Saturday, June 23, 2007

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

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