The second best-selling soda at POPS — Oklahoma's tribute to the carbonated beverage — is a brand that didn't exist six months ago.
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But don't look for Round Barn Root Beer to be showing up at the corner convenience store anytime soon.
More than 460 brands of soda, including 63 varieties of root beer, are sold off the shelves of POPS, the Arcadia restaurant and convenience store that opened in August. And while manager Marty Doepke hoped POPS might win more customer loyalty with a signature drink, he never envisioned it would become so popular so quickly.
To date, more than 7,500 bottles of Round Barn Root Beer have been sold just at POPS. A Florida restaurateur has even contacted Doepke about selling the soda in the Sunshine State.
"It's been fantastic,” Doepke said. "It's No. 2 on our sales list, right behind Route 66 Root Beer.”
Doepke isn't surprised by that ranking either. When POPS opened in August, it was heralded as a new iconic landmark along America's Mother Road. And when it came time to name a signature drink, POPS chose to name it after another Route 66 attraction — Arcadia's famous Round Barn.
"We wanted to give a nod to our neighbors down the road,” Doepke said. "With this being Arcadia and being on Route 66, it's just another way to do a tribute.”
Planning for Round Barn Root Beer began with a series of recipe experiments and taste tests at Huebert Brewing Co., SW 26 and Walker Avenue. The city's only brewery already had created Old Time Logger Beer and Rock Hard Root Beer (an alcoholic root beer).
"Everybody else in the state is pretty much a restaurant with a brewpub,” owner Rick Huebert said. "We're the only stand-alone, and we're the oldest licensed brewery in the state.”
Huebert said Oklahoma City was once home to a large brewery — Progress Brewery. But it was bought out by another company, Huebert said, and its assets were removed to discourage creation of a competitor.
Huebert said he started brewing as a hobby at home and started his business after state laws were changed in the early 1990s to allow retail manufacturing of 3.2 beer.
Huebert, who operates the brewery with his wife, Shaneen, and two part-time employees, said he offered a couple root beer recipes already on hand when he was approached by POPS for a signature root beer. POPS now is preparing to add keg-fed fountains for Round Barn Root Beer. "I think it's pretty cool,” Huebert said. "It's been a lot more successful than I thought it would be.”
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POPS in Arcadia has its own brand of root beer that's made by Huebert Brewing Co. in south Oklahoma City. The company makes other sodas, as well. By Jaconna Aguirre, The Oklahoman
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