An overhead view of sliced barbecue meat and sauce on a butcher-paper lined plate next to a styrofoam cup of Big Red
Brandon JakobeitBig Red alongside a meat plate from La Barbecue in Austin
A Big Red bottle cap

Sweeter than cotton candy and redder than rubies, Big Red has been Texas barbecue’s unofficial signature soda since its conception in 1937. Born in the Waco lab of Grover C. Thomsen and R.H. Roark, the innovative drink largely consisted of lemon and orange extracts combined with vanilla. Initially called Sun Tang Red Cream Soda, it spread throughout Central and South Texas, as well as Louisville, Kentucky, where Roark owned R.C. Bottling Company. It eventually was rechristened Big Red in 1969 after then-president of the San Antonio bottling plant, Harold Jansing, overheard his golf caddies calling it that.

But even prior to Big Red’s presence as a national brand, similar scarlet-tinged sodas were already ingrained as a barbecue staple in Texas. During its coverage of the 1965 Cotton Bowl, The Corpus Christi Caller-Times wrote: “Nothing like a plate of barbecue with a big red soda pop.” (It was printed in lower case because “big red” was considered a generic name for all red sodas.) Going even further back, Texans like 86-year-old Ethel McDonald can remember red soda water, a red-tinted lemonade enjoyed at family barbecues and Juneteenth celebrations in her hometown of Brenham. According to her grandson Kristopher Manning, the second-generation owner of Smokey Joe’s BBQ in South Dallas, serving the beverage was considered a sign of prosperity. “At some point, red soda water essentially turned into Big Red at family barbecues,” McDonald says.

An illustration of a person wearing a blue apron working a grill that is made from a Big Red can
Pete Ryan
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Big Red continues to evolve as barbecue’s carmine sidekick. When LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue opened its brick-and-mortar in Austin last year, the owners created a frozen Big Red sangria to embody the restaurant’s ethos of adding modern perspectives to nostalgic favorites. In Evan LeRoy’s experience, there aren’t that many ways to counter barbecue’s smoky meats and rich sides with something sweet. So, the pitmaster combined Big Red fountain drink syrup with tempranillo, Seville orange fortified wine, and fresh-squeezed citrus juices in a frozen margarita machine.

Ernest Servantes of Burnt Bean Company Barbecue in Seguin takes a different approach, soaking cake with the soda for a mousse-topped variation on tres leches. Although he admits Big Red is an acquired taste, he says it’s perceived differently in Texas, where the unique flavor profile is forced on Lone Star natives from an early age. “It was in my bottle,” he jokes. Proving Big Red’s indomitable position next to Texas fare, a new era of pitmasters and chefs is creating novel applications that are making it a pantry staple. Or as Servantes describes the current culinary craze: “It’s the closest thing we have to Willy Wonka land.” 

A glass bottle of Big Red
Sara Marie D’Eugenio

Savory

Sunbird Barbecue, Longview

Co-owner Bryan Bingham pushes the bounds of new school barbecue with items like his burnt ends lacquered in mangonada and Arnold Palmer sauces. But his most celebrated innovation has been a Big Red gastrique that he paints on fatty chunks of pork belly.

Sweet

Ribbee’s, Fort Worth

A spinoff of Goldee’s, considered one of the state’s top barbecue joints, Ribbee’s likes to pair its titular baby back ribs with Big Red ice cream floats. After noticing the dessert’s popularity since its 2023 debut, co-owner Jonny White even added a Big Red milkshake to the menu last summer.

Sip

La Barbecue, Austin

This East Austin destination likes to shake up a margarita with the creamy soda alongside tequila blanco, orange liqueur, and a splash of hazy IPA. Owner Alison Clem says they now field as many questions from visitors about the drink as they do their highly touted brisket, beef ribs, and chipotle sausage.

Wild Card

Stixs & Stone, San Antonio

In San Antonio—the world’s only town to have an annual Barbacoa & Big Red Festival— Stixs & Stone makes corn tortillas from Big Red-infused Masienda masa. Owner Leo Davila then fills them with tomatillo-braised beef cheek barbacoa and Big Red-strawberry jam.

From the January/February 2025 issue

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