Big Red was created in 1937 byGriver C. Thomsen and R.H. Roark inWaco, Texas. Big Red was originally known as Sun Tang Red Cream Soda and it is the original "red cream soda". The name was changed to Tang Big Red Cream Soda in 1959 and to "Big Red" in 1969 by Harold Jansing, then president of the San Antonia bottling plant, after hearing a golf caddy refer to the soda by that name.
The drink is highly popular in the Southern United States and is well known for its unique taste and red color. Its flavor, though often thought to be bubble gum and is created by mixing orange and lemon oils with the traditional vanilla used in other cream sodas.