Barq's

Barq's is a soft drink company. "Barq's" was long the name of the company's signature product, now known as Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer, a brand of root beer notable for being the only major United States root beer to contain caffeine. It has been bottled since the start of the 20th century and is currently sold by the Coca-Cola Company.

History

The Barq's Brothers Bottling Company was founded in 1890 in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana by Edward Charles Edmond Barq and his younger brother Gaston. The Barq Brothers bottled carbonated water and various soft drinks of their own creation. Early on their most popular creation was an orange flavored soda called Orangine, which won a gold medal at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois.

Edward Barq moved to Biloxi, Mississippi in 1897 with his new wife. The following year he opened the Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works. 1898 is often given as the debut year for what was later to be known as "Barq's root beer," but some sources say this particular product was not produced until some two years later.

For many decades Barq's was not marketed as a "root beer." This was in part to a desire to avoid legal conflict with the Hires Root Beer company, which was attempting to claim a trademark on the term "root beer." It was also due to differences from other root beers at the time. The base was a sarsaparilla drink of the style of the late 19th century, in a formulation with caffeine, less sugar, and higher carbonation than other brands, though with less of a foamy "head." It was decided to market the soft drink simply as Barq's.

The traditional slogan was the simple affirmation "Drink Barq's. It's good."

For a time it was marketed with the slogan "Is it root beer?" before the company decided to market the product as such.

In 1976 the Biloxi Barq's Company was bought by two lawyers named John Oudt and John Koerner. Their plans to merchandize the brand nationally were complicated by the existence of the New Orleans based Louisiana Barq's Company, which had long been marketing Barq's and Barq's Red Drink (a cream soda) in Southern Louisiana largely independently of the Biloxi firm, dating back to early 20th century oral agreements between Barq family members and friends. (Those who traveled back and forth between Mississippi and Louisiana noted subtle but distinct differences between the Barq's sold in the two places, as the Biloxi and New Orleans plant both made their own syrup, and some partisans considered one or the other "better.") There were various legal conflicts over who exactly had the rights to the Barq's name and formula where which were not fully resolved until the Coca-Cola company bought out both branches in the 1990s.

In the 1990s, Barq's ran a funny series of commercials with the following jingle: "This is the Barq's Root Beer Jingle, singing about Barq's Root Beer! Barq's spent all their money on the music so they couldn't afford to buy lyrics."

In recent years Barq's has been marketed with the slogan is "Barq's has bite!", a reference to the caffeine.

Barq's products

• Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer (formerly known simply as "Barq's," and for a time in some markets as "Barq's Sr.") Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer is also available Caffeine Free in areas distributed by Swire Coca-Cola.
• Diet Barq's
• Barq's Red Créme Soda (for decades the only other product under the Barq's brand name, long known in New Orleans as "Barq's Red Drink")
• Barq's French Vanilla Créme Soda
• Barq's Root Beer Floatz
• Barq's Floatz Frozen Ice Cream, made by J&J Snack Foods.

External links

• Barqs.com (http://www.barqs.com/) - Official website
• Barq's - The blog with BITE! (http://www.barqs.blogspot.com/) - Read Barq's. It's Good! Since 2004.
• theBarqsMan.com (http://www.thebarqsman.com/) - Unofficial fan website