July 26, 2013
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Root Beer
Root Beer!
There are lots of root beer pretenders - but there is only one real root beer: Hires!
Hires was the original root beer - and some say the original soft drink. Here is the obligatory wikipedia article on Hires: Hires Root Beer on Wikipedia. Here is another link to information on Hires root beer from the company that sells it: Hires Root Beer.
Hires was created in 1866 right after the Civil War. In 1893 it was first sold in bottles to the public.
These days, it is often hard to find Hires root beer. The company that currently produces Hires also produces A&W root beer - and apparently A&W root beer is cheaper to produce. So quite often, you won't find one where you can find the other.
I guess other root beers may be as good, but none of them can compete with my memories of Hires as a kid. There is nothing like a root beer float made with Hires. I remember the two soft drinks on my Grandfather's back porch were Hires and 7-Up - and 7-Up is what the gave us when we were sick and trying to get liquids down us - so we never wanted to drink that stuff when we were healthy. HA!
Thinking of Hires brought back an old memory - when I was maybe 6 or 7, I collected old bottle caps with a friend. I have no idea what happened to that collection, but I ran into a few bottle cap collections when I was looking for root beer pictures. Here are a couple of the old bottle caps.
Here is an ad for Hires root beer from 1933. It looks like they used some of the same advertising techniques back in 1933, huh?
Oh! And we have to have a picture of a root beer float - so here it is:
What was your favorite beverage when you were a kid?
Two farmers were discussing their problems. Farmer Bill said, "I've got a couple of birds nesting in my horse's mane. I've tried to get rid of them. But they just won't go away."
Farmer Joe thought for a minute and said, "Just sprinkle the horse's mane with yeast."
"Yeast? Why yeast?" farmer Bill asked.
Farmer Joe responded, "Yeast is yeast and nest is nest, and never the mane shall tweet." *
Comments (18)
Oh! I remember the inside top of the bottle caps were lined with cork! I can smell the mixture of cork and root beer smell now as I think about it!
Hmm! I've never even had one of those! lolfavorite childhood drink? Oy... Well, I remember having V8 juice whenever I went to my aunts house. She had good V8 juice and dill pickles. But no memories beyond that! lol
xanga is where I come to learn something new everyday...I thought A&W was the original, anyways, there was a drive-in in town called the Dog and Suds they served A&W and hot dogs - yummmmmmmy, we also had a sassafras tree in our yard but we never made any root beer with it....I love rootbeer but Dr. Pepper was my favorite.
Soda was such a treat when I was a kid. We usually got it when we were on vacation or Dad was taking us for a Sunday drive. He'd stop at the Sinclair station (remember the little green bars of soap shaped like dinosaurs?) and hand out dimes so we could get a soda from the vending machine while the attendant was filling the gas tank, washing the windshield and checking the oil and tires. I loved Big Red and Shasta Creme Soda. Drop a dime in the slot, grab the neck of the bottle you want, pull the frosty cold bottle out of the hole and pop off the cap with the bottle opener on the front of the machine. And we had to drink it right there at the station so Dad wouldn't have to pay a deposit on the bottles. We'd leave the empty bottles in the divided wooden crate next to the vending machine. Sweet memories!
I'm going to buy a case now, thanks for the reminder!
I haven't drunk much Hires. In fact, I don't drink much root beer. When we were kids (the 60's) we would go to the "big town" about 20 minutes away to the A&W and get root beer floats made with real ice cream and served in frosty GLASS mugs! It was a drive-in and I was fascinated by the tray hanging on the rolled down window!In college, I only drank Dr. Pepper, now, it's Coke (no Pepsi). Pop used to be made with sugar, and that's what most of us got used to. Now, it's high fructose corn syrup, and I don't care what anybody says, it's just not as good. Once in awhile, I spring for a Mexican Coke, which is still made with sugar. Yum!
Oh yeah, and that joke: it's manely for the birds!
Falooda, actually. Though, much like softdrinks, they don't quite make them like they used to these days.@whyzat - Amen to the bit about sugar & HFCS. Kinda' makes me wonder if in a few year, sugar will actually be "sugar" or made from something cost effective.
There definately is a difference in Rootbeers. Some have caffeine others don't. Barq's tastes so much more old fashioned than Mug's. Hire's I never see/hear of, and A&W isn't the same taste. The best rootbeer though is always one associated with memories. I would drink a rootbeer when I'd have my butter-crunch sundae at Friendly's, and it was one of my favorite things as a teen. Sadly now I live hours away from any of those restaurants.My father would order glass bottles by the case from a place called the Pop Shop. (though we never called our soda pop) He liked the Birch-beer flavor, clear and sweet. That's something else I don't typically see anymore, birch-beer OR soda delivery companies that would deliver right to your house (though my parent's neighbor still gets glass jars of milk delivered to her.) Ah, memories.
In Michigan we used to love VERNOR'S ginger ale. But it changed, too weak, too much high fructose corn syrup.WHEN ANTHROPOLOGISTS LOOK FOR THE COLLAPSE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, THEY'LL POINT TO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.
I never did like anything carbonated. I did like root beer, probably because it was sweet. We too drank 7 up when we were sick, also tea, which I've been drinking in the mornings instead of coffee, ever since I had the stroke. I do usually have coffee later in the day. These days when I make root beer floats I have to use diet root beer, and no sugar added ice cream because of hubby's Type 2 diabetes. Sad.
Somewhere it is claimed that Root Beer causes less cavities than other sodas.What no mention of the real root beer sasafras ingredient. They took it out due to fears of cancer.
My favorite commercially available soft drink is IBC Root beer, made with real sugar and all natural ingredients, but my all time favorite ever was a hand made wooden barrel drafted birch beer and it was purely delightful! It was perfectly carbonated, sweet and creamy with a full rich authentic birch root flavor. Sometime cut into a yellow birch and taste the sap. It is sweet like maple syrup, but tastes very much like root beer with a slight spearmint undertone and hint of cherry
I drink A&W diet root beer myself.It is so good
My dad would sometimes buy Hires but mostly he liked Pepsi. We rarely got any soda. When we did it was leftover from the Bridge Club... I have given up carbonated caffeinated beverages. @Crystalinne - @Aloysius_son - Birch beer is awesome! I wish I could find it in Indiana! Jusy another reason to head east!!!
I am in China an done of the things I miss most is root beer. Hire's A and W Mason's frosty you name it (except for caffeine-loaded Barq's) impossible to get here outide of beijing in the ten or so cities I have lived in
root beer is one of my faves!!! not a big soft drink user these days, but what a treat it was when were young...usually got it on friday or saturday night, along with potato chips & dip or pickled bologna & cheese to snack on while watching our favorite tv shows before bedtime! that diet stuff scares me too much to touch it with all the stuff people say about it being high glycemic (VERY bad for diebetics or anyone with blood sugar stability issues)and also a neurotoxin along with being a possible cause of cancer, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and who know what else...besides, it gives me hives and/or migraines anyway
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