For many decades, Barq's was not marketed as a "root beer". This was in part 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 some differences from other root beers at the time. The formulation was sarsaparilla-based, contained less sugar, had a higher carbonation, and less of a foamy head than other brands. [6] Bennett, Eileen (June 28, 1998). "Local Historians Argue Over the Root of Hires". The Press of Atlantic City . Retrieved April 5, 2015. The Barq's Brothers Bottling Company was founded in 1890 in the French Quarter of New Orleans, by Edward Charles Edmond Barq and his older brother, Gaston. The 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. Higgins, Nadia (August 1, 2013). Fun Food Inventions (Awesome Inventions You Use Every Day). 21st Century. p.30. ISBN 978-1467710916. Barbara Powell (June 14, 2003). "Coca-Cola launches drink that mimics a root-beer float". The Augusta Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 . Retrieved 2015-10-31.

Edward Barq moved to Biloxi, Mississippi in 1897 with his new wife. The following year he opened the Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works. By some accounts he debuted what was later to be known as "Barq's root beer" the following year, but others maintain it was not produced until 1900. [5] The Barq's that is dispensed from Coca-Cola Freestyle machines is caffeine-free. [12] [13] This is because the system uses the same concentrated, microdosed ingredient for both Barq's and Diet Barq's; the only difference between the two is the sweetener that is added. It is also common for Barq's that is sold in the state of Utah to be caffeine-free because many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints avoid caffeinated beverages. [14] Barq's products [ edit ] Barq's Nutritional value per 12 fl oz (355ml)

Smith, Andrew (August 30, 2006). Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food. Greenwood. pp.231–232. ISBN 978-0313335273. Pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires was the first to successfully market a commercial brand of root beer. Hires developed his root tea made from sassafras in 1875, debuted a commercial version of root beer at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, and began selling his extract. Hires was a teetotaler who wanted to call the beverage "root tea". However, his desire to market the product to Pennsylvania coal miners caused him to call his product "root beer", instead. [6] [7] One traditional recipe for making root beer involves cooking a syrup from molasses and water, letting the syrup cool for three hours, and combining it with the root ingredients (including sassafras root, sassafras bark, and wintergreen). Yeast was added, and the beverage was left to ferment for 12 hours, after which it was strained and rebottled for secondary fermentation. This recipe usually resulted in a beverage of 2% alcohol or less, although the recipe could be modified to produce a more alcoholic beverage. [13] Foam Barq met a young boy on the Mississippi coast, Jesse Robinson, and employed him. Robinson was mentored by Barq and later moved to New Orleans. In 1934 Barq and Robinson signed a contractual agreement on Barq's product rights allowing Robinson to make his own concentrate, uncommon in beverage bottling licenses. The two men remained close their entire lives, working on flavors and production challenges. A distinctive difference between the Biloxi-based root beer and the Louisiana's was that the Louisiana bottle was printed in red (versus Biloxi's blue). This was to distinguish ownership of bottles as blue labeled ones were returned to Mississippi and vice versa. There were also regional taste differences between the various Barq's bottlers. While there may have been minor formula differences, water was most responsible. [ citation needed]

Not all traditional or commercial root beers were sassafras-based. One of Hires's early competitors was Barq's, which began selling its sarsaparilla-based root beer in 1898 and was labeled simply as "Barq's". [10] Boudreaux, Edmond (February 5, 2013). Legends and Lore of the Mississippi Golden Gulf Coast. The History Press. p.145. ASIN B00BBXFJOC. Utah in a niche market for non-caffeinated Barq's Root Beer". The Daily Universe. April 2020 . Retrieved 2020-07-24. Barq's ( / ˈ b ɑːr k s/) is an American brand of root beer created by Edward Barq and bottled since the beginning of the 20th century. It is owned by the Coca-Cola Company. [2] It was known as "Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer" until 2012. [3] Some of its formulations contain caffeine. [4] History [ edit ] Historical Marker at Edward Barq's Pop Factory, Biloxi, Mississippi, USA a b c Dietz, B; Bolton, Jl (April 2007). "Botanical dietary supplements gone bad". Chemical Research in Toxicology. 20 (4): 586–90. doi: 10.1021/tx7000527. ISSN 0893-228X. PMC 2504026. PMID 17362034.Root Beer: An Exclusively American Soft Drink". Grub Americana. 17 August 2013 . Retrieved 2015-10-31. Since safrole, a key component of sassafras, was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1960 due to its carcinogenicity, most commercial root beers have been flavored using artificial sassafras flavoring, [1] [2] but a few (e.g. Hansen's) use a safrole-free sassafras extract. [3]

Barq's® Spiced Cherry | Coca-Cola Canada". Coke Canada. Archived from the original on 2021-03-03 . Retrieved 2021-03-26.Cresswell, Stephen (January 6, 1998). Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop. Storey Publishing. p.4. ISBN 978-1580170529. Safrole, the aromatic oil found in sassafras roots and bark that gave traditional root beer its distinctive flavor, was banned in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the FDA in 1960. [1] Laboratory animals that were given oral doses of sassafras tea or sassafras oil that contained large doses of safrole developed permanent liver damage or various types of cancer. [1] While sassafras is no longer used in commercially produced root beer and is sometimes replaced with artificial flavors, natural extracts with the safrole distilled and removed are available. [11] [12] Traditional method Caffeine Database | Caffeine and Ingredients in Barqs Rootbeer, OverCaffeinated.org's Report on the Ingredients in Barq's Rootbeer Regular Barq's has 22.5 mg of caffeine per 12 ounce serving (similar to green tea), [10] while Diet Barq's has no caffeine. Barq's also contains sodium benzoate as a flavor protectant, which under the right conditions, is a precursor to the known carcinogen benzene. [11] It was still used as of 2008. Root beer has been drunk in the United States since at least the eighteenth century. It has been sold in confectionery stores since at least the 1840s, and written recipes for root beer have been documented since the 1860s. In the nineteenth century, it was often consumed hot. It was combined with soda as early as the 1850s; at that time it was sold as a syrup rather than a ready-made beverage. [4]