Hires Root Beer facts for kids
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| Type | Root Beer |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Keurig Dr Pepper |
| Country of origin | 117-119 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Introduced | 1876 |
| Color | Caramel |
| Related products | A&W Root Beer, Dad's Root Beer, Mug Root Beer, Barq's |
Hires Root Beer was a famous American brand of root beer. First sold in 1876, it was one of the oldest soft drinks ever made in the United States. For many years, it was made by the company Keurig Dr Pepper.
Contents
The Story of Hires Root Beer
How It All Started
The story of Hires Root Beer began with a pharmacist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, named Charles Elmer Hires. A pharmacist is someone who is an expert in medicines. The official story says that Hires first tried root beer on his honeymoon in 1875. He liked the traditional drink so much that he decided to make his own version.
By 1876, Hires created his own recipe. He sold it as a powder in 25-cent packets. Each packet could be mixed with water to make one gallon of root beer. That same year, Philadelphia hosted the Centennial Exposition, a giant fair celebrating America's 100th birthday. Hires gave out free glasses of his root beer to get people to try it.
He advertised his drink as a healthy mix of 16 wild roots and berries. Early ads claimed it could help make you healthier. In 1884, he started selling it as a liquid syrup for soda fountains. By 1890, the Charles E. Hires Company was formed and began selling root beer in bottles. They sold over a million bottles in just one year!
Hires called his drink "The Temperance Drink." This was because some people were trying to drink less alcohol, and root beer was a good alternative. He believed strongly in advertising, saying, "doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does."
A Key Ingredient Change
One of the main ingredients in early root beer was sassafras oil. This plant extract gave the drink its unique flavor. However, in 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered that sassafras oil contained a chemical called safrol, which was found to be unhealthy.
Because of this, sassafras oil was banned. Later, scientists found a way to remove the harmful chemical from the oil. This meant companies could still use sassafras for its flavor without the health risk.
Growing and Changing
For many years, you could buy Hires Root Beer kits in the U.S. and Canada. These kits let families brew their own root beer at home using an extract, water, sugar, and yeast. But most people bought the drink already bottled.
In the 1960s, a fun advertising campaign featured a singer named Blossom Dearie. She sang a catchy jingle that went: "Hires Root Beer! Hires Rootin' Tootin' Root Beer!"
The Hires company was sold several times over the years.
- The Hires family sold it to Consolidated Foods in 1960.
- Consolidated Foods sold it to Crush International in 1962.
- Procter & Gamble bought Crush in 1980.
- Cadbury Schweppes bought it from them in 1989.
- The company that owned Hires eventually became part of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
The End of an Era
Over time, Hires Root Beer became harder to find in the United States. The company that owned it, Keurig Dr Pepper, started promoting its other root beer brands more, like A&W Root Beer.
In Canada, the Hires brand is no longer sold as a soft drink. Instead, the name is used for a different kind of drink made for adults. Most stores in Canada now sell Mug Root Beer instead.
By 2023, Hires Root Beer was no longer listed as a product on the Keurig Dr. Pepper website. This marked the end for one of America's longest-running soft drinks.
See also
- Chester teapot, a large teapot made from a giant Hires Root Beer barrel sign
