Barq's Root Beer

Edward Charles Edmond Barq bought the Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works on Keller Avenue in Biloxi in 1897 and invented Barq's root beer in 1898.

After experimenting with soda flavors using backyard tubs, Barq created the sharp tasting recipe that many enjoy today in the form of a Root Beer Float. Barq began bottling and selling his soft drink he named after himself in 1898.

Barq's was the iconic root beer of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the greater South and eventually was marketed in cities from New Jersey to Hawaii.

Although root beer was never as popular as the cola products, Barq’s nevertheless spread throughout the United States and branched out with flavors such as Grape, Moon-Glo, Imitation Strawberry, and red creme soda.

By day Barq and his wife sold the drinks, and then spent the rest of their time mixing the formula for them and refilling glass bottles. But first the bottles had to be sterilized and then each process had to be created in large pots in the couple's backyard. In 1936, Barq's operation was moved from Keller Avenue to a larger plant at 604 Lameuse Street, also in Biloxi. Demonstrating the product's appeal, by the 1950s, there were more than two hundred Barq plants across the United States.

Barq’s added Bubble Up, franchised through the Bubble Up Corporation of Peoria, Illinois, in 1955 and prepared for an even greater expansion.

In 1976, New Orleanians John Oudt and John Koerner bought Barq’s and moved the company’s headquarters to New Orleans. The company was sold to Coca-Cola in 1995 for $91 million.
Barq's Root Beer

The invention of Barq’s soft drink

The Barq’s bottling company was established in 1890 in New Orleans, Louisiana by Edward Charles Edmond Barq and his younger brother, Gaston. By 1902 the name of the company had been changed to Barq’s Bottling Works.

It was first distributed along Mississippi’s Golden Gulf Coast. Often referred to as Barq’s Root Beer, its unique flavor makes it stand apart from any other root beer.

The inventor of Barq’s, Edward Barq, was listed on his birth certificate as Edward Charles Edmond Barq. 

It was Edwards’s invention of a root beer at his home near Biloxi with its own distinct flavor that brought him success.

This carbonated New Orleans institution goes well with the hot weather and full-flavored food.

Sometime between 1898 and 1900, his new drink, simply known as “Barq’s” was bottled and became a local favorite.

Sassafras roots and bark, dandelion, wild cherry, burdock, spruce, winter green, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and anise are flavorings found in root beers. Barq’s also contained caffeine.

The drinks popularity was unstoppable. By 1937, 62 bottling plants had been established in 22 states. The numbers peaked in 1950 at about 200, but by that time the "root beer" had been forced to undergo changes.
The invention of Barq’s soft drink

History of Barq

History of Barq
The Barq’s bottling company was established im 1890 in New Orleans, Louisiana by Edward Charles Edmond Barq and his younger brother, Gaston. The Barq brothers bottled carbonated water and various soft drinks. The most popular at that time was an orange flavored soda or called as Oringine. In 1898 Edward Barq opened Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works and next two years he produced the product later known as Barq’s Root Beer.

The drinks popularity was unstoppable. By 1937, 62 bottling plants had been established in 22 states. The numbers peaked in 1950 at about 200, but by that time the "root beer" had been forced to undergo changes.

The first came in 1938 when the federal government banned caffeine in root beer. Barq simply changed the name of his drink to Barq's Sr. and then set about developing a caffeine free root beer.

When the government reversed it caffeine ban in 1960, Barq's Sr. disappeared, and the original recipe once again appeared, as root beer. This created some confusion about what to call the drink. Many had inadvertently called it Barq's Root Beer, but it wouldn't take long for the old man to gracefully straighten one out by saying "Barq's son. Just Barq's".

In 1976, The Biloxi Company was takeover by new entrepreneurs, John Koerner and John Oudt and they started to market it nationally. To that time Barq’s was bottled in over 400 plant.

In 1988, the Coca-Cola Company acquired The Biloxi Company
History of Barq