View source for Dad's Root Beer

{{Short description|Brand of root beer}}
{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2019}}
{{Infobox Beverage
|name         = Dad's Root Beer
|bgcolor      =
|image        =
|type         = [[Soft Drink]]
|manufacturer = The Dad's Root Beer Company LLC
|distributor  = Hedinger Brands, LLC.
|origin       = [[Chicago, Illinois]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|introduced   = {{start date and age|1937}}
|discontinued = 
|color        = Brown/Copper
|flavor       = [[Root Beer]]
|variants     = 
|related      = [[Hires Root Beer]], [[Mug Root Beer]], [[A&W Root Beer]], [[Barq's]], [[IBC Root Beer]]
}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = The Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC
| logo             = 
| type             = 
| genre            = 
| foundation       = 
| founder          = 
| location_city    = [[Jasper, Indiana|Jasper]], [[Indiana]]
| location_country = [[United States]]
| location         = 
| locations        = 
| area_served      = 
| key_people       = Keith Hedinger, [[president (corporate title)|president]] and [[Chief Executive Officer|CEO]]<br>Andrea Hedinger, vice president of sales and marketing<br /><ref name="BW"/>
| industry         = Beverages
| products         = Dad's Root Beer, Sun Crest, Dr. Wells, Bubble Up<ref name="BW"/>
| services         = 
| market cap       = 
| revenue          = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income       = 
| assets           = 
| equity           = 
| owner            = Hedinger Brands, LLC.<ref name="BW"/>
| num_employees    = 
| parent           = 
| divisions        = 
| subsid           = 
| homepage         = [http://www.dadsrootbeer.com www.DadsRootBeer.com]
| footnotes        = 
| intl             = 
}}

'''Dad's Root Beer''' is an American brand of [[root beer]] that was created in [[Chicago]] in 1937 by Ely Klapman and Barney Berns. It is currently owned by Hedinger Brands, LLC, and sold and marketed by the Dad's Root Beer Company LLC.<ref name="BW">{{cite news|title=The Dad's Root Beer Co., LLC |url=http://www.beverageworld.com/content/view/34000/ |work=Beverage World |publisher=Ideal Media |date=2007-11-15 |access-date=2008-06-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612031220/http://www.beverageworld.com/content/view/34000/ |archive-date=2008-06-12 }}</ref>

==History==
Dad's Root Beer was established in the 1930s<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Haddix |first1=Carol |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4YyDwAAQBAJ&q=Dad%27s%2520Root%2520Beer%2520was%2520established%2520in%2520the%25201930s&pg=PT526 |title=The Chicago Food Encyclopedia |last2=Kraig |first2=Bruce |last3=Sen |first3=Colleen Taylor |date=2017-08-16 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-09977-9 |language=en}}</ref> by partners Barney Berns and Ely Klapman in the basement of Klapman's Chicago-area home. The first trademark registration was filed on September 24, 1938, granted on February 14, 1939, to the Dad's Root Beer Company of Chicago, with the product name in use since February 1937. Jules Klapman, son of co-founder Ely, successfully took the Dad's brand international.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Senate|first=United States Congress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bzgpv-nz3U4C&dq=dad%27s+root+beer+1940s&pg=RA2-PA88|title=Hearings|date=1966|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|language=en}}</ref> The name Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer was selected in honor of Ely Klapman's father. 
[[File:Dads rootbeer bottle crate.png|thumb|Dad's Root Beer wood bottle crate]]

Dad's Root Beer was the first product to use the [[Six-pack rings|six-pack]] format invented by the [[Atlanta Paper Company]] in the 1940s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grammond |first=Jay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0iBSEAAAQBAJ&q=Dad%27s%2520Root%2520Beer%2520was%2520the%2520first%2520product%2520to%2520use%2520the%2520six%2520pack%2520format&pg=PA106 |title=Fading Ads of the Twin Cities |date=2022-02-16 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-7420-8 |pages=106 |language=en}}</ref> Dad's also introduced the half-gallon bottle, becoming the first brand to market this size. Dad's was marketed as a family: the "Junior" size was the smallest, 7, 10 or 12 ounces (355 mL). "Mama" was a quart bottle (950 mL), and "Papa" was a half gallon (1.9 liters). (The image of the young boy featured on the "Junior" size bottle is Barney Berns' son, Gene.) A common promotion in the 1940s was the 1 cent sale - purchase the Papa half gallon at regular price and get the Mama quart for 1 cent.

The Klapman and Berns families sold rights to the Dad's name and logo to [[PepsiAmericas|IC Industries]] of Chicago in 1971.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Weston|first1=John Fred|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mcPAQAAMAAJ&q=dad's+root+beer+IC+Industries+1970|title=Mergers, Restructuring, and Corporate Control|last2=Chung|first2=Kwang S.|last3=Hoag|first3=Susan|date=1990|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0-13-577172-3|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Johnson|first=William B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uOpEAAAAIAAJ&q=dad's+root+beer+IC+Industries+1971|title=IC Industries|date=1973|publisher=Newcomen Society in North America|language=en}}</ref>

The [[Monarch Beverage Company]] of Atlanta acquired Dad's from IC Industries in 1986.  At that time Dad's was distributed by the Coca-Cola bottler network, sold 12 million cases annually, and held the second largest share of the root beer category behind [[A & W Root Beer|A & W]].<ref name="BW"/>

In 2007 Dad's Root Beer was purchased, along with the [[Bubble Up]], Dr. Wells, and Sun Crest brands, by Hedinger Brands, LLC and licensed to the Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bevnet.com/news/2007/03-02-2007-Dads.asp |title=Hedinger Brands, LLC purchases Dad's Root Beer® |date=March 2, 2007 |work=BevNET |access-date=March 23, 2018}}</ref> The company headquarters is now located in [[Jasper, Indiana]].

==Flavors==
[[File:Dad's Root Beer Co. Products in Glass Group Shot.jpg|thumb|alt=Dad's Root Beer Glass Bottles|Dad's Root Beer glass bottle products]]
Dad's makes the following brands/flavors:<ref>[http://www.dadsrootbeer.com/dadsbrand.php ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205062032/http://www.dadsrootbeer.com/dadsbrand.php |date=February 5, 2008 }}</ref>
* Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer
* Diet Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer
* Dad's Old Fashioned Cream Soda
* Dad's Old Fashioned Orange Cream Soda
* Dad's Old Fashioned Red Cream Soda
* Dad's Old Fashioned Blue Cream Soda
* [[Bubble Up]]
* [[Sun Crest]] Orange
* [[Dr. Wells]]

==Advertising==
The company's signs on the Edens Expressway ([[I-94]]) and one near [[Lake Shore Drive]] asking "Have you had it lately?" became fixtures on the Chicago landscape. {{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}

The product's jingle was a simple line sung several times, to a [[conga]] beat, with the "kick" coming on "Beer":<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D20yo4Zeyu0 ] YouTube video retrieved August 2016</ref>
<score>
{\clef bass \key g \major
g g e d g4. b8  (-^ b2)}
\addlyrics {Dad's old fash ioned root beer
}
</score>

In the mid-1950s, Dad's sponsored on a regional basis the syndicated TV adventure series [[Sheena, Queen of the Jungle]].

During the 1970s, Chicago-based television advertising for Dad's featured a different jingle sung by an ensemble with the following lyrics:

{{Poem quote|If it foams up to meet you
It's gotta be Dad's, it's gotta be Dad's
If it foams up to treat you
It's gotta be Dad's, it's gotta be Dad's}}

(Announcer would read the ad copy while a short instrumental section of the jingle played, then the song continued)

{{Poem quote|So ask for Dad's, it's good old-fashioned
With the taste of yesteryear
If you don't ask for Dad's
All you're gonna get is,
All you're gonna get is,
All you're gonna get is,
...root beer!}}

==IndyCar sponsorship==
Dad's Root Beer became an [[IndyCar Series]] associate sponsor in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bevnet.com/news/2007/05-22-2007-Dads_Rootbeer_racing.asp|title=The Dad's Root Beer Company and Racing Professionals Form Strong Partnership for the Indy 500 and Beyond|website=BevNET.com|publisher=BevNet|access-date=22 May 2007}}</ref> The company continued the relationship until 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bevnet.com/news/2011/dads-root-beer-returns-to-dreyer-reinbold-racing-for-the-2011-season|title=Dad's Root Beer Returns to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the 2011 Season|author=Latif, Ray|access-date=4 March 2011|website=BevNET.com|publisher=BevNet}}</ref>

== See also ==
* {{Portal inline|Drink}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Dad's Root Beer}}
* [http://www.dadsrootbeer.com Official website]
* [http://www.bevnet.com/reviews/dads/ Beverage Review]

{{Dad's Root Beer}}
{{Monarch Beverages}}
{{Root beer brands}}

[[Category:2007 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:Dad's Root Beer brands]]
[[Category:Root beer]]
[[Category:Food and drink companies established in 1937]]
[[Category:1937 establishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:Food and drink companies based in Indiana]]