Big Red?

[slewfoot]

Curious, does anyone outside of Texas drink Big Red soda?
Anyone outside of Texas even heard of it?

[FarFar]

I was stationed at Fort hood during the mid-sixties and drank copious amounts of it then. Many years later I was on a business trip to Lima, Peru. The most popular soft drink in Peru is "Inca Cola" and it tastes Just like "Big Red". Unfortunately, its pale yellow color looked exactly like a urine specimen!

[danhole]

I don't know if you can get this anywhere, but here in Houston we even have Big Red Gum!

[Becca Porter]

Isn't Big Red gum cinnamon flavored?

[swamp]

Our mother used to make an ice cream that had Big Red in it which was great. You could also use Orange Crush soda but we preferred the Big Red.

[cuccubear]

Update...spotted it today in IGA here in town, 89 cents a bottle.

Oh, and I'm in the Shen. Valley, VA.

[mcsheridan]

NYC native, now NJ resident here -- never heard of it.

[Cherylptw]

I used to live in New Mexico and remember it fondly....

[poofty]

It is popular in southwest indiana (usually sold with RC cola).

[Trasken]

Immensely popular in almost all of Southern Indiana from my experience. I'm just right across the river from Louisville, KY and you won't find a store without it. I've been lucky, I've never lived without it, used to live in San Antonio when I was younger and then moved up to a small southern Indiana town bout an hour north of Louisville.

Oddly enough though, I couldn't find the stuff in Southern Kentucky OR West Virginia. None of my friends from NY have ever heard of it and a friend of mine out in California can only find it at one gas station in their area.

[dhill2]

Remember my aunt in Louisiana making BIG RED ICE CREAM - 2 ingredients: Big Red pop and Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk. It was MAGICAL!

[cuccubear]

Do you mean she mixed the two and then froze it?

[cuccubear]

I remember it from my childhood here in Virginia (that would be the ‘70’s). Haven’t seen it around here since, let’s say, 1980.

[MattInNJ]

Never seen it in Jersey.

[Fydeaux]

It's pretty easily found in Milwaukee, mostly at the Mexican restaurants and groceries. It goes with barbacoa like beer goes with brats.

[Passadumkeg]

Cornell University's official drink.

[DallasDude]

What is terribly ironic about about HFCS is that sugar is less expensive and more readily available. However, we can not turn to any product now without seeing the dreaded and most deadly HFCS.

[LakeLBJ]

It's made with HFCS, but recently it has been produced using pure cane sugar (ala Dublin Dr. Pepper)

It's available on tap at Cabo Bob's in Austin, TX, and I would imagine Dublin, TX at the bottling plant.

[laliz]

I used to visit texas a lot (San Antonio) and I finally tasted Big Red.

It was/is AWFUL IMO

[Cheflambo]

I think the reason stuff like Big Red and Dr. Pepper comes from Waco is because the city is a hotbed of Baptist temperance -- without alcohol, their vice of choice is sugar.

I had never tasted Big Red until I came to Texas, and my first gulp was actually in Louisiana, on my first road trip to New Orleans. I still remember the sugar buzz........ and yes, for those of you who've never had it, it tastes just like liquid bubble gum.

[slewfoot]

Liquid STRAWBERRY bubble gum.

[danhole]

I don't really pick up the strawberry flavor, but I agree with cheflambo that it tastes like liquid bubble gum. I made a float with Big Red last night, and gosh it was good! Until this thread I never would have thought to try that.

[iluvcookies]

Can't say I've ever seen it in NYC. We have Big Red chewing gum, though... cinnamon flavor.

[iluvcookies]

UPDATE!
I just saw Big Red on the menu at Hill Country BBQ in NYC. DH and I will be going there soon so I will have to try it.

Love it when I learn about new foods here on CH--thanks you guys (or should I say thanks y'all... though I never do)

[Brandon Nelson]

I have not seen it here in California for decades.

[danhole]

Way back when I was a little girl (late 60's) we lived in Indiana and drank Big Red. When we moved to Houston in 1970 I thought I had lost that drink forever. For awhile we didn't see it around, but lo and behold we found it. I had no idea, until years later, that it was a Texas thing. See, I should have know because I am a Texan by birth, stuck living up north. No wonder I loved that drink. Yeah, now I want one, too!

[slewfoot]

The blue flavor is indeed called Big Blue. They also make Big Peach, Big Punch, Big Honey Lemonade, and Big Red Vanilla Float, though most of those are marketed very limitedly. (Big Red Vanilla Float is fantastic!)

[adamshoe]

Oakland, CA., here. Never heard of it except for the chewing gum by Wrigley's. Sounds intriguing as I like most things (and most people) from Texas. adam

[slewfoot]

I pity the soul who must live without Big Red. We even have Big Red Slurpees at 7-11 here.

[treb]

I used to bring it back, pre 2001, when I travelled. Taste like bubble gum flavor soda.

[Honeychan]

When my DH made a trip to Texas, he brought me back a few bottles of Big Red, both the red and blue colors.

I loved it! To me, it tastes like a cotton candy/bubble gum soda, and it's such a unique flavor. I crave it every now and again, and i'm happy I can find it at pretty much any 7-11 here in Las Vegas. A Big Red Slurpee would be fab!

[adamshoe]

Umm... why isn't the blue "flavor" called Big Blue? Or is it? Inquiring minds....
adam

[Honeychan]

Now that's a question for the ages! Maybe someone knows the answer, it sure isn't me, sad to say.

Now i'm going to wonder about this at 3am!

[DallasDude]

Big Red. Living in Texas I am familiar, however it is one of those absurd childhood things. It was inventred and still marketed out of Waco, Texas (Janet Reno's favorite place to burn out cults from their homes). Waco is also home of Dr. Pepper. Seems Waco enjoys their soft drinks.

Oddly enough, Big Red is the 6th largest selling soft drink company in the US. It is distributed in almost every state. The flavor is similar to a quasi cream soda/ bubble gum. I have never been a huge fan, but somehow I mysteriously desire one now.

[invinotheresverde]

MA here. I don't know what it is.

[soypower]

Seattle here. Never heard of it until now.

[gordeaux]

Chicago checking in. Pretty sure we have it - it's a cream soda, right?

[Janet from Richmond]

I am in Virginia and have never heard of it.

[mrbigshotno.1]

We sure as hell drink it in Arizona! Ain't nothing better than a Big Red float!