37 results for: root beer

Displaying 1 best match. Browse all 37 results below.

Buy Root Beer Online Great selection of unique root beers from around the country! www.straubs.com	Sponsored Links
Root Beer Extract Homemade Root Beer Extract Just Add Water and Sugar www.SimplyCajun.Com

Root beer

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Root beer is a beverage also sometimes known as Sarsaparilla. Root beer, popularized in North America, comes in two forms: alcoholic and soft drink.

Ingredients

The soft drink version of root beer is non-alcoholic and is generally made using extracts or flavored syrups diluted into carbonated water. It is not as popular as other soft drinks such as Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola, and constitutes only 3% of the U.S. soft drink market.

The alcoholic version is made by fermenting a solution of extract and sugar with yeast. Typically this will yield a beverage with about 0.4% alcohol, compared to more than 4% for most regular beers.

Root beer extract may contain a variety of flavors. Bark from the roots of the Sassafras tree was the typical flavor in root beer historically, and is the primary flavor most individuals associate with the beverage. Sassafras bark was banned by the FDA due to the carcinogenic properties of its constituent chemical safrole in 1960. A safrole-free variety is now used, with some claiming that it has a weaker flavor than the pre-1960 variety.

There are hundreds of root beer brands in the United States, produced in every U.S. state, and there is no standardized recipe. The primary ingredient, sassafras, is complemented with other flavors, common ones being vanilla, wintergreen, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, nutmeg, anise, molasses, cinnamon and clove.

Homemade root beer is usually made from concentrate, though it can also be made from actual herbs and roots. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic root beers have a thick and foamy head when poured, often enhanced through the addition of yucca extract.

Traditional use

Root beer was a traditional beverage and herbal medicine. Throughout history, the beverage was often mildly alcoholic. As a medicine it was used for treating cough and mouth sores.

Commercial root beer was developed by Charles Elmer Hires in 1866. Hires presented root tea powder at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial exhibition, and in 1893 he began selling bottled, carbonated root beer. There was an upsurge in the popularity of root beer in the United States during the period of prohibition as local breweries resorted to brewing non-alcoholic beverages. Root beer was at its most popular in the period during and after prohibition, and has since declined in popularity as the soft drink market has been taken over by brands such as Coca Cola and Pepsi.

Partial list of brands

• A-Treat
• Abita
• A&W Root Beer — Cadbury-Schweppes
• Barq's — Coca-Cola
• Barrelhead — Cadbury-Schweppes
• Berghoff
• Bickfords Sassparella (Australia)
• Blumers
• Boylan Bottling Company
• Bundaberg Root Beer — Australian brand of brewed drinks
• Carter's
• Dad's Root Beer — Hedinger Brands, LLC
• Dog n Suds
• Dr.Fitz's
• Fanta
• Faygo
• Frostie Root Beer
• Frostop
• Frozen Run
• Goose Island
• Grandpa Graf's
• Hank's Root Beer
• Henry Weinhard
• Hires Root Beer
• IBC Root Beer — Cadbury-Schweppes
• Jones Soda Root Beer
• Mug Root Beer — PepsiCo
• Natural Brew Hand Crafted Draft Root Beer contains sweet birch, licorice root, sarsaparilla, cinnamon, clove, anise, wintergreen, and vanilla
• Old Dominion Root Beer
• Saint Arnold Brewing Company - Texas regional brand, made with cane sugar
• Sarsi — Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc.
• Shasta
• Snapple
• Sprecher Root Beer
• Stewart's Fountain Classics — Cadbury-Schweppes (Winner, 2006 World Cup of Root Beer)
• Thomas Kemper
• Tommyknockers - When under the right lowlight, this brand glows in the dark.
• Triple XXX
• Vess
• Virgil's Root Beer — Reed's, Inc.

See also

• Root beer float
• Sarsaparilla
• Birch beer
• Ginger beer
• Dandelion and burdock
• Beer

References

External links

• The Rootbeer Brothers For the Love of Root Beer.
• anthony's Root Beer barrel Reviews of 321 different brews
• Spike's Root Beer Ratings and Reviews Reviews, photos, and ingredient information on different brands
• Root Beer World History and photos of over 2000 brands, with recipes and discussion forums
• Condensed information about root beer from the Home Brewers Digest 1991-1994
• Root Beer Brands - RootBeer.net
• Eric's Gourmet Root Beer Site Reviews of gourmet root beers, those in glass bottles.
• Luke's Root Beer Pages
• Fankhauser's EASY recipe for homemade root beer
• Root Beer In The UK

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 18:12:16 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation

37 More from Wikipedia »