Parlor Root Beer
P
eople love root beer. It’s the one soda that specifically invokes a memory, a wistful for longing and having a great time with family. You don’t get that with other soda products. A lot of people who do not like alcohol love root beer. It's a drink for the everyday working man and also for people who just love to have a good time. So said John Phillips, creator of Parlor Root Beer. He explained: “The Parlor is where you gather or have work done; the parlor in your home, a tattoo parlor, a parlor
“A lot of people who do not like alcohol love root beer.” for barbers... basically, a place to congregate and celebrate and talk about everyday memories and experiences. “ During the pandemic John started sampling root beers from “literally all over the country. I have always loved root beer; it reminds me of my grandfather and grandmother. There is a nostalgia to root beer and it carries over into the rock community that I 90
have been a part of for many years. I asked my friends, Aaron and Josh, who are very well known in the rock world to be part of this; I thought that doing anything like this would need the enlisted help of two trusted friends with high visualization and who also love this kind of product. The branding and packaging of Parlor Root Beer is edgy. It’s meant to be celebratory toward the blue collar worker with an edge toward musicians, barbers, tattoo artists and more,” John said. “Everyone wants to have a certain edge in life. Some people are just a little bit afraid to show it. I have a memory of walking into a barbershop in Tennessee and having an ice cold root beer from a barber that was covered in tattoos. That memory never left me. I wanted HappeningsPA.com
‘Conceived, made, distributed and marketed in Northeast Pennsylvania’
to try and recreate that memory into a product that I knew everyone would enjoy as much as I enjoyed that overall experience. Once the idea came to light, it took us about a full year before we were able to have a product manufactured. We were very meticulous about it. We went through extensive research and development (R&D) for more than eight months to get this exactly where we wanted it. We had to sample flavors, ingredients, and research what we wanted this brand lifestyle to be and who to appeal to,” he noted. John said they “caught some flack” for using words that are not the norm for marketing a product. “Society has its rules that it likes the everyday businessman to follow. Parlor breaks the rules a bit and is unapologetic for November 2021
