Because 'powder root tea,' the name of the original concoction, just didn't sound like it had the kick that beer, the miners' poison of choice, did. Fortunately for Charles E. Hires, the man ...

Even modern root beer as we know it (carbonated, cold, sweet) was initially marketed as a medicinal beverage by drug stores. Hires Root Beer, for example, was invented by a pharmacist who first ...