Who first invented Root Beer and for what purpose?

helenasykes

Root beer was a traditional beverage and herbal medicine. The beverage was often alcoholic, usually around 2%. As a medicine it was used for treating cough and mouth sores. Commercially prepared root beer was developed by Charles Elmer Hires on May 16, 1866. He presented root tea powder at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial exhibition. In 1893 he began selling bottled carbonated root beer. There was an upsurgence in the popularity of root beer in the United States during the period of prohibition in the early 20th Century as local breweries resorted to brewing root beer since other, alcoholic, beverages were outlawed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_beer Jul 29 06, 3:11 PM

gdec1

American colonists as a substitute for real beer, which they didn't have the crops or other grains to use. "Once the colonists settled all over the east coast, they built towns, and they built breweries too. However they were truly pioneers even in the towns, and they did most things for themselves, and that included baking bread and brewing beer at home. Unfortunately they didn't have crops of barley or other grains to use when making their small beer, so they had to use other sweeteners such as honey, molasses, and cane sugar. And they didn't have hops for bitterness, so they had to discover which plants in the new world would provide bitterness and flavor. That is the real beginning of root beer! Many people say that Charles Hires invented root beer, but as you can see, the colonists had been making root beer for 200 years before Charles Hires was born. In fact, there were some commercial root beer brewers such as Caleb Smith, in Flushing, New York, as far back as the 1850's, who produced a fermented draft root beer.However, Mr. Hires was the first to commercially produce root beer in bottles." http://www.bulldogrootbeer.com/RBhistory.htm Jul 29 06, 3:14 PM