The Story of Hires Rootbeer

Hires Rootbeer is the first soft drink to be produced and distributed to the public in the United States.  Although the invention of rootbeer has its own long history starting as a "small" beer, Charles Hires was the man who is credited for developing this delicious non-alcoholic beverage that we know today.
 
In the 1870s, pharmacist Charles Hires was on his honeymoon when he discovered an herbal tea. He went home and created his own recipe for a delicious herbal tea, and soon began selling a packaged dry mixture to the public. Because of all its herbs, roots and berries, it was marketed as medicinal, claiming to purify the blood. Shortly thereafter, Charles Hires developed a liquid concentrate made of more than 25 herbs, roots and berries. This elixir was mixed with water or carbonated water. Hires continued to experiment with his original recipe and introduced Hires Rootbeer at the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia where he gave away free glasses of his rootbeer. As a side note, while at the Centennial Exposition, he was in fine company with other inventions such as Alexander Graham Bell with his telephone, the Remington with his typewriter and Heinz with his ketchup.
 
Hires became the first U.S. businessman to aggressively advertise his product. He subscribed to the principle that "doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark: you know what you are doing, but nobody else does." With great marketing, Hires Rootbeer quickly became a sensation. Families were able to buy a Hires Rootbeer kit and brew it in their own homes. They would add their own yeast, water and sugar to the Hires powdered extract. The cost to brew 1 gallon at home was only 5 cents.
 
While the home kits were a huge success, in 1884 Hires decided that he could sell even more rootbeer if people didn't have to brew it themselves. He developed a liquid concentrate and soda fountain syrup, as well as bottled rootbeer. In 1893, Charles Hires used the Crystal Bottling Company to bottle and distribute his rootbeer to local retailers.
 
Charles Hires always insisted on using more expensive ingredients than his rootbeer competitors.  His accountants may have advised otherwise, but his stubborn insistence is the reason for the high quality product that we enjoy today.
 
Charles Hires had three sons who were all involved in his company. In 1925 he retired and the sons took over the business. He passed away in 1937 at the age of 85.
In 1989 Hires Rootbeer was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes. Today Hires is owned by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. of Plano, Texas.