Root Beer

Dennis said:

Root beer was traditionally made from sassafras root, but they have long used chemistry to mimic the taste. Root beer is easy to make if you have home brewed beer or wine - the equipment is the same. It is a dark, cola-looking soft drink or soda but has a slight bite to the taste but is smooth like cream and spices like clove, nutmeg and cinnamon. It is pretty pleasant to drink, especially the good stuff. Most mass produced root beers are a shadow of the real thing, thus this topic.

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Reminds me of a good story....

Friends of mine (older than I) were hosting an exchange student from Slovakia whose idea of soda extended to coca-cola and nothing else. They all go visiting friends of theirs and he's offered a root beer (get the foreigner to try something new). He takes one sip, literally spits it out and in his heavy accent exclaims, "What the hell is this ****."

Apparently other Eastern Europeans frown equally on the taste.

Dennis said:

Root beer was traditionally made from sassafras root, but they have long used chemistry to mimic the taste. Root beer is easy to make if you have home brewed beer or wine - the equipment is the same. It is a dark, cola-looking soft drink or soda but has a slight bite to the taste but is smooth like cream and spices like clove, nutmeg and cinnamon. It is pretty pleasant to drink, especially the good stuff. Most mass produced root beers are a shadow of the real thing, thus this topic.

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Thanks Dennis, it actually sounds very inviting.

Cheers

stobes21 said:

I'm sitting here on a beautiful afternoon enjoying a craft root beer I just discovered at the store: Jack Black's Dead Red. And I love the little diner up the street in no small part because they make their own root beer right there, and serve it is big frosty glass mugs. So, who else loves a good root beer? Any favorite brands?

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Let me guess, Carl's on Manchester, right? I took the kids up there the other day for a foot long dog and root beer. That place is awesome..

JCee said:

Let me guess, Carl's on Manchester, right? I took the kids up there the other day for a foot long dog and root beer. That place is awesome..

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Yep, that's the place!

I'm really shocked nobody has mentioned Virgils yet. I'm a root beer nerd and have tried all the usual suspects and quite a few micro brews and there are quite a few good ones out there but Virgils stands in a class of its own. I always pick it up locally at whole foods. Not sure where else they sell it...I like this thread...

Virgil's defines root beer for me. Just outstanding. A scoop of good vanilla ice cream and pour on some Virgil's....that's what I'm talking about!

Virgil's all the way... especially w/ rum

Virgil's cola is also excellent, if you want a traditional rum & coke

Oh yes! The virgils root beer float is certainly a foodgasm, one of my favorite indulgences...

smoov and deadly said:

Oh yes! The virgils root beer float is certainly a foodgasm, one of my favorite indulgences...

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Foodgasm?!?!

gollum83 said:

Foodgasm?!?!

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Now I'm feeling self conscious, lol. I feel the only appropriate word was one that I had to make up It just feels like when I have that particular root beer float that there is a party in my mouth and everyone is invited, lol.

smoov and deadly said:

Now I'm feeling self conscious, lol. I feel the only appropriate word was one that I had to make up It just feels like when I have that particular root beer float that there is a party in my mouth and everyone is invited, lol.

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smoov and deadly said:

Oh yes! The virgils root beer float is certainly a foodgasm, one of my favorite indulgences...

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I smell a custom title?

Virgil's
Boylan's
Jones
I had an honest to God Sarsparilla the other day. It was AWESOME.
Barq's in a pinch

I love root beer

Dubbya said:

I smell a custom title?

Virgil's
Boylan's
Jones
I had an honest to God Sarsparilla the other day. It was AWESOME.
Barq's in a pinch

I love root beer

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Custom title?? I'm not sure what that even means but it sounds provacative, lol.

Milbink said:

Excuse my ignorance (i come from a far away place)but, what exactly is root beer and what does it taste like. Now I know I'm sitting on the Internet so I did a quick Wiki search and it says it's made from sassafras and is really only known in North America. Ok so what does sassafras taste like and is the root beer you guys are talking about have alcohol?

Cheers,

Adam

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Try Sarsaparilla. The US Root Beers and Aussie Sars are the same thing. Schweppes make the best carbonated stuff while Bundaberg make a fabulous Naturally Brewed Sars.

I personally think the best root beer is A&W draft that you get at the fast food joints. Not a regular fountain but the actual beer draft. Nothing beats than and a hot dog. I go to eat there sometimes just for the root beer. I have been trying to research to see if I could get it delivered and have my own tap at the house!

ex812 said:

I personally think the best root beer is A&W draft that you get at the fast food joints. Not a regular fountain but the actual beer draft. Nothing beats than and a hot dog. I go to eat there sometimes just for the root beer. I have been trying to research to see if I could get it delivered and have my own tap at the house!

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Yeah the draft they have on tap at A&W is pretty good stuff. I have one down the street from me that's one of those old drive-in style restaurants and I always make sure to buy myself a half-gallon jug of the stuff when I'm down there.

Where does one find the good stuff? My daughter and I are both root beer fiends (she tells people that one day we're going to open a restaurant to sell our own root beer, even though I've never once brewed any...) and would love to try some new styles.

Of the commercial products available, I like the 'bite' of Barq's.

+1 on A&W. I grew up on that. Used to be you could get a quart of it in one of those wax coated square paper bottles. Stuff was excellent in 115 degree heat in the summer. I've tried Virgil's and that is really good too. I've also tried Hanson's but it's just not the same. Dad's and Barq's were good when I was a kid. Don't know what they're like now though. When it gets hotter here in Phoenix, I'm heading over to A&W and get a nice frosty mug of root beer. Oh boy. Frostie's, now there's another brand I always liked.

smoov and deadly said:

Custom title?? I'm not sure what that even means but it sounds provacative, lol.

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Every member here has a title underneath their username. You, for example, have "First Lieutenant of Free Samples." Most of the time those titles are generated from a preset list based on the number of posts you have. However, the mods ...ahem... "bestow" certain members with a custom title, usually taken from or in response to a post that person made. As you can see from mine, they particularly like strange or wacky things that look even stranger/funnier out of context.

Ceezer: I found a pretty good selection at a local gourmet/specialty grocery store. I'm sure you can also buy online. And as mentioned, root beer is made the same way as regular beer, so some of your local microbreweries probably make it. You might have to call them up to inquire about availability and distribution.

stobes21 said:

Ceezer: I found a pretty good selection at a local gourmet/specialty grocery store. I'm sure you can also buy online. And as mentioned, root beer is made the same way as regular beer, so some of your local microbreweries probably make it. You might have to call them up to inquire about availability and distribution.

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Oh yes! You can even make actual beer root beer, if you get my drift.

Samuel Adams actually made a limited run root beer a few years back. Samuel Adams 1790 Root Beer Brew I believe it was called. Had it once and only once (Thank God!). Nasty beyond description let me tell you!

stobes21 said:

Ceezer: I found a pretty good selection at a local gourmet/specialty grocery store.

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Would Bi-Lo/Publix have it, or would I need to get more gourmet, like Fresh Market/Whole Foods? What about World Market?

And as mentioned, root beer is made the same way as regular beer

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This might actually be right up my alley. Home brewing is something I've longed to do just for the experience, but I don't actually drink enough to constitute having that much beer on-hand all the time (gotta make time for my other indulgences..). But with root beer, my daughter would be helping drink it so we could probably consume enough to keep a fresh rotation. Plus it would be fun for us to do together.

It uses all the same equipment to brew? Does it also take 5-6 weeks for the complete process?