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Hires Root Beer is a soft drink which is currently marketed by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and shares the title of America's oldest soft drink with Moxie and with Detroit's Vernor's ginger ale.
History
Hires Root Beer was created by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires. Hires first tasted root beer, (a traditional American beverage dating back to the colonial era), while on his honeymoon in 1875. By 1876, having developed his own recipe, Hires was marketing 25-cent packets of powder which each yielded five gallons of root beer. At Philadelphia's Centennial Exposition in 1876, he cultivated new customers by giving away free glasses of root beer. In 1884, he began producing a liquid extract and a syrup for use in soda fountains, and was soon shipping root beer in kegs and producing a special fountain dispenser called the "Hires Automatic Munimaker." In 1890, the Charles E. Hires company was incorporated and began supplying Hires root beer in small bottles.[1][2]
Hires' choice of name for his product caused a problem: the word "beer" drew the wrath of the temperance movement[citation needed]. He had his root beer tested by a laboratory, and trumpeted their conclusion that a glass of his root beer contained less alcohol than a loaf of bread.[citation needed]
Hires Root Beer was promoted as "The Temperance Drink" and "the Greatest Health-Giving Beverage in the World." Hires advertised aggressively, believing "doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does."[citation needed]
Hires Root Beer kits, available in the United States and Canada from the early 1900s through the 1980s allowed consumers to mix an extract with water, sugar and yeast to brew their own root beer. However, most consumption was of pre-bottled root beer.
By 1989, it had been acquired by Cadbury Schweppes, now Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
The manufacturer considers it the longest continuously made soft drink in the United States; however, Vernor's ginger ale (currently also owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group) also makes that claim.
References
- ^ Anne Cooper Funderburg (2001), Sundae best: a history of soda fountains, Popular Press, pp. 92-94, ISBN 9780879728540, http://books.google.com/books?id=Wr_yPYvkNWwC.
- ^ Christopher Hoolihan (2001), Social Medicine in the United States, 1717-1917, Boydell & Brewer, p. 454, ISBN 781580460989, http://books.google.com/books?id=zFKvimYMHloC.
- Hires, C.E. 1913. Seeing opportunities. American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record. American Druggist Publ. Co., New York. ISSN 0099-7366.
- Quarantiello, L. 1997. The Root Beer Book: A Celebration of America's Best-Loved Soft Drink. Tiare Publ., Lake Geneva, WI. ISBN 978-0936653785.
External links
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