Discovery

[lady_kishiria]

All my life, I've hated root beer. Last weekend, I found an 8-pack of Hanson's natural root beer at Smart & Final, sweetened with cane sugar. Steve loves root beer, so I bought it for him as a treat.

This is the first time I'd ever read a list of the extracts that go into root beer and one of them is wintergreen. I absolutely loathe the taste of wintergreen; reminds me of Pepto Bismol (shudders)and now I know why I can't stand root beer.

Comments

[lucy-indisguise.livejournal.com]

I love love love Root beer floats

[reginaterrae.livejournal.com]

yes yes yes!

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

Root beer floats are a double no-go for me...root beer AND milk!

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

I could have them three times a day. In Guerneville, CA there is a bear bar that has a cocktail called Root Beer floats. They taste just like the real thing, but they will totally trash you.

[reginaterrae.livejournal.com]

Ha! Any idea what's in it?

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

alcohol

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

Seriously though, I have no idea and the bartenders won't reveal their secret. There is another bar (this one is leather) that makes a cocktail that tastes just like a Sweet Tart.

[gorski.livejournal.com]

Sweet Tart is relatively well known, I think: http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/2499

come to think of it, webtender has a few hits for root beer floats as well, though I've never had one. Galliano and Coke seem to be the most common recurring theme; YMMV


/veritable fount of useless knowledge tonight
//sorry, Teppy

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Root beer has wintergreen in it? Wha....?

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

Apparently so! Look at a container of one that lists the herb extracts in it.

[gorski.livejournal.com]

Yup. Since the 1960s, when they decided actual sassafras will give you cancer, or something.

They pretty much took out all the sassafras root and replaced it with wintergreen.

The other ingredients may vary, but that's the one thing that's pretty much constant in modern root beer recipes.

[electorprince.livejournal.com]

I'm so-so about root beers, and very picky about the types I'll accept into my gullet. IBC, A&W, and the cheap HEB generic ones are my usual victims.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

Of course you'd drink A&W! Steve's uncle Curtis opened the first A&W stand in Lubbock, btw.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to make root beer at home. AFAIK the indispensable flavours that really make root beer taste uniquely like root beer are sassafras and sarsaparilla. You could probably make it yourself in omit the wintergreen and see if it appeals to you more.

[caprine.livejournal.com]

That seems weird. I cannot identify a wintergreen taste in root beer.

[reginaterrae.livejournal.com]

Just from memory, not having had one in a while, I think I can

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I used to hate root beer as a kid since I thought it tasted medicinal. But now I love that stuff :)