Did you know that root beer is one of the first sodas in the United States? True, in fact it even pre-dated colas. It was during the Colonial times that the very first root beer came out and it was initially called small beers. Made from a combination of herbs, roots and barks the small beer had none or only had a very small amount of alcohol, that’s where it got the name small beer.

The First Commercially Manufactured Root Beer

A Philadelphia pharmacist named Charles Hires, is the man responsible for creating the first root beer to be commercially available in the United States. It is quite a misfortune that the exact details of the root beer’s history were lost as the years unfolded. One of the legends that stuck through the years was that Charles concocted a special tea on his honeymoon night and he used a blend of more than twenty-five herbs, berries and roots.

When he and his new bride returned to Philadelphia, Mr. Hires began selling his new discovery in its dry form in his pharmaceutical shop. He then began working on a liquid form of the tea that he ended up using to flavor carbonated soda water.

In 1876 Charles decided to include the root beer in the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, he made this decision after learning that almost all of the people who had tasted this new concoction had loved the distinct flavor of the root beer. But it was only after thirteen years from the exhibition did the Hires Family finally produced the very first bottled root beer.

What’s Goes Into the Root Beer Brew

There is no hard-fast rule in brewing root beer, in fact most of the modern manufacturers don’t use any of the original roots and herbs used in the 1800s brew. Most of the root beer available these days use artificial flavors instead of natural ingredients, they also substituted molasses, honey or sugar with the cheaper and easier to find syrups. However, some of the basic ingredients like wintergreen, sarsaparilla, pipsissewa, ginger root,dandelion root, allspice, burdock root, spikenard, wild cherry bark, spice wood, and birch bark have been retained to give the root beer its basic flavor. The manufacturer then introduces their own special ingredient to give the root beer the taste that’s specific to their brand.

Another thing that has started recently is the availability of locally brewed root beer. A few areas around the country now manufacture small batch root beers which are in the likeness of the original brew of the 1800s. These small batch root beers are brewed using the original ingredients used by Charles Hires even using honey or sugar instead of artificial sweeteners to capture the original root beer taste, and this is all possible with the use of micro-breweries.

The root beer’s historical imprint in our country cannot be forgotten and its popularity has continued for centuries. Its not unusual to see people enjoying a cool glass of root beer on a hot day, the best part of being able to enjoy its great taste is there are now more varieties to choose from.