Barq’s story all began when. Charles Edward Barq was born in New Orleans in 1871. In Paris , France and Bordeaux , France he studied flavoring and chemistry. He came back to American in 1890 to avoid military service.

He then started a bottling company with Gaston, his brother. They called it Barq’s Brothers Bottling Company. To show off his skills Barq won a gold medal at the Chicago World Fair with his drink called Orangine in 1893.

The next chapter began when he married his wife Elodie Graugnard in 1897 and moved with her to Biloxi , Mississippi . Here he began bottling water, and he did further experimentation on soda flavoring.  He sold his first drink in Biloxi in 1898. It was different from the other root beers of that time. His had more “bite”, more carbs, and less sugar. It also did not have a foamy head.

He was the first to not use the six and eight ounce bottle and instead bought clear 12 ounce bottles from the New Orleans Brewery for 5 cents. It remained at 12 cents for many years. He finally franchised in 1934 with a firm in Mobile , Alabama . Then, at another in New Orleans , Louisiana . The drink became very popular, and by 1937 there were 62 bottling plants in 22 different states.

Then, Richard S. Tuttle Sr. Hugh Carmichael and Albert Badanes started the Barq’s Bottling Company. Tuttle began to add red dye to the root beer and Crème soda. This gave it the common nick-name red pop.

By 1950 the number of franchises had reached a whopping 200. By then, however, the root beer had been adjusted. In the 1930’s the Hire’s Company sued them over the use of the words “root beer”; they were under the impression they owned this phrase.

A second change occurred in the 1938 when the government banned caffine in root beer. Barq had to come up with a caffine free root beer that he called Barq’s Sr. The caffine ban did not last. And the original recipe was back on the scene to stay.

with all the changes they had to have a new slogan. It was “Drink Barq’s. It’s good”  in orange and blue. There was a lot of merchandise made with this slogan. In 1976, John Oudt and John Koerner bought the company from the Barq’s. He then moved the headquarters to New Orleans . These men turned it into the second most popular root beer.

About that time the logo underwent yet another change. The orange and blue label became a silver background with the words “Famous Old Time Root Beer.”

Thursday March 26^th 1998 was the 100^th anniversary. Coca-Cola had bought Barq’s in 1995. After all these years they finally moved the company back to Mobile Alabama .

This soda has been such a success since then that in 2001 in the Beverage Digest it was in the top ten brands of soft drinks. It was among several other leading brands such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, and Sprite.