Barq's Root Beer

I can't believe I found Barq's Root Beer in a glass bottle. What a find. I think until now I've only ever seen it in cans and plastic bottles and have had it most of my life. Brothers, Edward and Gaston Barq founded Barq's Brothers Bottling Company in New Orleans in 1890. They were mostly known for their orange soda, Orangine, but also sold soda water. When Edward moved to Mississippi in 1897 he started a new company, the Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works. Recall from prior posts that this period in history saw a boom in bottling the waters from natural artesian sources. The exact date appears to be disputed, but sometime between 1898 and 1900 he introduced his root beer soft drink, simply called Barq's at the time. The Barq's company in Biloxi was sold by Edward's descendants in 1976 and began to be marketed more widely around the U.S. Many years of legal battles ensued among various Barq's family business entities. Coca-Cola has owned the Barq's brand since 2000.

Note that this bottle also has an older style of labeling, likely hand in hand with the fact that they have a throwback glass bottle. Labeling as far back as I can recall from my childhood is silver and black. As much as I enjoyed Barq's growing up I always disliked the silver and black because it resembled the Raiders team colors. It also has the embossed diamond pattern around the neck that was used many decades earlier. I love the vanilla scent. You can always tell from a sip of Barq's root beer what they mean by the slogan, "Barq's has bite" because there is a signature crispness in the finish that I always look for from any root beer I taste. This "bite" is often what I think my friends from the U.K. and Ireland are describing when they complain that root beer tastes "minty" and reminds them of the dentist. I never felt that way but I can understand what they are trying to get across. Just as expected, this bottle has the high level of carbonation you expect from them. Barq's is a solid root beer choice and I would always be willing to recommend it to someone that wants to try root beer for the first time.

Fest Pecan Root Beer

I don't recall where I picked up this bottle from Fest. They are supposedly a company out of New Orleans, but their domain (festcola.com) seems to be vacant at the present time, so I'm not sure if they are still bottling or not. Their Instagram and Twitter accounts are still up, but as of today, neither has had any new posts since 2019, so that does not bode well. Unfortunately, that means I may never get to taste some of their other flavors such as Peach Ginger Ale or Almond Cola. What drew me to this bottle was the styling. The font and swooping parallel lines give me a 1970's aesthetic. 

The soda has a rich golden brown color, not as dark as a typical root beer. It's smell is not just nutty, but earthy, almost smoky. The flavor is complex, almost bourbon-like with the slightest hint of caramel. It has a decent amount of carbonation, but I think it's right. Too much carbonation can sometimes make a soda a bit sharp and distract from the flavor. I can appreciate the use of cane sugar as well, which as I've mention in previous posts provides a softer, more "round" sweetness than corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. Just half way through this bottle and it's won me over and makes me a bit disheartened about the possibility of not being able to try their other flavors. Kudos to the folks that created this recipe. 

Swamp Pop Noble Cane Cola

I like finding small producers like this and learning about their story. In Lafayette, Lousiana, around 2012, John Petersen, already the owner of a retail store, and his cousin, Collin Cormier, owner of a food truck named "Viva la Waffle" decided to start creating sugar cane cola. Lousiana has long history of sugar cane farming and with the sales of colas at Collin's food truck they jumped into the game. The name of the soda is a bit of a play on words taken from a musical sub-genre in the region called Swamp Pop dating back to the 1950's in the Acadiana region. The genre is a mixture of rhythm and blues, country and french music styles. When Swamp Pop was born they experimented in making their own flavor profiles but later turned to commercial flavor chemists. Their line includes flavors of a kind of regional nature such as praline cream and a strawberry soda named after the town of Ponchatoula's annual strawberry festival. 

Starting with the bottle, I'd have to say I really enjoy the aesthetic of their labels. The familiar scent of kola nut and maybe cinnamon. It feels slightly viscous when tasting it and almost creamy thick. Some of that no doubt stems from the smoothness you find from using sugar cane. The flavor is quite unique for a cola. I expected something cheap tasting with just a pretty label, but this is surprisingly good. I give this a strong recommendation and look forwarded to finding their other flavors.

Abita Root Beer

Abita Root Beer is interesting in the fact that it comes from a beer brewery. Abita Brewing Company started in Abita Springs, Louisiana in 1986 by brewing beer using the town's artesian well water. They now have several different flavors and in 1995 began brewing a non-alcoholic root beer with local cane sugar.

I like the look of this bottle. The label makes me think of 1920's-30's advertising. Abita has a little less carbonation than some root beers, but a rich aroma. The ingredients don't list a specific root extract, merely "root beer flavor". It has a heavy flavor and tingles the tongue perfectly. It is a pretty basic American root beer, but would go well with any vanilla tinged dessert, including a heavy dollop of ice cream if you're a root beer float fan. The heaviness of this root beer will leave you sated by the end so sip slowly and enjoy.