patent medicine

Kola nuts circulated through Europe and the Americas but did not find a widespread audience until the 19th century, when the craze for patent medicines encouraged entrepreneurs to bottle vigor wherever it could be found.

Popular since the 1840s, root beer, which, like so many of America’s sodas, straddled the line between patent medicine and soothing nonalcoholic libation, was enjoyed as a hot beverage or as a carbonated soda.

Decades ago, people could hawk dangerous patent medicines and promise benefits — even when their concoctions might have catastrophic consequences.

As one may expect, sketchy patent medicines and doctor-prescribed Prohibition whiskey are also in the mix.

Most of these nonalcoholic spirits are unsweetened or only very lightly sweetened, making them taste more like old-fashioned patent medicine than beverages.