Root beer

Root beer is a popular North American beverage with a long history. It is often known for its thick, foamy head when poured into a glass. Today, most root beers are sweet, carbonated soft drinks. They are usually non-alcoholic and contain no caffeine. However, some variations exist. For example, Barq's root beer contains about 1.8 mg of caffeine per fluid ounce. People often enjoy the drink in a special way called a root beer float. This involves adding vanilla ice cream directly into the beverage.

Traditional methods for making root beer involve several specific steps. One common recipe begins by cooking a syrup made from molasses and water. This syrup must sit and cool for exactly three hours. After cooling, makers combine the syrup with various root ingredients. These often include sassafras root, sassafras bark, and wintergreen. Next, yeast is added to the mixture to begin fermentation. The liquid must ferment for 12 hours before it is strained. Finally, the drink is rebottled for a secondary fermentation process. This traditional method usually produces a beverage with 2% alcohol or less.

There are different types of root beer based on their ingredients and alcohol content. Standard commercial root beer is typically a non-alcoholic soft drink. Some versions are called "hard root beer" if they are more alcoholic. Historically, the flavor came from the sassafras tree or the sarsaparilla vine. Sarsaparilla is also used to make a different soft drink of the same name. Modern manufacturers use many different flavorings to create their unique tastes. Common additions include vanilla, caramel, licorice root, and nutmeg. Some makers even use spices like cinnamon, ginger, or allspice.

History shows that people have been drinking root beer in the United States since at least the eighteenth century. By the 1830s, written recipes for the drink were already documented. In the nineteenth century, people often consumed root beer while it was hot. It was frequently used for medicinal purposes as well. Druggists marketed the drink because the medicinal benefits of sassafras were well known. In the 1850s, root beer began to be combined with soda. At that time, it was sold as a concentrated syrup rather than a ready-made drink.

A key figure in the history of root beer was pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires. He was the first person to successfully market a commercial brand. In 1875, he developed a root tea made from sassafras. He debuted a commercial version at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Hires was a teetotaler, so he originally wanted to call his drink "root tea." However, he changed the name to "root beer" to appeal to Pennsylvania coal miners. By 1893, his root beer was distributed widely across the United States.

Other famous brands emerged as the industry grew. Barq's began selling its sarsaparilla-based root beer in 1898. In 1919, Roy Allen opened a root-beer stand in Lodi, California. This business eventually became the well-known A&W Root Beer brand. Allen was famous for serving his homemade root beer in cold, frosty mugs. Another major brand that emerged during this era is IBC Root Beer. These companies helped make non-alcoholic root beer commercially successful, especially during the Prohibition era.

In 1960, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changed how root beer is made. They banned safrole, which is a key aromatic oil found in sassafras. This ban happened because laboratory animals developed liver damage or cancer after consuming large doses of safrole. Because of this, most commercial root beers now use artificial sassafras flavoring. Some companies, such as Hansen's, use a special sassafras extract where the safrole has been removed. To recreate the traditional thick foam, some makers use soybean protein, yucca, or starch. Today, you can even visit a Museum of Root Beer in Wisconsin Dells.