Ramblin’ Maple Root Beer
Ramblin’ root beer was originally produced by Coca-Cola in 1979 where the beverage’s first commercial featured Sarah Jessica Parker dressed up in a costume from the early hit-show “Annie.” Commercials also featured the very catchy song, “Ramblin' Root Beer's Something More!” Although the beverage was produced in 12oz. bottles, many remember the look and feel of the Root Beer in aluminum cans. The soda was an extremely popular brand in the 1980’s but was discontinued in 1995 when the company purchased Barq’s Root Beer.
The brand was recently revived by Monarch Beverage Company Inc., an international corporation founded by Frank Armstrong in 1965. Armstrong was an advertising executive who had worked many years with an international soft drink company when he realized the untapped market for smaller lesser-known regional brands. The company was originally called the Moxie-NuGrape Company, but later changed its name to Monarch Beverage Company.
Monarch’s first beverage was the citrus-flavored Kickapoo Joy Juice. The beverage was inspired by Al Capp’s comic strip “Li’l Abner,” which appeared in newspapers between the years 1934 to 1977.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the company has owned such root beer brands as Frostie, Masons, Dad’s and Kist, but has also owned the rights to many other popular soft drink brands like Kickapoo Joy Juice, Nesbitts, Sun Crest, Bubble Up, and Moxie (the first soft drink in the United States from 1884). The company currently has over 200 niche products and sells internationally to over 40 countries.
In addition to the original root beer, the company now produces Ramblin’ Butterscotch Root Beer and Ramblin’ Maple Root Beer which is our root beer of the month for October. They also produce Ramblin’ Rose Crème Soda.
From Monarch Beverage Company’s Website, wikivisually.com, retroist.com,
moxiecongress.org, and personal communication with Monarch Beveragesorg and Yelp photo-Frank M.
