Odd Ball Items

One of the fun things about collecting Root Beer advertising items is when you come across some of the odd items.  Here are some of the items I have recently found.

First up we have matchbooks covers.  I have no idea why you would use a matchbook to advertise root beer, but I guess so many people smoked back in the pre-50s that it was an effective way to get your brand in front of them.

I have found two wooden nickles that are for root beer.  These are not so easy to find. You really have to look at all of the detailed items when you go through a flea-market

or antique mall.

Here are a couple small stickers I found on eBay. They are not real brands but a knock off of existing brands. Obviously Hires and MUG.

This is a way cool item.  It is one of these 3D reflector pins. As you move it back and forth you see Dennis drinking his root beer. This was found in a freeway flea market in Kansas.

Many of the root beer brands made functional items like thermometers. Here is a Hires one I found in Grand Island Nebraska.

This is a bag that held around 100 new bottle caps.  I assume this is how they were shipped to the bottling company for use when bottling Hires Root Beer

This is a sandwich wrapper. I am not sure what came in it.

Here are some cool A&W straws for kids. I found these in a flea-market in Cheyenne Wyoming.

Lots of companies made bottle toppers.  They would stick them on one of the bottles in a six pack to draw people attention while they walked by.

I love these cones and little root beer items.  The cones were typically found at sports events.  You drank the root beer and then removed both ends and used it as a megaphone.

Multi-Soda Companies

Multi-Soda Companies

This blog shows a few of the multi-soda companies I have root beer from.  Since these companies made several varieties of soda in the same bottle, you have to find one with the bottle cap still in place to know it is root beer. So far I have found 5 of them.

Pleasure Time

Duffy's

Goody

Nesbitt

Nehi

I have no idea how many more brands did root beer in the same bottle style as other sodas. I love when I find one as it is fairly unique and adds another brand to my list. If you are aware of other brands, be sure to send me an email so I know what to start looking for.

Thanks for looking.  tom@floodeen.com

Root Beer Extract

Root Beer Extract

There was a time that in order to get root beer, you needed to buy extract and make your own.  I have done thisand am glad you can buy good root beer in a store.  Here are some of the root beer extract bottles I have been able to fine.  Generally they cost about $10.00 when you see them.  They are getting harder to find.

This is K.D. extract from Baltimore MD. The bottle has a cork in it but has no marking that would indicate the manufacture. Since the bottle came int he box, I am only assuming it is the correct bottle. It does have a raised Diamond on the bottom of the bottle.

This is a more recent Hires extract bottle. The bottle has a HIRES logo in pressed glass at the top.  I have three of these bottles. One of them has a bottle cap with the HIRES logo on it as well.

Thomsom & Taylor. The box is in very bad shape.The bottle say Thomson and Taylor on one side, SHAKE THOROUGHLY on one side, EXTRACT FOR MAKING ROOT BEER, on another side, and the last side has a pressed glass form of a glass of root beer with foam on the top and says IT FOAMS. This bottle used a cork.

Hannah COBB brand. This extract was manufactured by Montgomery Ward out of Chicago and Kansas City. Paper label with no other makings on the bottle. I paid $14.00.

Baker Extract Company out of Springfield Mass. Has the company name and location on one side. Says BAKER's INDIAN ROOT BEER EXTRACT on the other side.

John Lecroy & Sons out of Camden NJ.  Has a small corked bottle with no other markings. Lot's of writing on the box, including directions to make 80 glasses of root beer.

Grandma's Country Food.  This is new and can still be bought today.  Search for it and you will find it.  Very good extract and fairly inexpensive. $2.99 for a 4oz bottle. I use this extract to make root beer cookies. The bottle is plastic.

Watkins.  I got this at Walmart.  I do not like it as well as Grandma's. It is very light in color, almost clear, and seems to have a different after taste. I do not recommend this for making cookies.

Hires.  One of many versions of Hires extract bottle.  Two side have the logo and product name. One of the sides says HIRES DIVISION BEVERAGES INTERNATIONAL INC. EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.  The last side says CONTAINS WATER, CARAMEL COLOR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

Hires.  This bottle is clear with no markings except for the word HIRES in pressed glass on the bottom.

Hires. This looks like many of the other extract bottles, but is much more scarce and worth a lot more money. The four sides say:

HIRES IMPROVED ROOT BEER

PHILADELPHIA PA

MAKES FIVE GALLONS OF A DELICIOUS DRINK

MANUFACTURED ONLY BY CHARLES E. HIRES

What makes this one so unique is the word ONLY. All of the rest of the bottles in this style say Manufactured By Charles E. Hires and leave out the word only.

Hires. These are the same as above without the word ONLY.

Hires. The four sides say:

HIRES HOUSEHOLD EXTRACT

PHILADELPHIA PA

MANUFACTURED BY THE CHARLES E. HIRES COMPANY

FOR HOME USE

HIRES.  Four of these are the same as the previous bottles. The one that is second to the left is different.

It says:

HIRES HOUSEHOLD EXTRACT

PHILADELPHIA PA

MANUFACTURED BY THE CHARLES E, HIRES COMPANY

FOR BREWING ROOT BEER AT HOME

That is my collection of root beer extract bottles. There are more than I initially thought. I am sure I am missing several others.  If you are aware of one I do not have, please drop me a note so I know what to start looking for.  Thanks for looking.  tom@floodeen.com

Frostie Root Beer

Frostie Root Beer 

This is the brand of root beer I grew up with in South Dakota. I can remember working in the hot sun and then buying a 10 cent 12oz Frostie from a vending machine. Cold, smooth. Great memories.  I hope you enjoy this collection. I would love to hear from anyone that has something I do not have.

These are all new bottles that you can buy today. Mostly paper labels with an occasional plastic. Still the same great taste.

These are some of the older bottles. Still pretty easy to find them in the collectible stores. You do need to look for variations in the bottles.  Notice the second from the left has FROSTIE on the neck, where the third from the left is basically the same bottle but missing the neck label. I love finding these sorts of variations.

The bottles to the left are from the 60's and are what I drank out of as a youth. The right ones are newer.  There are still plenty of these out there to be found.

This is a treasure. I found it at an antique mall in Aurora Oregon. I paid $40.00 for it. My wife thought I was crazy until we found one that had just sold on eBay for $140.00. It is thin Plastic and about 18 inches tall. The thermometer still works great.

These are all new. The only old bottle caps I have are still on the Frostie bottles. I have not yet found any of the old ones in my searching. It is on my list of things to find.

I love the odd items I have found. I have yet to see a large mug. These are all medium to small. I love the small paper cups and the little toy bottles.

I have had several people send me emails of items that have or have seen. Keep those emails coming.  Thanks for looking.

tom@floodeen.com