A&W Root Beer

Here's another edition of Characters of the Game.

[upbeat music] Characters of the Game, brought to you by A&W Root Beer.

Sit back and pour yourself an A&W.

[upbeat music] It's the most sought-after and fought-after souvenir in all of sport, the foul ball in the stands.

So if you're ever lucky enough to capture one of baseball's most cherished prizes, remember old Reuben, a character of the game.

[cheering] As you can see, I have a large and adoring fan club.

To show how much I appreciate their good taste, I'm throwing them an A&W Root Beer float party.

Now, the first thing you do is flip in your ice cream.

McDonald's was not even the biggest franchisor before.

It was A&W Root Beer, actually.

And before A&W Root Beer, people ate burgers, right? And so what happened was McDonald's solved the problem way better.

They took the drive-in, which took 20 minutes, to make it a drive-through.

That's the way they solved the problem better, right? I'll use Amazon as an example.

[gentle music] Time for your Daily High Five, our top five fun facts about root beer.

Number one, before it became a sweet soda, European explorers believed that sassafras root was a cure for serious diseases.

When European explorers arrived in North America in the 16th century, indigenous tribes introduced them to a hot botanical infusion made from sassafras roots.

Native Americans had utilized the plant for generations to treat stomach aches, purify the blood, and alleviate inflammation.

Of course, the medical community eventually realized the root was ineffective against the diseases sweeping the continent.

As its reputation as a drug declined, people began consuming the sassafras beverage purely for its earthy taste.

Number two, a pharmacist named Charles Hires introduced the first commercial brand of root beer at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.

Charles Hires discovered a recipe for an herbal tea while on his honeymoon in New Jersey.

He's, uh, currently, uh, uh, resting, catching up on his, uh, rest at the, uh, Franklin County House of Correction.

I'm, I'm familiar with that institution, not having been an inmate, but having driven by it many times on my way to the A&- A&W Root Beer stand further down towards Route 2.

But anyway, joining us now is the, uh, is the mayor of Methuen, DJ Beauregard, to give us the updates in the, uh, Joe Solomon corruption case.

Mayor?

A.W.

Root Beer.

I recognize her.

Thank you for choosing someone older so I could embarrass myself in that generation as

...

A&W Root Beer, the, I don't know, American, um, um, soft serve drinks.

And funny, I, I only know Coke and Diet Coke, so I couldn't even come up with a name for you.

I know, right? Like 7 Up.

Jason, what's your favorite cheese product to eat? Fried cheese curds, man.

A&W Root Beer.

A block of cheese.

Yeah, you're like my wife.

Right

... from a fate worse than death." [laughs] So a f- little bit of the footage, the end, there's some stuff at the beginning with the zombies attacking an A&W Root Beer stand.

That, that made it.

Um, there were some things that were on there that were usable-