[ul][li]1 glass, any size but preferably at least 16oz. The glass is ideally frozen but this step can be skipped in emergency situations[/li][li]Vanilla Ice Cream. Blue Bunny is my current favorite, but any brand should do as long as it isn’t that insidious bean-flecked monstrosity produced by Breyer’s[/li][li]Root Beer. It absolutely, positvely must be A&W. If it’s going to be any other brand I’d rather just skip the time and effort and not have a float.[/li][li]1 long-stem spoon. NOT a straw.[/li][li]Love (this is my secret ingredient.)[/ul][/li]Pack as much vanilla ice cream into the cup as you can, smooshing it down along to way to insure maximum capacity is reached. Slowly dribble root beer over the ice cream. In 1 to 2 seconds your cup will start overflowing, no matter how slow you poor (your glass is packed full of ice cream, remember?) At this point you can scoop the foam off if you’re standing over the sink, or just slurp it off. Let’s slurp.
Press down on the top of the ice cream with the bottom of your spoon until your spoon fills with root beer. Slightly turn your spoon and pick up a small sliver of ice cream as you raise it out.
Repeat this process, topping off with root beer as space allows, until your glass is empty.
Smile. Relax. Undo your belt if you used a particularly large glass. You’ve just enjoyed one of Cisco’s Root Beer Floats.
but the best float i’ve had was from a little drive in a couple blocks south of the indianapolis motor speedway, a place called the mug n’ bun.
they make their own root beer, and it’s amazing. it’s not harsh at all, and it’s sort of creamy, i guess. i think they have the ideal temeperature figured out, and they chill it to like 5 degrees coolor than that to accomodate the carryover to your car. at least that’s what they say. who knows if that’s true, but it tastes great.
No, no, no! One scoop of ice cream. It’s a rootbeer float, as in the ice cream floats. Your recipe just has ice cream with some rootbeer topping. Not the same.
A&W is the best inexpensive brand. Barq’s has caffeine and so is a non-starter. For the absolute best rootbeer, IBC is the way to go.
As for ice cream, it must be vanilla and cannot have carrageen in it. I usually pick one the higher quality local brands (the kind where they make it in-store).
Sure, it’s right up there with the delightful early-summer treat (before it gets too muggy) I used to make. Use Blue Bell ice cream or something from the local dairy (In Dayton, Ohio, drive out to Young’s on US-68) and pour a can of orange Minute Maid or Fanta over it in a big glass: a creamsicle float.
I love a root beer float, but as an engineer, I work too hard to make them look perfect. A frosty mug is great, but that necessitates adding a small layer of root beer to the bottom so your ice cream doesn’t stick, or having two people making the floats (one with the bottle in their hand, open, ready to go). Scoop and pour like a rifle drill team, or the root beer floats and the ice cream sinks.
