Hot and cold drinks and the companies that manufacture them have kept them in separate worlds, the market shared by Coke and Pepsi with Dr Pepper a distant third. Notice the Dr doesn’t have a period after it, dropped in 1950. Stories abound about how Coke once contained cocaine, Pepsi was an elixir for upset stomach, and Dr Pepper was created by a pharmacist.

Then came Starbucks in 1971. Today, over half of Starbuck’s drinks contain ice. When the pandemic hit, Bob Gamgort, CEO of Keurig Dr Pepper, knew that families would be stockpiling beverages for the “stay-at-home” society. As a result, KD...