Pepper is known nationally (and even shipped internationally to markets in Japan and Europe), the Dr Pepper-Snapple Group doesn’t have a complete coast to coast distribution network within the United States. As such, they contract out distribution to either Coca-Cola or Pepsi depending on which company has a more complete network in the region they wish to service. Although the amount of Dr Pepper (and other related Dr Pepper brands, like 7-Up and A&W Root Beer) distributed by Coca-Cola/Pepsi has diminished in recent years (largely because the two companies have promoted their own in-house alternatives to Dr Pepper brands), the distribution is still outsourced in nearly 20 U.S. states.