The Root Beer Stand

Ever since we discovered its existence in Sharondale, we have wanted to try The Root Beer Stand (“The Stand”) which has been on Reading Road since 1957.

How could you not want to try such a place, unless, you’re generally not a fan of root beer or typical roadside American fare? My parents, having grown up north of Cincinnati in smallish rural towns, had their own root beer stands (which still exist!), and I remember those fondly from my youth.

One thing The Stand and BK Root Beer seem to have in common is, before A&W got sucked up, chewed up, and spit out by Yum! Brands, these were all sort of roadside franchises. A&W is now part of Keurig Dr. Pepper. It’s sort of complicated, as Yum! and Pepsi are intertwined, but that’s not relevant for a rabbit hole here.

Sharonville is not something on our normal commutes around town, but we’ve been out that way a few times for various things and tried to stop at least twice. Each time? Slammed.

Back in its heyday, and before the interstate system, Route 25 (which went through where my parents grew up) was a main road for road trips:

In 1957, Sharonville was a small railroad town. The Stand stood on what were then the outskirts of town on Rt. # 25 (Cincinnati-Dayton Road). That was the main road from Michigan to Florida. In those days, before interstate highways crisscrossed America, a large number of daytime customers were travelers or truck drivers. Many of The Stand's visitors lived nearby. Back then, the vast majority of homes and cars weren't air-conditioned. So, it was a great treat for the family to hop in the car, PJ's and all, and head out for an ice cold mug of root beer.

In 1982, the agreement The Stand had with A&W expired.

So, with the weather hot and rainy, we tried it out earlier this week and were finally able to get in without a wait.

Inside the stand, which has bar and sit down seating, it is seasonal because the stand itself is seasonal. There are license plates and hats everywhere. Put another way, if you’ve ever been to my office, this is my design aesthetic. That and framed testimonials to its greatness, plus old photos of the past, and a shop.

So, perfect for me.

Check these out:

So, how was it?

It was great. We’ll definitely be back.

I got a double cheeseburger, chili cheese fries, and a large root beer. (And some stickers.)

The burger was very good but not life changing, the fries (with a custom non-Cincinnati-style chili recipe) passed “the fry test.” As burgers have gotten better over the years, you can see the staying power of theirs.

The kids ate their food, which is less a test because feelings vary, but a good sign! The root beer was syrupy and sweet, and perhaps not as carbonated as one might expect it to be. Not flat, per se, but our perception is that it would have been fizzier.

But, high quality and good. I guess in future visits I will have to see if that is intentional before I can truly give it a rating. One data point is not enough.

Fun fact: You can bring your growlers and buy their custom root beer by the liter or gallon, too. Which, next time, my few remaining growlers might get some use, which would be nice, since I don’t know of any microbreweries doing fill ups of NA beer.

They also serve local beer, and have an ice cream stand. With a playground. While one can argue that their local creamy whip, which does nothing else, might have better selection, the ice cream was on par with a creamy whip’s.

So, if you do find yourself nearby and there’s not a line (or if you have time), do drop on in.