Most soda makers are content to add one measly extra flavor to their concoctions — see Wild Cherry Pepsi and Coca-Cola with Lime — but the maverick Dr Pepper company is putting it all on the line with Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper, the first soda that takes longer to say than to drink. The name is unwieldy, but the product is very nearly a masterpiece of the gimmick-soft-drink form.

Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper has a bold taste, offering a strong cherry sensation and a more subtle vanilla undertone. Both accent the unique Dr Pepper flavor, serving to enhance rather than overpower it. It’s even visually interesting, with a crimson fizz I’m not sure I’ve seen before.

There’s just one problem, and it’s in the first word of the name. Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper suffers from the same chemical-disinfectant aftertaste that all diet sodas do, and it’s a damn shame. I can’t imagine why the non-diet version is so far available only in "select areas," which sadly don’t include Boston. They’re sitting on a gold mine!

Available in a 20-ounce bottle for about $1.19 and in a 12-ounce can for about 79 cents at area grocery stores.