Barq's Red Creme Soda | Cream Can Be Spelled "Creme" But Only In Certain Circles Which've Earned The Right To Do So

My colleague and I shared a plastic bottle of this drink today, on a much-needed break from doing less important things. I picked it out of the fridge in the same manner someone picks a new member for his team in kickball. I don't remember what it was like in kickball, doing the picking, but rather how it felt to be picked close to last. (It's true! This blogger had an unfortunate bowl cut and braces!) With past horrors in mind, I thoughtfully chose Barq's Red Creme Soda amid the other bottles that'd been gathering dust for far too long.

As pointed out to me earlier, this marks Weekly Fizz's first major label review. I know. In the past we have stood on the forefront as the elite pioneering-bastards of the indie drink evaluation. But this time around we couldn't resist.

Flash back to middle school, back to being an awkward fourteen year old (thank God I've endured the hardships, and can now say I've achieved awkward twenty-six year old status): I'd often walk around the school "brown bagging it." What doth this statement mean? Well, in the designated "lunch area," one could find me "hidin' from teach"—after tearing through my Swiss Cake Rolls—holding a bottle of Barq's Root Beer wrapped in a brown paper lunch bag. (Maybe it was IBC, actually, I don't remember.) I wouldn't have known about the other Barq's products at the time, probably because I lived in Tampa and not New Orleans. It's probably for the best, since chances are I would've dropped out and become a junkie, soon grappling harder vices like Minute Maid Tropical Citrus.

So, before getting any more sidetracked, let's talk about New Orleaners. Did you know they've claimed red cream soda their unofficial beverage? And here

I was imagining it was malt liquor. Also, to answer this week's mailbag, James William Black—a.k.a. "Big Daddy Black"—single-handedly patented the cream soda in Nova Scotia, 1886. And, let it be known, Barq's were the first to include caffeine as an ingredient in a non-coffee beverage. As for the taste, it resembles cream soda, but with added red. What the red allegedly represents is still a mystery. Are we supposed to taste cherries? Strawberries? Hybrid Perennials? Does color have a taste?

Click this link, order a 12-pack, and decide. Enjoy the little animated Spot characters on the page. They will dance for you.