HIRES ROOT BEER ~ vs ~ VERNOR'S GINGER ALE

[SODABOB]

If my observations about the bottles is accurate, that means it was only available in extract form for the first seventeen years or so - between about 1876 and 1893

Note: Even though I'm confident the 1876 Exposition introduction date is accurate, I plan to keep searching for a time-period document of some type to fully confirm it. Because that rule applied to Vernor's Ginger Ale, it also applies to Hires Root Beer. Otherwise I will have to settle for ...

1878

 

[SODABOB]

And Vernor's Ginger Ale will have for settle for ...

1884 *




* Unless an earlier time-period document is eventually found

 

[SODABOB]

Reminder ...

Please Note ...

It is not my intent to post a never-ending array of Hires Root Beer pictures, documents, and histories. I only intend to post just enough of that type of material to establish ...

1. That Hires Root Beer originated in 1876.

2. That Hires Root Beer might be the oldest continuously produced soda pop in the United States.

3. That Hires Root Beer might have been carbonated and bottled before Vernor's Ginger Ale.

Footnote:

The use of the term "soda pop" applies to Hires extract as well as Vernor's extract regardless of the fact that the term "soda pop" generally refers to carbonated and bottled soda pop. With the main emphasis being able to find the earliest time-period use of the words ...

1. Hires Root Beer (Currently at 1878)

and ...

2. Vernor's Ginger Ale (Currently at 1884)

 

[hemihampton]

Part of my article. LEON.

 

[SODABOB]

This is the earliest time-period reference for Charles Hires I have been able to find so far ...

(Charles Hires was 22 years old at the time)

The Philadelphia Inquirer ~ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ~ May 13, 1873





The numbers on the right are dollar amounts owed

 

[SODABOB]

I just want to save this while its handy ...



[SIZE=+3]Charles Hires

[/SIZE][FONT=&amp]AKA Charles Elmer Hires
[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Born: 19-Aug-1851
Birthplace: Elsinboro, NJ
Died: 31-July-1937
Location of death: Haverford, Pa.
Cause of death: unspecified
Remains: Buried, Westminster Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, PA
[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Gender: Male
Religion: Quaker
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Business, Inventor[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Root beer


[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires originally called his beverage "root tea", but was convinced by a friend that it would sell better in his local area -- Pennsylvania's hard-drinking Cumberland County -- if he called it "root beer".

[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Hires made root beer famous, and root beer made Hires a millionaire, but it is an exaggeration to credit him with inventing the drink. He reportedly first tasted something quite similar to root beer in a restaurant in 1875, and obtained the recipe from the proprietor -- who had in turn based her recipe on long-standing folk recipes for beverages brewed from all manner or roots, bark, and herbs. Hires worked in his laboratory to improve the flavor of the concoction, then reduced it to a powdery concentrate that could be mixed in drug stores to make large quantities of the drink, just by adding water, sugar, and yeast. He also had the idea of serving his beverage cold, instead of hot.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Hires' Root Beer was introduced at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial exhibition.

The Charles E Hires Company was established in 1890, and in addition to the powder began selling the product in convenient carbonated bottles in 1893. Hires himself remained active in the business until his son took the reins in 1925. His mother, Mary Williams Hires, was said to be a direct descendant of Martha Washington from her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. His uncle, George Hires, was a U.S. Congressman representing New Jersey's First District from 1885 to 1889.


[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Father: John Hires (farmer)
Mother: Mary Williams Hires
Brother: Frank Hires
Wife: Clara Kate Smith (b. 1852, d. 1910)
Son: Charles Hires Jr (President of Hires Company)
Son: Harrison Hires (poet)
Son: John Edgar Hires (engineer)
Daughter: Linda Hires (architect)
Daughter: Clara Hires (botanist)
Wife: Emma Waln (school teacher)[/FONT]

Actually ...

This is the earliest time-period document I have been able to find ...

1860 U.S. Census ~ Elsinborough Township, New Jersey

(Charles is listed as being 9 years old at the time)

 

[Canadacan]

What size were the early bottles?...8oz..12oz? or were they 6.5oz...seem to tall to be any smaller, really just curious as to when they introduced the 6.5 ounce...must have been like the early 1910's.

 

[SODABOB]

Cc

Prior to about 1913-1914, soda bottles and the like were not required to have the content amount on them. It wasn't until the Gould Amendment kicked in that it was mandatory. So its kind of hard to know exactly what the ounces were for pre-1914 bottles. However, the Hires Ginger Ale bottle pictured below has 14 Ounces on the label, and it pretty much looks like the earlier bottles. I don't know when they first introduced smaller bottles.

Note: Paper labels are not a reliable means to date the bottle itself. This bottle could be a turn-of-the-century re-purposed bottle with a post 1914 label. ???

 

[SODABOB]

P.S.

If all/most of the earlier Hires bottles were 14 Ounce, it might explain the 8-cents per bottle in this 1898 snippet. I'm pretty sure all/most of the 6 Ounce brands only cost about a nickle at that time ...

 

[SODABOB]

Just about every description I've ever seen for this sign dates it at circa 1915 (1910 to 1920). It might depict the first small bottle used by Hires ... ???



This particular 'ten pin' bottle also has Coca Cola embossed on it



And there's the (non typical) stoneware bottles that are said to date around 1914



Plus this one from member Wonkapete's collection. (Date unknown to me but looks early).



Footnote: Its probably safe to assume the smaller bottles were in use at least as early as 1915-1920, and possibly even a little earlier.