Question: Who created the soft drink that is older than Hires Root Beer?

full_context: Document 1: Hires Root Beer: Hires Root Beer is a soft drink which is marketed by Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Introduced in 1876, it is considered the second longest continuously made soft drink in the United States. Only Vernors Ginger Ale , dating to 1866, is older.
Document 2: Mug Root Beer: MUG Root Beer, A PepsiCo Subsidiary/Root Beer Corporation is a brand name of root beer made by the New Century Beverage Company of San Francisco, California, a subsidiary of PepsiCo.
Document 3: Canada Dry: Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks owned since 2008 by the American Dr Pepper Snapple Group. For over a century, Canada Dry has been known for its ginger ale, though the company also manufactures a number of other soft drinks and mixers. Although Canada Dry originated in Canada, it is now produced in many countries around the globe, including the United States, Mexico, Colombia, the Middle East, Europe and Japan.
Document 4: A&amp;W Root Beer: A&W Root Beer is a root beer brand primarily available in the United States and Canada, started in 1919 by Roy W. Allen. In 1922, Allen partnered with Frank Wright. They combined their initials to create the brand "A&W" and inspired a restaurant chain, founded in 1922. Originally, A&W root beer drinks sold for five cents.
Document 5: Charles Elmer Hires: Charles Elmer Hires (August 19, 1851 – July 31, 1937) was an early promoter of commercially prepared root beer. He was a Quaker pharmacist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who formulated the eponymous Hires Root Beer beverage.
Document 6: Frostie Root Beer: Frostie Root Beer is a brand of root beer sold in the United States of America. Frostie was originally produced in 1939 by The Frostie Beverage Company of Catonsville, Maryland, owned by George Rackensperger. At the end of 1979, the Frostie brand was sold to the Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta, Georgia. After years of being under-promoted by Monarch in favor of Dad's Root Beer, the Frostie brand was sold in 2000 to Leading Edge Brands of Temple, Texas. In 2009, Leading Edge Brands sold the Frostie line of beverages to Intrastate Distributors Inc. of Detroit, Michigan.
Document 7: Sussex Golden Ginger Ale: Sussex Golden Ginger Ale is a "golden" ginger ale originally bottled in the town of Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada. It is produced by Canada Dry Mott's, a subsidiary of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. The beverage is retailed in Canada's Maritime Provinces and northern areas in the state of Maine.
Document 8: Vimto: Vimto is a soft drink sold in the United Kingdom. It was first manufactured as a health tonic in cordial form, then decades later as a carbonated drink. It contains the juice of grapes, raspberries and blackcurrants (in a 3% concentration), flavoured with herbs and spices. The original recipe was invented in 1908 by (John) Noel Nichols. Nichols grew up in the Lancashire town of Blackburn. It is often referred to as the rich man's Red Kola.
Document 9: Root beer: Root beer is a sweet North American soft drink traditionally made using the sassafras tree "Sassafras albidum" (sassafras) or the vine "Smilax ornata" (sarsaparilla) as the primary flavor. Root beer may be alcoholic or non-alcoholic, come naturally free of caffeine or have caffeine added, and carbonated or non-carbonated. It usually has a thick, foamy head when poured. Modern, commercially produced root beer is generally sweet, foamy, carbonated, nonalcoholic, and flavoured using artificial sassafras flavouring. Sassafras root is still used to flavor traditional root beer, but since sassafras was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to the controversially claimed carcinogenicity of its constituent safrole, most commercial recipes do not contain sassafras. Some commercial root beers do use a safrole-free sassafras extract.
Document 10: Stewart's Fountain Classics: Stewart's Fountain Classics are a brand of premium soft drinks made in the United States. Stewart's are nostalgic "old fashioned" fountain sodas, having originated at the Stewart's Restaurants, a chain of root beer stands started in 1924 by Frank Stewart in Mansfield, Ohio. In 1990, the bottling rights to Stewart's were acquired by the Cable Car Beverage Corporation. Cream Soda and Ginger Beer flavors were introduced in 1992. Other flavors have been added since then. Cable Car Beverage Corporation, in November 1997, was purchased by Triarc. Cadbury Schweppes PLC acquired the Stewart's brands in 2000 along with Snapple and Mistic Brands for $1.45 billion.
Document 11: Barq's: Barq's is an American soft drink. Its brand of root beer is notable for having caffeine.<ref name="http://www.overcaffeinated.org/database/soda-pop/barqs-root-beer.php">Caffeine Database | Caffeine and Ingredients in Barqs Rootbeer, OverCaffeinated.org's Report on the Ingredients in Barq's Rootbeer</ref> Barq's, created by Edward Barq and bottled since the turn of the 20th century, is owned by the Barq family but bottled by the Coca-Cola Company. It was known as Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer until 2012.
Document 12: Dr Pepper: Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink marketed as having a unique flavor. The drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904, and is now also sold in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and South America, as well as New Zealand and South Africa as an imported good. Variants include a version without high fructose corn syrup, Diet Dr Pepper, as well as a line of additional flavors, first introduced in the 2000s.
Document 13: Nehi: Nehi (pronounced "knee high") is a flavored soft drink that originated in the United States. It was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works. The "Nehi Corporation" name was adopted in 1928 after the Nehi fruit-flavored sodas became popular. In 1955, the company changed its name to Royal Crown Company, after the success of its RC Cola brand. It was founded by Claud A. Hatcher, a Columbus, Georgia grocer, who began bottling ginger ale and root beer in 1905. In April 2008, Nehi became a brand of Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States.
Document 14: Vernors: Vernors is a ginger flavored soft drink and the oldest surviving ginger ale brand in the United States. It was created in 1866 by James Vernor, a Detroit pharmacist.
Document 15: Red Rock (beverage): Red Rock is a popular brand of ginger ale and cola that has since been revived for retail sale in recent years. The Red Rock Company was among the oldest producers of carbonated beverages in the United States.
ground_truth: James Vernor