Nov 082012
 

Hires 8 pack ad
Every so often there comes a time when people need to band together to change the world, one of those times is now. For over 100 years Hires Root Beer, the original root beer, has been offered to the public for their root beer enjoyment. In recent years however, Hires has receded dramatically in distribution. Worse than that, however, is the fact that it is no longer offered in glass bottles.
The advantages of glass bottles are many, including:

  • Tradition
  • Infinitely Reusable
  • Infinitely Recyclable
  • Longer Shelf Life
  • Better Taste
  • Especially Better Taste

For some root beers, this is not a problem, for the Original Root Beer, the Father of all Root Beers, this is a disgraceful shame that must be changed. I, the Root Beer Gourmet, therefore have taken it upon myself to start a petition to correct this problem. Please follow the link below and tell Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, the owners of the Hires brand, that we, the root beer connoisseurs of the world, demand better, we demand Hires Root Beer in glass!

Petition Link, Please Click and Sign




Aug 032012
 

This past week, as the Olympics got underway and many a medal were awarded, the United States Open Beer Championship announced their own 2012 medal winners. This competition, the only one which includes professional breweries and award winning home brewers, included a root beer category for the first time ever. Four medals were awarded to the top root beers, a gold, a silver, and two bronze for due to a third place tie. The Gold went to Saranac Root Beer from F.X. Matt Brewing. The Silver was awarded to Mount Angel Root Beer from Mount Angel Brewing Company, and the two bronze medals were awarded to Point Premium Root Beer from Stevens Point Brewing and Steelhead Root Beer from Steelhead Brewing.

Seeing Saranac, Steelhead (identical flavor to Bulldog) and Point Premium win top honors is no surprise to me, as they are all Seal of Approval award winners as well. I haven’t tried Mount Angel Root Beer yet, but if it ranks with those other greats I’m sure it will be a real treat.




Jul 302012
 

After being lost to the world for 38 years, Triple AAA Root Beer has been relaunched recently by the Bricktown Candy Co. in Oklahoma City, OK. This is the fruition of a goal owner Justin Thomas had when he first opened his candy store. ” I wanted to have a soda line that I could sell in the off season….I had an off season at the beggining when I opened the candy store. The first week in business I had a newspaper guy come in to do a store. He suggested I not open my own branded soda company but open the old Oklahoma Brand that I had on the wall behind me. So I did. … I had to pull my hair out to get it to open but we finally put all the pieces together.”

A large part of the reason that it was so difficult is that the original owner is deceased and took his secret recipe with him. Justin was able to track down the descendants and working with them, was able to bring back the flavor they know and love. As for now, Triple AAA Root Beer is only available at the Bricktwon Candy Co. but Justin hopes to expand in the future. Here’s wishing him the best of luck with his root beer endeavor.