Root beer

Root beer is a sweet soft drink traditionally flavored with roots, bark, herbs, and spices. Most modern versions are carbonated and contain no alcohol.

Sassafras: A North American tree whose aromatic roots were traditionally used to flavor root beer. Sassafras root was a classic flavoring before safety rules restricted its use.
Charles Hires: An American pharmacist who marketed a commercial root beer concentrate in the 1870s. His product helped turn root beer into a widely sold packaged drink.
Root beer float: A dessert drink made by combining root beer with scoops of ice cream. The float pairs root beer’s sweetness and carbonation with creamy ice cream.
Birch beer: A carbonated soft drink flavored with extracts from birch bark or sap. It resembles root beer as a regional botanical soda but has a birch-led flavor.
Sarsaparilla: A flavoring made from the roots of several tropical vines in the genus Smilax. Its earthy, sweet flavor became a common alternative to sassafras.
Hires Root Beer: A root beer brand introduced by Charles Hires in the late nineteenth century. Its launch is a landmark in root beer’s commercial history.
A&W Restaurants: An American restaurant chain founded around the sale of root beer. The chain made draft root beer a central part of its identity.
Cola: A carbonated soft drink commonly flavored with kola nut, citrus oils, and spices. Cola is another dark, sweet soda, but its flavor profile and history differ.
Wintergreen: An evergreen plant whose leaves contain the minty aromatic compound methyl salicylate. Wintergreen supplies the mint-like note found in many root beer recipes.
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition: An international exposition held in Philadelphia in 1876 to mark the United States’ centennial. Charles Hires promoted his root beer at this exposition.

Linked from 3 pages