Virgil's hails from beverage royalty. Ed Crowley and his three brothers were willed equal shares in the Polar Beverage empire. After many years as President of Polar and tired of the family bickering, Ed sold his share in the business and set out on a second act to build his own legacy. Ed first created an offbeat raspberry lime soda called Rascal. With the tagline, "Nobody famous drinks it", it was clearly thumbing its nose at the soda establishment Ed had left behind. After years of starts and stops, Rascal was phased out in the mid-90s. Ed, recalling an old family root beer recipe from the 1920s, sourced the finest ingredients from around the world in a bid to create the world's best root beer. Crowley hit on something pretty special and Virgil's root beer debuted in 1994. That same year Virgil's Root Bee was named "outsanding beverage" at the New York Specialty Food Show. Virgil's was acquired by Reeds, Inc. in 1999 and has since epanded their flavors to include vanilla cream, black cherry, and orange. Ed can claim a proud legacy in his family business and a self-made victory in Virgil's.