LEWISTON — You’ve probably heard about it. Maybe you got a taste at a friend’s barbecue or were slipped a glass at a local bar.

You’re probably looking for it right now.

You’re probably out of luck.

Not Your Father’s Root Beer, an alcoholic craft ale that tastes like root beer, has taken the area by storm. Sometimes with literal storming.

“It is unbelievable. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this,” said Mike Obar, sales manager for Central Distributors in Lewiston. “People are coming in and buying it by the case. I happened to be at Shaw’s in Lewiston yesterday talking to the store manager, who was in the process of building a display. We sent them 60 cases. And three customers while I was there 15 minutes came in and bought several cases.”

Created by Small Town Brewery in Illinois, the beer’s popularity is soaring throughout the country, helped by rave reviews online, social media buzz and incredulous taste-testers.

“I figured it would suck,” wrote Will Gordon, a beer reviewer from Massachusetts.. “Then a preposterous thing happened on the way from the beer fridge to the ranting chair: I took a sip and discovered that Not Your Father’s Root Beer is, in fact, very (expletive) good.” 

Not Your Father’s Root Beer has become one of the top-selling new craft brews in the country, even though it’s available in only 30 states. Earlier this year, Small Town Brewery entered into an agreement with Pabst Brewing to take the beer nationwide. Pabst has said it plans to make the drink available throughout the United States by the end of the year.

In Maine, beverage wholesaler Central Distributors has offered the ale to local stores and bars for the past month. It has sold 5,100 cases. 

“What we sold and what we could have sold, totally two different numbers,” Obar said.

The company has tripled its order for August. It fields calls for the beer daily.

“I’m spending so much time just on this root beer, it’s amazing,” Obar said. “It’s a good problem to have, a fun problem to have, right now. Something new and exciting in the category.”

Central Distributors isn’t the only one going through the beer as fast as it can get it. Nappi Distributors in Gorham has been selling it for the past four to six weeks and can’t keep it in stock. 

“It’s flying,” said Jim Bourque, a Nappi vice president. “That doesn’t happen very often.”

While stores and bars are calling wholesalers looking for the beer, thirsty customers are calling stores and bars.

“Calling, calling, calling,” said Debbie Tremain at the Minot Country Store, which stocks Not Your Father’s Root Beer but keeps selling out.

Customers, she said, have been very disappointed.

“I think they said they’re looking everywhere for it,” she said. 

Donald D’Auteuil, a Lewiston city councilor, was a beer-seeker for a while. On the Fourth of July, he posted a Facebook plea.

“Does anywhere in L/A have Not (Y)our Father’s Root Beer?” he asked.

He’d tried it at Marche in Lewiston at the urging of a bartender. D’Auteuil thought it was good, interesting, a novelty.

“He put it on ice, gave us a straw with it and said, ‘Drink it like you normally would a soda.’ And that’s what it tasted like,” D’Auteuil said.

He wanted to have some around for friends who were coming to visit. 

With help from some Facebook friends — including someone at Central Distributors — he found a case at Circle K in Lewiston, one of the last there.

Nearly two weeks later, he still has some bottles left.

“It’s just interesting that it’s a beer that tastes like root beer,” D’Auteuil said. “It’s not something I think I would sit there and drink all night long, but it’s kind of an interesting little treat.”

Facebook seems to be a common tool in the beer hunt, with people swapping pointers about which stores have it, which have sold out, which are getting a shipment and when and how much. 

But sometimes all it takes is luck. And good timing.

Last week, Roopers on Main Street in Auburn ran through 30 cases in a day. This Wednesday, the store got in 60 cases. 

“Who knows when those are going to go,” manager Nikki Hernandez said. 

Sellers say customers use the beer to make root beer floats, pair it with whipped vodka for a mixed drink or pour it over ice and drink it like a regular root beer. It’s particularly popular with people who don’t usually drink beer but like sweet drinks.

Sellers say the beer, which sells for about $10 a six-pack and $50 for a case, already has a number of imitators, though Not Your Father’s Root Beer is so far still leading the pack. 

Some believe it’s a fad that will end by fall. Others think the beer’s popularity will continue, shifting from family barbecues to college campuses.

And some believe the beer’s success signals an opening for a whole new market: hard sodas.  

But for now, Obar has some advice.

“Grab it while you can,” he said.  

ltice@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link