Make your own from-scratch root beer

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s cold, frothy and the taste is utterly unique.  Root beer has been confounding taste buds since the 1800s, and freelance foodie Michelle Gourley’s palate since the 1970s.

“I would say I have an obsession with root beer,” says the writer and personal chef in Vancouver. “When I was a kid we had root beer popsicles.  I grew up in Nova Scotia where they seemed to be more plentiful.  A few years ago, I made root beer popsicles with a friend, which didn’t turn out very well.  I ended up using a concentrate and made them that way, unnaturally.  I felt challenged; I wanted to make authentic root beer. I felt I could do it.”

So she tried. And failed.

“There was too much molasses.  I don’t know, the combination of ingredients didn’t work well but I was determined to make it work.  I went out and bought all the ingredients again and tried it without molasses and it worked much better.  It was quite surprising.”

There’s a reason it is called ‘root’ beer.

“It’s quite a list of ingredients.  Real root beer can have between 12 and 15 ingredients and most of them don’t grow naturally here.  I went to Gaia Garden Herbals in Kitsilano.  I found that was the best place to get all my little twigs and herbs together,” says Gourley.  “It does look like bark mulch, a brown tangle of ingredients, but the flavours are so incredible.  It’s very surprising.”

It was an all-day event, three hours to brew it all up in a big stock pot, let it ferment and then bottle it.  Gourley adds it’s worth the effort, calling it a science experiment with drinkable results.

In the late 1800s, when root beer was first brewed, there were claims the drink had health benefits, it was a “blood purifying” tonic.  Unfortunately, later research showed that wasn’t the case.

“I didn’t come across anything lately other than it tastes amazing and people love it,” she laughs.

And exactly how do you describe that taste?

“There are two distinct flavours, sassafras and sarsaparilla, that are the most predominant no matter what the formula.  Root beer, to me, is very complex.  It has that initial star anise and vanilla taste along with sassafras, that’s what the first hit will be.  Then it kind of has almost a mint finish.  That’s wintergreen, usually.  It’s a very unusual brew and I find it very satisfying.”

It’s a childhood memory she’s holding onto. And yes, she did add a scoop of ice cream and make a float.

To make your own, from-scratch root beer, check this old-fashioned recipe.  Just beware the molasses.