Apparently rootbeer is not common outside the states. I was talking to a friend who is a Brit and he was asking me what it tastes like. I couldn’t tell him. He wanted to compare it to vanilla soda, but wouldn’t have said that the two were similar.
How would you describe it?
There are some specific brands of cough syrup and maybe even some cough drops that have that sassafras flavor that could be used to narrow The Universe down to a range of tastes. I can’t remember ever having sarsaparilla straight-no-chaser, but I think I recognize it in combination with sassafras in other concoctions, but just can’t remember what they’re called. So I’d favor the sassafras route. I’ve even tasted actual sassafras bark and it’s the dominant flavor in root beer. At least in the root beer in this part of the world. The brand of root beer that was the paragon of the drink when I was coming up was Frostie Old Fashioned but Hires and A&W gained a big part of the market by the time I was grown. These days I don’t drink all that much root beer, but I still like it, along with ginger ale, as a preference over colas.
Well, saying that it shares being a sweetened and carbonated beverage with ginger ale, cola, and so forth is a good start.
I think sarsaparilla (which I’ve only had straight-no-chaser) and birch beer and sassafras all have a very similar taste. I also picture them all being made from the roots of trees or shrubs (except I really don’t know what sarsaparilla is) or from synthetic imitations of those. If your friend knows any of these, you’re basically there. In fact I think different brands of root beer may have flavors further apart than different items of this group.
I’d also say there is a broader category of flavors that is somewhat etherial and fresh and stimulating and that goes well with sweet, and I’d include the above as well as ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom.
If they know what sassafras tastes like, that’s basically it. If not, I’d go with a combination of mild anise flavor and vanilla flavor. That’s not quite exactly right, but it gets you in the ballpark.
I’m a Brit and I’ve had it once.
It tasted disgusting,never again.
Umm… I’d always thought it was USian for what we Aussies call “ginger beer”, which is available in every corner store here. It is magnificent stuff.
There is also Sars/Sarsparilla, which is less common and tastes medicinal.
But ginger beer is well known and loved here.
No, ginger beer is roughly equivalent to our ginger ale. Sarsaparilla is roughly equivalent to root beer.
Now I am confused. We have both “ginger beer” and “ginger ale” The former is an unashamed soft drink/soda/pop which is sweet although the good ones are a bit bitey, and kids like it. Ginger ale (dry/dry ginger ale/ dry ginger) is the stuff you mix with your whisky. It’s not really a stand-alone drink. Kids don’t like it.
Interesting. I’m not sure we have a US equivalent for what you are calling “ginger ale”. But your ginger beer is definitely roughly equivalent to what we call “ginger ale” – a soft drink that is ginger-flavored.
What I’ve had in the States is:
Ginger ale: that stuff made by Canada Dry or Schweppes; a mild ginger-flavored soda. Can be drunk plain or mixed into an alcoholic drink, like “7 & ginger”–this is the ginger that is used. I drank this all the time as a kid.
Ginger beer: a much MUCH more strongly flavored ginger carbonated beverage. Usually only found made by small bottlers in the “designer” section of the soda aisle. Doesn’t come in 2-liter bottles; and I’ve never seen it in cans either. It’s got much more bite than ginger ale. Can be drunk alone although it’s pretty strong, or mixed in alcoholic drinks. Is the only accompaniment to a “Dark & Stormy” (Gosling’s Black Seal rum & ginger beer). Kids might like it (I did) but I’d guess they’d think it to strong and nose-tickling.
It’s what they give you on your first day in Heaven, and also your first day in Hell.
In Heaven there’s an infinite supply, and it never makes you gassy, and they’re making up for all the crap you put up with before you died.
In Hell they’re just being jerks, and you dont’ get any more, and it makes you 12,485,663,123 times as gassy as it would have on Earth.
A Brit is unlikely to recognise sassafras. We do have sarsparilla (though it’s not as common as it once was, and some people probably aren’t familiar with it) and dandelion & burdock, which seem to be getting into the same ballpark at least.
I’ve only ever had root beer once, in a McDonald’s in London in around 1978 — what it reminded me of most of all was the smell of Germolene ointment, a popular (or at least frequently used) antiseptic. It wasn’t a flavour I felt minded to acquire the taste for.
I understand though, that there’s some difference in flavour between brands of root beer.
I am mildly disappointed that it is apparently not possible to purchase root beer in Britain. This isn’t likely to affect any of my future travel plans, but still: no root beer? That’s like some sort of freaked-out alternate universe where the world has been conquered by zombies or something.
Couldn’t you just mail the poor blighter a bag of root beer-flavored candy? It even comes in little barrel shapes for ease of identification.
OK, now this I can understand for the Australian situation. Just reverse the names. Ginger beer is the stuff in the big bottles in the supermarket. Ginger ale is the stuff sold as a “mixer” in small glass bottles at the liquor store.
For what it’s worth: I’ve tried A&W root beer bought from Asian groceries here. I assume this is a big US drink, right? It tastes something between what we call ginger beer and sarsparilla, but sweeter and very smooth. It’s not exactly lke either.
Of course, calling anything in Australia “root beer” would result in either mucho yuks and/or mucho sales (to the frat boy type crowd).
Indeed. Some I like a lot, some are barely better than being thirsty.
Wow, that’s exactly how I as an American would describe it too. Rootbeer is not a universal favorite even in the US.
Ha! 
Never thought of it that way before.
And up here, we ‘root’ for our teams.
Me too. Root beet is one of the lesser soda flavors and Wikipedia says it’s about 3% of the soda market. I think it’s most popular in New England.
As far as I can see no one has yet mentioned mint, which to me is the most obvious part of the rootbeer flavor. Mint, anise, and a little vanilla-ish something in there. I’d also add that most brands have a very “smooth” mouth-feel - what the ads are getting at when they promise “creamy”, I suppose - so the mint isn’t the wake-up-your-gums kind of mint in toothpaste or chewing gum, it’s softer.