Review: Mr. Pibb's New Thrillin' Vanilla Lands A Knockout But The Punchin' Peach Is A Swing And A Miss

Not sure where you, dear reader and lover of beverages, left off in the world of Mr. Pibb. Perhaps you may have been blissfully unaware that his honorific prefix had been missing from his good name for the past quarter century. Well, since 2025, he is thankfully once again going by his more formal name, and even had his flavor profile updated and caffeine output upped in the process. Not a man to rest on his current carbonated laurels, Mr. Pibb is apparently living large enough these days that he's ready to branch out into new realms of flavors. Welcome to this world Mr. Pibb Punchin' Peach and Mr. Pibb Thrillin' Vanilla.

As Mr. Pibb works the room, trying to be a beloved beverage for a whole new generation, maybe the peach and vanilla variants will help to further break the ice, or at least taste great in ice. The Takeout was beyond curious about this revitalized man about town and his new flavorful brothers, and knew the only way to get to the bottom of it was to drink them all up. So, will we be cheersing and singing, "for he's a jolly good fellow," or does Mr. Pibb need to mellow yellow out at overplaying his hand with peaches and vanilla? The truth can now finally be revealed in this serious sip and say.

The fine folks over at Coca-Cola sent over cans of Mr. Pibb Punchin' Peach and Mr. Pibb Thrillin' Vanilla for taste testing. The cans were refrigerated, and then tasted after being poured into a glass. The two flavors were sampled one after the other, and then in comparison with a standard can of Mr. Pibb. The test were conducted by me, and two other people sampled the goods as well.

This sip and say review is a summation of my own personal tastes and opinions. I also took into consideration the other testers' opinions, as well as my previous experiences with Mr. Pibb, other cherry, peach, and vanilla-flavored beverages, and my current experience with these drinks. The ultimate criteria considered for this review were flavor, presentation, smell, body, familiarity, originality, Mr. Pibb-ness, and ultimately whether I'd have a second can of one, the other, or both.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

Dr. Pepper was minding its own (successful) business for well over half a century until Coca-Cola came calling with its own take on the peppy soda. Originally test marketed as "Peppo," a lawsuit from the good Dr. forced a name change. By 1972, with the help of a computer who liked the three-syllable pronunciation of a made up name, Mr. Pibb was finally ready for primetime. At the dawn of the 21st century, Coca-Cola went bolder with the soda and redubbed it Pibb Xtra. While no official offshoot flavors, outside of diet, officially existed under the Pibb name, the rise of Coca-Cola Freestyle machines let drinkers mix in the flavored likes of cherry, vanilla, cherry vanilla, and strawberry. 

In October 2025, Coca-Cola announced it had refined and redefined the soda once again, and reverted the name back to Mr. Pibb. The new one "features 30% more caffeine and a bold, spicy cherry taste with hints of caramel," according to a company press release. Now, it's going a step further and expanding the Mr. Pibb franchise with two additional flavors: Mr. Pibb Punchin' Peach and Mr. Pibb Thrillin' Vanilla. The company describes the former as delivering, "vibrant peach notes for a bright, fruitier profile layered onto Mr. Pibb's spicy cherry base," and the latter as, "smooth vanilla added to the signature spicy cherry flavor for a more indulgent finish."

Mr. Pibb Punchin' Peach and Mr. Pibb Thrillin' Vanilla are new additions to the Mr. Pibb family, and are initially rolling into participating retailers in the Florida, and Western and Midwestern regions of the United States. They can be purchased in store, and may also be available for shipment and/or delivery where available.

These sodas are available in 12-ounce cans, sold as 12-packs, as well as 20-ounce plastic bottles. It's possible they may also be sold as individual cans. They can be sold and stored at room temperature or in a refrigerator. Based on the best by date printed on the can, these sodas should remain fresh for up to eight months. Price may vary by retailer, but at the time of writing a 12-pack was available to order at Hy-Vee for $9.99 and the 20-ounce bottle from the Medford County Market for $2.79.

Both Mr. Pibb Punchin' Peach and Mr. Pibb Thrillin' Vanilla contain the same exact ingredients: carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, potassium sorbate, potassium benzoate, caffeine, monosodium phosphate, and lactic acid, as well as unspecified natural and artificial flavors. Since it doesn't say on the packaging, we'll just have to assume or hope that peach, vanilla, and real cherry juices are swimming in their somewhere.

In a single serving 12-ounce can, the two drinks also both contain the same exact nutritional values: 150 calories, 35 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of total carbohydrates, 40 grams of total sugars including 40 grams of added sugars, and 54 milligrams of caffeine. They do not contain any fat or protein, or any known allergens of note.

Thanks to its edge in the alphabetical race, Mr. Pibb Punchin' Peach received the honors of first tasting in this test. I took time to admire the flashy new design of the cans, where a mild matting finish gave off a radiant reflective sheen. Below the giant Mr. Pibb logo and the flavor name resided a simple drawing of a shapely peach, as well as an accented color splash of the fruit's signature hue. I was already in love with this branding, as they were some of the most pleasant looking cans this side of the German Cherry Coke-Pop Art ones from 1988.

I popped open the can and leaned in for a whiff. While a lot of sodas tend to only emit hints at what the flavor is, the Punchin' Peach came out nasally swinging. Outside of an actual peach, peach isn't a flavoring most of us are overly familiar with, yet this soda's smell had that unmistakable peachiness to it.

I poured half the can in a glass, and a nice dash of red foam erupted before quickly settling into the rest of the dark brown body of this beverage. It was a mostly opaque liquid, with traces of burgundy that shined when held up to the light. As I took my sip, its peachiness started throwing taste jabs right away. I couldn't tell if this was actual nectar swimming within, or if its flavoring was of a more artificial nature. Whatever it was, it was fantastically fruity, jubilantly juicy, and overall, an obviously odd flavor choice meshed with Mr. Pibb. I didn't fully disapprove of this drink, but a fellow tester noted it "tasted like expired NyQuil."

After taking some forewarned titular power licks from Punchin' Peach, it was time to turn my attention to its other brother from the same mother — Mr. Pibb Thrillin' Vanilla. This can also struck a fashionable vogue that would even make Madonna give pause. To help conjure up the flavoring of vanilla, the can is further outfitted here with a splash of gold coloring and a lovely sketch of the vanilla orchid plant.

After I cracked this can open and inhaled from its small opening, a light waft of vanilla filled my nostrils, with some minor but most welcome tones of cherry. None of it was as jarring as the powerful odors the peach one let escape. I poured half of a can into a cup, and the dark liquid body told the same visual story as the other beverage did.

Without further ado, I proceeded to take a taste, and was fully on board with this soda from sip one. The vanilla flavoring was very present, but thankfully doled out in a restrained dosage. It had a nice smoothness to it that leaned creamy, without making any sips of it land in cream soda territory. Overall, this lovely vanilla flavoring paired very well with the cherry attributes of Mr. Pibb, making it taste like a variant of the brand rather than a fruit cocktail from left field.

After trying both Punchin' Peach and Thrillin' Vanilla, to see how they stand on their own two feet as beverages, I reached for a can of the newly reformulated Mr. Pibb to serve as a final litmus taste. It was definitely more cherry forward than before, but seemed to lack the signature bark and bite that I knew Pibb Xtra to dish out. While it was from a can, this new Pibb definitely wasn't on par with the usual awesome sips I lose myself in anytime I wander into a Chipotle, tap the fountain, and let that magical Pibb Xtra syrup flow.

Punchin' Peach's name doesn't lie, and it completely earned the exclamation point that serves as the "i" in the new look Mr. Pibb logo. What it didn't earn is my seal of approval — neither as an offshoot of Mr. Pibb, which it didn't blend in well with, or to exist as a stand alone drink. It has a certain allure, but ultimately is just too strange of a brew to cheer(s). I found better results years back with Pepsi Peach, which tasted like summer in a can. Maybe next they could try Mr. Pibb Lively Lemon?

Luckily, the new Mr. Pibb Thrillin' Vanilla turned out to be an absolute chilled thrill to drink. Hot on the heels of the fruity cream that rises to the top that is Coca-Cola Cherry Float, this Mr. Pibb scion not only holds his own with a similar flavor mixed in, but may even top that fine product. I was never really much of a vanilla-in-cola kinda person, but with all these cherry vanilla ones floating about now, I'm quickly becoming a convert. Thank you Mr. Pibb, for also helping to show me the light. Also, how's Mrs. Pibb doing? Maybe we'll meet her in 2027?