It’s been a long time since we drank beer for breakfast. Say, centuries. Back when a certain British king was micromanaging from thousands of miles away. And root beer, which started off as medicinal tea made with sassafras by Native Americans, was considered a great, healthful family beverage. In fact, the colonists, including George Washington, were really into home brewing, and had recipes for different beers for whatever ails you—like hiccups. Then that buzzkill Prohibition came, and root beer without the booze became the wholesome soda pop it is today.

Until recently. Hard root beer has resurfaced this year, drifting on both the trend of craft beer and the American vintage aesthetic (those omnipresent Edison bulbs). Before it, there was hard lemonade (marketed to fun loving, new-to-drinking barely legals), which replaced glow-stick-colored wine coolers. Then hard cider, Bud Light Lime-a-Ritas, plus rosé, and now there are aisles of anything-but-an-IPA please, for those intimidated or just not in the mood for craft beer. But these boozy root beers are blowing all of those alt-candy-beers out of the 5.6% ABV water.

It tastes just like the A&W (or Barq’s) you grew up with, dangerously so. In the major brands available now, you only notice the beeriness once it’s warmed up a little in your grip, and by then you’ve nearly drank it all. And that nostalgia we were talking about, combined with a chemically ideal dose of sugar, is why grocery stores are selling out of it faster than you can say “I brought my own tote.”

So far, two brands have come out on top: Not Your Father’s Root Beer, which makes up 75% of all sales of hard root beer, and Coney Island Brewing Company. They’re both killing it. After Whole Foods buyers were flooded with requests from customers, they decided to sign on Coney Island, which follows their all-natural guidelines. Now it’s one of the top selling beers, period. Since it was introduced this past summer, it’s selling at a 400% growth rate month to month, says Chris Manca, Senior Specialty Coordinator of Whole Foods’s Northeast region.

Coney Island’s hard root beer comes in a yellow six pack, with an illustrated rollercoaster you might recognize as the rickety Cyclone wrapping around a frothy stein of root beer—it’s whimsical and fun, and most importantly, eye-catching. Adams said fans include “everyone from the geekiest beer geek who's like ‘this is cool’ to, like, my mom. My mom drinks the root beer, and she drinks Merlot.” Word spread on social media and now the brewery gets visitors from around the globe. But the biggest effect is that the root beer has become a soft introduction to the world of craft beer for those who don’t know how to navigate through hoppy IPAs and malty Imperial stouts. “People who don't drink craft beer will drink [the root beer],” said Adams, “and then they’ll try a Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner and next thing you know, someone who wasn't a craft beer drinker is now drinking craft beer regularly.”