Big Red

Grover C. Thomsen and R.H. Roark were chemists for Perfection Barber and Beauty Supply in Waco, Texas when they started making their own flavor extracts. Together, in 1937, they struck out on their own and began selling Sun Tang Red Cream Soda. The name changed to Sun Tang Big Red Cream Soda in 1959, then again to just Big Red ten years later. It was only available regionally, in Central and Southern Texas and around the Louisville, Kentucky and parts of Southern Indiana until the late 1970's. It is currently produced under license by several bottling companies, which include Dr Pepper Snapple Group and the Pepsi Group. Over the years Big Red Inc. has also added some other flavors to their collection, but are usually harder to find. Big Red is iconic enough to have garnered copy cats over the years such as Coca-Cola's Red Flash.

It's odd to ask someone to describe flavors sometimes and that can certainly be said when talking about a red cream soda. Most people have an idea of what cream soda tastes like even without ever having it because they know what "cream" is. But what does a color like red taste like? Once you open a bottle of Big Red, it's smells like bubble-gum. The aroma just pops! It's like a circus in a bottle. The flavor itself comes from a mixture of different citrus oils with vanilla. Big Red isn't as creamy flavored as some of it's imitators. Rather, they focus more on the "red." It definitely is reminiscent of a candy/bubble-gum flavoring yet it isn't. I'm reminded of the time one of my British friends asked me what Root Beer tasted like and the only thing I could say was, "It tastes like root beer." It definitely has a more child-like following. You won't often see adults drinking it outside of Texas and that's probably because most fans of this drink only enjoy it because they liked it as kids. So if you're 6-12 you'll be a big fan. If you're trying it for the first time as a 40-year old, you're likely to be disappointed.