Root Bear necessities

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/08/2006 (6965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘LET’S all go to A&W / Food’s more fun at A&W / Have a mug of root beer / Or maybe two or three / Pick the perfect size from the Burger Family / Hey, let’s all go to A&W / I can taste it now, can’t you? / Hop in the car / Come as you are / To A&W!”

That jaunty jingle brings back memories for many who recall being served burgers and onion rings at one of Canada’s first fast-food franchises by carhops who brought trays right to your vehicle.

To fête the Burger Family’s 50th anniversary in Canada, collector Bob Pinkerton will be showing off a vintage A&W carhop uniform he paid $60 for at “a scruffy, grubby warehouse on Logan in Winnipeg.”

Next month, Pinkerton will have the burger-brown, pret-a-porter outfit — along with the rest of his throwback window trays, glass mugs and commemorative cans — on display during the Fabulous ’50s Ford Club of Manitoba’s 12th annual Flashback Weekend at Garden City Shopping Centre (Sept. 10).

“I’m going to go all out. I’ve got a bum knee but I told my neighbour the other day that if I have to crawl to that show, I’m setting this up,” says Pinkerton, 60, who’ll be pulling into town at the wheel of a 1948 Diamond T pick-up.

The Carman resident’s interest in A&W trappings was piqued a few years ago when his wife and daughter began returning home from garage sales, plush Root Bears in tow. The homecare worker’s personal association with the burger chain dates back far longer than that, mind you.

“I recall going to this restaurant here with my mom, dad and sister in 1960,” he says, holding up a laminated portrait of Winnipeg’s — indeed, this country’s — original A&W outlet on Portage Avenue.

“Dad had just bought a brand new Ford Galaxy — I was 14 years old at the time — and we drove to the city from our farm near Roland. I remember it like it was yesterday.”

Come fall, Pinkerton will head in the opposite direction in an effort to get his hands on his latest acquisition: a ’60s-era, one-gallon root beer bottle. “I bought it for $25 from a guy in Weyburn (Sask.),” he says. “It’s a bit of a find ’cause the label’s on upside down. He’s going to drop it off at his sister’s in Brandon sometime in the next few months and I’ll pick it up from there.”

Pinkerton is also on the hunt for an A&W mascot, size Ursa Major. “A (restaurant) manager in Portage la Prairie told me he’d sell me a brand new, life-sized Root Bear at cost — for something like $100, I think — but there’s an antique dealer in Morden who’s supposed to be saving one for me, too,” he says. “I’d much prefer the older one, if the mice haven’t gotten to it already.”

Ken Polsson of Victoria has specialized in A&W glass mugs for close to three decades. On his website, Mug Shots, Polsson brags on the “good ol’ days” when men were men and mugs were a dime. “In recent years, I’ve had to pay $15-plus for harder-to-find, older mugs,” he says. “Typically, most sell for under $10, but there are a few that get up to $50. The highest I’ve seen are just under $200.

“I started collecting around 1980. With no definitive list to go by I just kept buying more and more at thrift stores and garage sales,” he says. “I’ve since made up my own numbering system, gradually figuring out dates and varieties.”

Polsson currently has about 125 different examples — everything from a minuscule three-ounce Baby Burger accompaniment to the Big Gulp-esque 32-ouncer. He has amassed an equally impressive assortment of coffee mugs, clothing and promotional items (branded hockey pucks and golf balls, for example).

Since posting his collection online, Polsson has heard from like-minded collectors the world over. “There are others out there with bigger collections than mine,” he says, “but I’m probably the best organized.”

Indeed, Polsson was contacted just last year by the company’s American wing as it prepared to launch its 2005 collector series. “They found me on the web and got a few sentences from me to use in their promotion,” he says. “As thanks, they sent me several mugs, hats, a bear and a clock.”

Among his gifts was a proof of last year’s Winking Bear collectible mug, of which only 1,000 were produced. They’ve since been fetching upwards of $100 on eBay, he says.

Polsson also sells doubles from his collection, via his website. “This helps fund my collection, expand others’ collections and raise awareness of this specialized hobby. If we want our mugs to grow in value, we need more collectors.”

For more information on A&W paraphernalia, visit Polsson’s website at www.islandnet.com/ ~kpolsson/mugshots.

If you’d like to share the story of your collection with our readers — anything from soup to lug nuts — please contact David Sanderson at david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca. His column appears bimonthly.

The roots of root beer

IN 1919, Roy Allen set up a roadside stand in Lodi, Calif., to sell frosty drinks to parched spectators at the local Veterans’ Day Parade. He soon opened three more root beer concessions in nearby Sacramento.

In 1922, Allen hooked up with fellow entrepreneur Frank Wright: “A” had found his “W.”

Here, courtesy of the Internet, is a root beer recipe, reportedly similar in taste to Allen’s original concoction from the early 1900s.

180 ml (3/4 cup) granulated sugar

180 ml (3/4) cup hot water

1 litre (4 cups) cold seltzer water

2.5 ml plus 0.5 ml (1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp) root beer concentrate (McCormick is best)

Dissolve the sugar in the hot water. Add the root beer concentrate and let cool. Combine the root beer mixture with cold seltzer water.

Drink immediately or store in refrigerator in tightly sealed container.