IBC Root Beer was founded in 1919 by the Griesedieck family as the Independent Breweries Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Root beer found a market as a legal beverage during the era of Prohibition. The Independent Breweries Company closed, but the trademark was purchased by the Kranzberg family, which operated the Northwestern Bottling Company. In the late 1930s, it was sold to the National Bottling Company, owned by the Shucart family. Popularity and distribution declined after World War II.