The History of Root Beer

There is nothing quite like a frosty mug of creamy, real, old fashioned root beer. But where did this sweet beverage come from? Though the roots of root beer are so deep, they're more American than apple pie, there are varying theories about just who invented root beer and where it came to be. Root beer has quite a colorful past and an exciting future. Here you can find a detailed history of the famous beverage and find out about specific companys and their stories. Read on to uncover the rich past and other interesting facts about root beer.

FROM THE EARLY AMERICANS TO SHAKESPEARE
There are early historical documents in which Shakespeare is noted to have drank "small beers." This European brew, actually made from an early colonial American recipe, contained 2-12-percent alcohol, and was considered a light, social drink made from herbs, berries and bark. During American Colonial times, root beer was introduced along with other beverages like Birch Beer, Sarsparilla Beer, and Ginger Beer. Only root beer would emerge as a longtime favorite. There are even historical documents which show 18th century farm owners brewing an alcoholic version of root beer in backyard stills for family get-togethers, social events, and parties.

MEDICINAL ORIGINS
Most historians believe that the invention of an actual root beer recipe happened by pure accident, thanks in part to an inventive pharmacist, eager to create a miracle drug. Though people had been drinking an herbal home brewed variety for years, root beer was still just an experiment for the creative and inventive. In 1870, an unknown pharmacist toying with a handful of roots, berries and herbs, came up with a recipe for root beer which consisted of juniper, wintergreen, spikenard, pipsissewa, sarsaparilla, vanilla beans, hops, dog grass, birch bark and licorice. The original drink was quite medicinal in nature, tasting both bitter and sweet. Even though the pharmacist offered the drink to the public as a cure-all, it was never marketed or well-received.

HIRES COMPANY
Meanwhile, Charles Hires, also a pharmacist, was on his honeymoon around the same time when he discovered an herbal tea he simply could not part with. After taking the recipe of herbs, berries and roots home to Philadelphia with him, he began selling a packaged dry mixture to the public made from many of the same ingredients as the original herbal tea. Well received, Hires soon developed a liquid concentrate blended together from more than 25 herbs, berries and roots. Charles Hires sold root beer first in his drug store, and it was in 1876 that he sold root beer commercially. It was introduced at the Philidelphia Centennial Expo along with new products such as the telephone. The Hire's formula represented a temperance drink--one that heavy drinkers could have away from alcohol. It consisted of 16 different ingredients and spices, and still remains one of America's top root beers. The public loved the new drink and as a result, Hires introduced commercial root beer to the public in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. In no time, it became a popular drink of its day. By 1893, the Hires family sold bottled versions of their well-known brew, sealing their place in rootbeer history.

No matter which version of root beer history is true, one thing is for certain: Rootbeer is an original brew, predating colas and other popular sodas.

Barq's promoted root beer later in 1898, along with Hires also in the late 1800s. Stewart's joined the craze in 1914.

Mr. Fitzgerald brought Fitz's Root Beer into existence starting in 1947. The secret formula was developed with the help of a flavor house in St. Louis, Missouri. Fitz's restaurant lasted until 1970, when Mr. Fitzgerald decided to move to Texas.

15 years later, the original Fitz's recipe was resurrected in a University City kitchen. Then, in 1992 Fitz's dedicated the world's first microbrewery to root beer production--the root beer bottling line is right in the restaurant. With refurbished equipment salvaged from an old barn in Shawano, Wisconsin, Fitz's Restaurant and Bottling Company opened on February 7, 1993 in the Delmar Bank Building in University City. Later in August 1998, another Fitz's was opended in Chesterfield, MO. GOVERNMENT BAN
The key ingredient to root beer is sassafras root, which is what produces the tangy, thick brewed flavor that root beer is noted for. In 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of sassafras oil, labeling it a carcinogen. Root beer makers began experimenting with new and improved recipes, minus the sassafras oil, hoping to find a suitable tasting alternative. Not long after the ban, the root beer industry was saved when inventors discovered that sassafras could be used afterall, if treated first, to remove the oil.