2 - 1919 Root Beer
An upper Midwest root beer, 1919, started sometime in the 1980s. While the name comes from prohibition, the root beer itself isn’t that old. However, 1919 is brewed in small batches at one of America's oldest breweries.
Originally, 1919 was a draft-only type root beer. They recommended keeping their root beer cold and even shipped it in refrigerated trucks. You could also purchase the root beer in kegs for parties.
Of course, this did make finding the 1919 root beer rather difficult. Since it was only available directly from the brewery, a small handful of restaurants, and some bars, you needed to plan specific forays to find the stuff.
Fortunately, nowadays, you can purchase 1919 in a couple of different can sizes here in the Midwest. I have seen 1919 available in central Iowa at Fairway and Hy-Vee grocery stores. You may also find it at some World Market stores as well.
1919 Branding
The 1919 Root Beer branding is pretty nice. I like the red and silver colors of the can and the font chosen for the year, 1919.
If you go to the 1919 company website, you will find photos of their 1919 kegs, 7.5 oz pony cans, and the 16 oz can that I am reviewing as well as various other types of 1919 merchandise.
Taste and Ingredients
1919 root beer comes in a 16 oz can, which is four ounces more than most sodas. For example, if you bought an A&W or a Mt Dew in a can, you would most likely get it in a 12-oz can.
When you first drink 1919, you will get a strong vanilla taste. The root beer itself seems to have a smooth, low-bubble character. I wouldn’t exactly call it flat, but it doesn’t have the strong carbonation of a Barq’s root beer.
Probably the closest mainstream root beer to 1919 would be A&W. However, 1919 uses cane sugar instead of corn syrup, which makes it a bit better in my book.
For a full list of ingredients, check out this photo:
Here you can see that there are about six ingredients listed and most of them are easy to pronounce and understand.
I think this small number of ingredients helps keep the drink simple and tastes nice.
The Wrap Up
I like 1919 root beer and was happy to find it available in stores a few years ago. I had thought the root beer might have become unavailable since I haven’t seen it offered in local restaurants for quite some time.
It is probably one of my favorite local root beers, and I would recommend you give it a try if you find it sometime.