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One of the reasons I don't remember going to the A&W Root Beer stand in Vermilion more than once or twice is because for many years, we had root beer floats at home on Saturday night. And while Mom bought a variety of root beers over the years (including Don Hilton's favorite: Hires), she bought a lot of Frostie Root Beer.
Here's an ad for Frostie Root Beer that ran in the Lorain Journal back on August 15, 1959 (the year I was born).
Up until recently, the root beer bottle looked like this (below). It was a nice design, but with a little too much going on for my taste. And I wasn't crazy about the new rendering of the little old man. Sometimes things that are redrawn in Adobe Illustrator end up sort of flat – like root beer without its fizz.
Wisely, the owners of the brand decided to go back to one of the old designs from the 1960s for a retro look (below). I like it a lot. I also like the pure cane sugar in it. Like Hamm's Beer, it jumped into my shopping basket at Vermilion Farm Market.
Anyway, I thought it was odd that one of the other pops that Mom bought regularly – Vernor's – also had a little guy with a beard. But he was supposed to be a gnome.
As for the little old guy on the Frostie label, I'm not sure if it was just a frozen old man or an elf or – ?
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My previous post on Frostie Root Beer included some other renderings of the ad mascot over the years.
Frostie, a favorite drink of bygone days, and spelled differently, a nickname of mine (long story).
ReplyDeleteA Frostie and an Orange Crush were my favorites to wash down a pizza from Rosie's, whilst working my way through a stack of Marvel comics; sadly, Orange Crush, Rosie's, and Marvel don't taste the same anymore.
Cold Hire's and salty/greasy Wise potato chips.
ReplyDeleteVernor's the perfect bourbon mix.
For years, my brother made his own, quite tasty root beer. We brought some home, once, and put it in a cupboard, and sort of forgot about it. One day, there was a HUGE bang from the kitchen where we found root beer dripping from the cupboard. One bottle had blown, taking 3 others with it. Glass shards were stuck into the inside of the door.
All that sugar. The ants had a field day! Several, actually.
Reminds me of the time that I tried to heat up a can of sardines on the stove without opening them; serious drama.
DeleteLet's see...
ReplyDeleteRoot Beer v. Hot Sardine Juice...
Difficult decision, that.
....An Oh-Boy, fried mushrooms, and a Frostie. THAT was heaven.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Alan. I've been getting Rosie's Pizzas for many years now and it's always excellent. But I do miss the way Marvel comics used to be, every once in a while I stop and browse the comic books like a little kid and am always appalled at the lousy art. Makes you miss John Buscema and Joe Sinnott!!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention Kirby and Steranko!
Delete