Some say today is the day root beer was invented by Charles Elmer Hires in 1866 in Philadelphia.
It might be more accurate to say Hires became the first U.S. businessman to aggressively advertise a recipe for root beer and make it into a national sensation, according to the website of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, which owns Hires Root Beer. The date of 1866 also might be an exaggeration since Hires, who was born in 1851, would only have been a teenager then.
According to inventorsabout.com, root beer has its origins in what are referred to as small beers. Small beers are a collection of beverages (some alcoholic, some not) made during Colonial times in America from herbs, barks and roots including birch beer, sarsaparilla beer, ginger beer and root beer.
Hires was a Philadelphia pharmacist who discovered a recipe for an herbal tea while on a honeymoon trip to a New Jersey farm. He began selling a dry version of Hires Herb Tea and also a liquid version. The result was a combination of more than 25 herbs, berries and roots that he used to flavor a carbonated soda water drink. He changed the named to Hires Root Beer Extract, and it was introduced at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, which opened May 10, 1876.
Hires Root Beer, which always has been nonalcoholic, was regarded as a wholesome temperance drink, and its popularity skyrocketed. Hires first marketed kits for home brewers, which allowed them to brew root beer by mixing dry extract with water, sugar and yeast at a cost of 5 cents per gallon. Hires also sold syrup for use in soda shops.
In 1893, Hires began offering pre-mixed carbonated bottles of root beer for the first time and demand increased even more.
Here are some other interesting facts about root beer:
- In 1879, the Hires Root Beer Co. lost the patent for the name “root beer.” Eventually, competitors emerged. The top four brands today are A&W, Barq’s, Mug and Hires.
- Root beer accounts for about 3 percent of America’s soft drink market.
- In 1960, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of sassafras oil in foods and drugs, calling it a potential carcinogen. It had been a key ingredient in root beer prior to 1960.
Contact Carol Balinski: 610-371-5007 or cbalinski@readingeagle.com.