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Many writers on root beer have credited Charles E. Hires as the inventor of root beer, but that not quite correct. Long before Mr. Hires started marketing his product various forms of root beer have existed. In fact, root beer dates all the way back to colonial settlers. The colonist had made a beverage known as small beer. Basically, this was a normal beer that was drank very soon after bottling, and since fermentation hadn't progressed very far the beer was far less alcoholic than normal beers. Another problem the colonist faced was a lack of barley in which to make their beer so they used pretty much anything that would ferment. They soon found that by adding large amounts of sugar (actually molasses) that they could get just about anything to ferment. It wasn't long before they made a small beer out of various local herbs, barks, roots and berries. This was the first root beer. 

Now back to Charles Hires. Although he didn't invent root beer, he did create a product that completely dominated the market. Charles E. Hires was a  Philadelphia pharmacists, and while he was honeymooning in New Jersey he sampled a great tasting herb tea. When he got back home he began experimenting until he created a similar drink. He called his product "Hires' Herb Tea." It wasn't long before Hires decided that this tea mixture made a great root beer. Sassafras was its main flavoring ingredient, and sassafras had long been the main flavoring ingredient of other root beers that predated Mr. Hires product. 

He began selling his root beer mixture at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in tiny packets that contained the various herbs, barks, and berries. You still had to boil these ingredients, strain the mixture, add the correct amount of sugar and yeast, ferment the brew, and then bottle. But you didn't have to collect the ingredients and buying the ingredients in one package was cheaper than buying all the ingredients separately. The pre-mixed ingredients were primarily sold to housewives, but were also marketed to druggists and soda fountains. In 1880 Hires introduced a "new and improved" liquid version that didn't have to be boiled and strained. It was first advertised in an 1884 issue of Harper's Weekly. Mr. Hires root beer became extremely popular in a very fast way. This can be attributed to the housewives desire to produce a good tasting root beer with a minimum amount of trouble, the pressures of the temperance movement, and the never ending promotion of Mr. Hires. He gave away tons of his product to just about everybody he met. One of his most popular giveaways was a trading card that he included with his root beer. These trading cards became very collectible back when they were first being given away -- not to mention their collectibility today. Hires ceramic mugs and the wooden barrel that was seen sitting upon many a soda fountain counter are a couple other highly collected Hires root beer items. By 1892 almost three million bottles were being sold each year. In 1893 Hires was being bottled by Crystal Bottling Company and distributed to retailers. 

For many years Hires Root Beer completely dominated the market but eventually it finally started seeing some competitors. Their stories are detailed on other pages, but before you get to the competitors I thought you might like to know just what ingredients were used in the original Hires Root Beer.

In the 1930's Hires advertised that their root beer was made with 16 roots, barks, herbs, and berries and that they were blended in a slow costly percolation process. Another promotional item that was put out by hires in 1922 actually revealed those ingredients. "Hires Own Plant" can be assumed to be sassafras since every root beer recipe I have ever found lists it as an ingredient. The "Yerba Mate" contains a sticky substance that helps root beer retain its head.