Your Question Answered: Who invented the root beer float? (2024)
Root beer floats -- made with creamy vanilla ice cream and root beer -- have been loved by generations and were the pinnacle drink of many people’s childhood summers.
The beverage is adored so much so that Aug. 6 is National Root Beer Float Day to allow everyone to celebrate the classics.
Some have wondered who created the first root beer float and to answer that one must go back to Cripple Creek, Colorado, 1893.
According to National Day Calendar, Frank J. Wisner was the owner of the Cripple Creek Cow Mountain Gold Mining Company and liked producing a line of soda waters for the nearby town.
One night after thinking the full moon looked like a scoop of vanilla ice cream, Wisner decided to put a spoonful into his classic root beer soda.
He served it to the locals and miners the very next day and the “Black Cow” or what we call today the root beer float, was an instant success.
Fast forward to 2021, root beer floats are still loved and enjoyed by millions.
So this Friday, when you are celebrating the iconic drink, don’t forget to say a little thanks to Frank J. Wisner.
It's simple, make your root beer floats with the soda first! Try making your root beer floats by first filling your cup a little more than half with soda. Then scooping in your desired amount of ice cream and topping it with a lid. Finish by adding the last little bit of soda to fill the cup.
Root Beer is first known to have been marketed commercially at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876 by a teetotal Philadelphia pharmacist named Charles Hires who is said to have discovered a recipe for a delicious herbal tea while on his honeymoon.
Also known as the “Black Cow,” the root beer float got its start in Colorado in a mining camp. Frank J.Wisner of Cripple Creek, Colorado, gets the credit for inventing the “Black Cow” way back in August of 1893.
Introduction: My name is Dan Stracke, I am a homely, gleaming, glamorous, inquisitive, homely, gorgeous, light person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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