{"product_id":"1960s-hires-draft-root-beer-cork-bottle-cap-rip-2022-treasures-antique","title":"Antique Hires Root Beer Cork Bottle Cap 🥤 American Original, Brand Discontinued 2022 (1930s)","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhatever Happened to Hires Root Beer? 🥤 Antique 1930s Hires Cork Bottle Cap\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 1\/4\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VnwsOdAbEVU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHires is gone.\u003c\/strong\u003e The root beer a Philadelphia pharmacist started selling in 1876 — for the better part of a century and a half one of the best-known names in American soda — is no longer among Keurig Dr Pepper's brands. The last cans came off a line in Ottumwa, Iowa, and in August 2024 the last company still making Hires fountain syrup sold out. Collectors put it in four words: \u003cstrong\u003eAmerican icon, RIP 2022.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis cap comes from the years when Hires was confident enough to practically give it away: \u003cstrong\u003e6 for 1¢ — with 6 at regular price.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🟠 What This Is\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn unused Hires Root Beer crown cap, new old stock, never crimped onto a bottle. Hires orange, with \"Hires\" arched across the top in chunky cream letters outlined in black, a big \u003cstrong\u003e6\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003e1¢\u003c\/strong\u003e either side of the word FOR, and a smaller 6 set into the line \u003cstrong\u003eWITH 6 AT REGULAR PRICE\u003c\/strong\u003e around the bottom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTurn it over and the original \u003cstrong\u003enatural cork liner\u003c\/strong\u003e is still pressed inside the fluted skirt — the seal every crown cap relied on before plastic liners took over.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📅 How Old It Is\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1930s.\u003c\/strong\u003e The offer is printed on the cap itself — buy six at the regular price, get six more for a penny — the kind of multi-bottle, penny-deal pricing that Depression-era soda marketing leaned on, from a time when the cap under the opener was the cheapest billboard a bottler owned. The cork liner fits the same years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🥤 The Pharmacist From Roadstown\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCharles Elmer Hires\u003c\/strong\u003e was born on 19 August 1851 in Roadstown, in Hopewell Township, New Jersey. At twelve his parents sent him to work as an apprentice in a drugstore, and he grew up to be a pharmacist in Philadelphia — a trade that, in those years, meant mixing tonics, extracts and flavorings behind the counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🍺 Root Tea, Root Beer, And The Coal Miners\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHow Hires found root beer is a legend with more than one version. The official story says he first tasted a root-and-herb brew \u003cstrong\u003eon his honeymoon in 1875\u003c\/strong\u003e and went home to make his own; historians point out that the time and place may never really be known.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe better story is about the name. As it is told in Pennsylvania, \u003cstrong\u003eRussell Conwell\u003c\/strong\u003e — the preacher who founded Temple University — urged Hires to sell his drink to the hard-drinking \u003cstrong\u003ePennsylvania coal miners\u003c\/strong\u003e as an alternative to the saloon. Miners would never order something called \"root tea.\" They might order a \u003cstrong\u003eroot beer\u003c\/strong\u003e. Hires changed the name before the Centennial, and the word stuck to a whole category of American drink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎪 1876: The Centennial Exposition\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt Philadelphia's \u003cstrong\u003eCentennial Exposition\u003c\/strong\u003e — the great world's fair where Alexander Graham Bell showed off the telephone — Hires was selling \u003cstrong\u003e25-cent packets of powder\u003c\/strong\u003e, each enough to make a gallon of root beer at home, and handing out free glasses to win customers. It worked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📈 From Powder To Fountain To Bottle\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1884\u003c\/strong\u003e — a liquid extract, and a syrup for soda fountains\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1890\u003c\/strong\u003e — The Charles E. Hires Company is incorporated and starts selling root beer in small bottles\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1891\u003c\/strong\u003e — more than a million bottles sold, by the company's own count\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHires sold it as \u003cstrong\u003e\"The Temperance Drink\"\u003c\/strong\u003e and \"the Greatest Health-Giving Beverage in the World,\" with the jingle-before-jingles slogan \u003cem\u003e\"Join Health and Cheer; Drink Hires Rootbeer.\"\u003c\/em\u003e The story goes that the word \"beer\" got it boycotted by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the 1890s — until testing showed there was next to no alcohol in it, and the boycott ended.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🧢 The Cap Itself\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe crown cap was a Baltimore invention: \u003cstrong\u003eWilliam Painter\u003c\/strong\u003e patented it in 1892 and built the Crown Cork \u0026amp; Seal Company on it. For decades every one carried a disc of natural cork, and bottlers quickly worked out that the top of the cap — the one thing every customer held in their hand — was advertising space. Most were popped, bent and thrown away within seconds of doing their job. An unused one, still flat, still carrying its penny deal, is the one that got missed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏢 After The Family\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Hires family sold the company in \u003cstrong\u003e1960\u003c\/strong\u003e to Consolidated Foods, which sold it on to \u003cstrong\u003eCrush International\u003c\/strong\u003e in 1962. Procter \u0026amp; Gamble bought Crush in 1980; Cadbury Schweppes took the soft drinks in 1989; they became Dr Pepper Snapple Group in 2008, and finally Keurig Dr Pepper. Hires went from the most famous name in root beer to one brand among dozens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🕯️ How Hires Disappeared\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere was no farewell tour. By 2023 Keurig Dr Pepper's own brand list no longer mentioned Hires. The last canning had been done at the American Bottling Company in \u003cstrong\u003eOttumwa, Iowa\u003c\/strong\u003e. The last fountain syrup came from \u003cstrong\u003eKalil Bottling Company of Tucson, Arizona\u003c\/strong\u003e, which sold its operations to Keurig Dr Pepper on \u003cstrong\u003e9 August 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHires' real legacy is the drink itself: it made \"root beer\" an American category, the pattern every root beer after it followed. The name that started it is now something you find on a cap like this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e✅ Condition\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew old stock.\u003c\/strong\u003e Unused and never crimped onto a bottle. Lithographed colors bright, lettering crisp, cork liner intact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼️ What People Do With These\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eFrame it in a small shadow box with an old root beer bottle or soda-fountain photograph\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eAdd it to a board of soda and beer caps — the orange Hires cap is the one people point at\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eGive it to someone who grew up on Hires, now that they cannot buy it anymore\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eSet it in a Philadelphia collection alongside other Philadelphia-made brands\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eUse it as a gift topper or ornament for a root beer float lover\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e❓ Questions People Ask\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCan you still buy Hires Root Beer?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo. Keurig Dr Pepper no longer lists it, the last canning was in Ottumwa, Iowa, and the last fountain-syrup bottler sold out in August 2024.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat does \"6 for 1¢ with 6 at regular price\" mean?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBuy six bottles at the normal price and get another six for a penny — a promotion printed right on the cap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow old is it?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1930s — Depression-era penny-deal pricing on a cork-lined cap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHas it been used?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo. It never met a bottle or an opener, and the cork liner is intact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWho invented root beer?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeople brewed root drinks long before him, but Charles Elmer Hires of Philadelphia made root beer a product and a name, starting in 1876.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1960s-hires-draft-root-beer-bottle-cap-collectible-vintage-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1960s Hires Draft Root Beer Cork Bottle Cap • Baker Bottling MO 🟠 American Icon RIP 2022\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/very-rare-vintage-1960s-mug-root-beer-bottle-cap-san-francisco-ca-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1960s Mug Root Beer Bottle Cap 🥤 Embossed Advertising Soda Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/rare-1940s-par-t-pak-cork-bottle-cap-nehi-corporation-treasures-antique\"\u003eAntique NOS 1930s–1940s Par‑T‑Pak Nehi Cork Bottle Cap 🥤 Grand Rapids, Michigan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44275281723624,"sku":"VAG-8128582156520","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4598352172_sqta.jpg?v=1785359386","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1960s-hires-draft-root-beer-cork-bottle-cap-rip-2022-treasures-antique","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}