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Business & Tech

Enjoy an 'UnCola' Today: It's the Birthday of Root Beer

Charles Elmer Hires is said to have invented root beer on May 16, 1866. Why not celebrate the birthday locally?

Legend has it that on May 16, 1866, Charles Elmer Hires, a Philadelphia-born drugstore pharmacist, invented root beer while he was on his honeymoon in New Jersey, according to the Hires website the Dr. Snapple Group.

Supposedly, Hires was served a delicious herbal tea made of roots, berries and herbs called "root tea," the name he originally wanted to call his soft drink, the site says.

 Also according to the web site, Hires "continued to experiment with his original recipe and introduced Hires Root Beer at the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia." Others products debuting at the exposition included Heinz ketchup, Alexander Graham Bell's telephone and Remington typewriter.

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While it's hard to find Hires here in Orange County, there are some other brands that are available, including A&W (also owned by the Dr. Snapple Group), founded in 1919, Mug Root Beer, early 1950s, and IBC Root Beer, 1919. If you're bent on Hires, you can go to sodafinder.com, but it may cost more than the typical six-pack.

Here's where the other brands can be found in the area.

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1. , A&W

2. Gelson's, IBC, Dr. Brown's and A&W

3. A&W

4. Mug

5. A&W

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