The Historic Root Beer In-N-Out Used To Serve In The 1950s

The only thing better than biting into a nice, juicy burger is following that up with a big sip of something cold and bubbly. And if you're getting your fast food fix at In-N-Out, you have a whole range of carbonated drinks with which to wash your food down. For example, the quintessential American favorite: root beer. While today you'll find Barq's on their menu, the 1950s were a different time. In this decade, In-N-Out introduced root beer to its customers for the first time. The historic beer that made the cut at the time was Hires, a brand that's all but disappeared from the market today.

The original In-N-Out was a very small restaurant that opened in 1948, when Harry Snyder turned a tiny, 100-square-foot space into California's first drive-through hamburger stand. A decade later, in 1958, In-N-Out stopped selling drinks in bottles, introducing soda fountains in its five outlets instead. According to the In-N-Out website, it sold 12-ounce cups of soda for just 10 cents. Guests could choose from one of three options: Pepsi Cola, Nesbitt Orange, and Hires Root Beer. 

Hires, of course, was the original American root beer, the first one ever to be made and sold commercially, by chemist Charles Elmer Hires in 1876. While it isn't very clear when exactly In-N-Out switched from Hires to Barq's, what we do know is that the OG root beer brand enjoyed unparalleled success for over a century and only started disappearing off the shelves after a series of suboptimal mergers and acquisitions.

When Charles Elmer Hires first combined more than 25 herbs, berries, and roots to create a flavored carbonated drink in the 1800s, he probably didn't think he was setting up an empire that would last for 134 years. Having said that, at the peak of its popularity — which started during Prohibition and continued for several decades — its army of fans probably didn't think that the brand would one day disappear from their lives. 

While it had already been in the market for over 40 years, it was in the Prohibition Era that Hires Root Beer really skyrocketed. With all alcoholic beverages, beer included, banned entirely, root beer suddenly gained immense popularity. Hires also leaned into the fact that it was made from roots and herbs. By claiming to have medicinal properties, the brand had captured America's hearts by the time Prohibition ended in 1933.

Between 1960 and 1990, the Hires brand bounced around from one owner to the next, including Crush International, Procter & Gamble, and Cadbury Schweppes. With PepsiCo acquiring Mug Root Beer in 1986 and Coca-Cola buying Barq's in 1995, Hires fell behind in the corporate soda wars. When Keurig Dr Pepper acquired the Hires Root Beer brand in 2010, it did so to essentially kill it and reduce competition for the root beer brand that was already in its portfolio — A&W Root Beer.

According to superfans of the brand, it is still possible to find Hires Root Beer if you know where to look, with one of them saying that if you really want a fix, you should head to Utah, where root beer is still a beloved beverage. "We have 3 [restaurants] in the Salt Lake Valley who still sell it in frosty mugs. Unfortunately no cans, but it's worth it for me. They even sell the root beer extract to make it yourself," they wrote on Reddit. 

Another poster insisted there was only one place where you could still buy Hires. "You can still get it in one place only, the Hires Big H restaurant/ drive-in in Salt Lake City, Utah, which never ceased continuous operations all through the various corporate buy-outs and sell-offs," they wrote. "Been there, tasted it on draft, tastes the same as the old formula to my taste buds. They have the franchise rights for the state and are prohibited from bottling, but they can (and do) still sell the extract."

Fans outside Utah, meanwhile, are hoping for a comeback. "Who wants Hires Root Beer to make a comeback for its 150th anniversary next year?" a Redditor asked, triggering a flurry of responses. "Long ago in my youth (ahem) I couldn't understand why people drank Barq's when Hires existed," one fan wrote. "I always liked Hires! Would love to have it around as an option again," another posted. The verdict on the thread is unanimous, with Hires joining the ranks of forgotten sodas that deserve a revival.