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Hires Root Beer, almost extinct

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lxskllr said:
Sassafras contains safrole, which can cause cancer in sufficient quantity. That ingredient has been banned by the FDA, and I imagine most manufacturers decided chemistry was a better solution than removing safrole from natural ingredients.
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Yes, the web said that was a reason Hires got sold in the 1960's.
 
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It seems my local grocery stores have abandoned the craft soda market, except a few sugar-free ones in the diet section.

I’ve been getting Sprecher root beer in glass bottles at Menards. I’ve seen it at Farm and Fleet, also.
 
Man, Amazon has 48 cans for $60 now... 5 left... more than I'd like but hard to find. Cans are my least favorite container for root beer.
 
Hires was big when I was a kid. I still see it at specialty beverage stores. A&W is excellent though. What's weird is it's better out of a 2-liter bottle than fresh from one of their stores---it's always super-syrupy when they serve it fresh.

If you want a unique experience in root beer, get some Bundaberg...they use real sarsaparilla root (made safe with processing), and add fresh vanilla and ginger to it. It's very weird and first, then when you get used to it you end up craving it. Great with rum drinks!

1594047624388.png
 
Fritzo said:
Hires was big when I was a kid. I still see it at specialty beverage stores. A&W is excellent though. What's weird is it's better out of a 2-liter bottle than fresh from one of their stores---it's always super-syrupy when they serve it fresh.

If you want a unique experience in root beer, get some Bundaberg...they use real sarsaparilla root (made safe with processing), and add fresh vanilla and ginger to it. It's very weird and first, then when you get used to it you end up craving it. Great with rum drinks!

View attachment 25048
Click to expand...

Their Gingerbeer makes the best Moscow Mules as well.
 
Fritzo said:
If you want a unique experience in root beer, get some Bundaberg...they use real sarsaparilla root (made safe with processing), and add fresh vanilla and ginger to it. It's very weird and first, then when you get used to it you end up craving it. Great with rum drinks!

View attachment 25048
Click to expand...

i'm not big on bundaberg root beer, it's just... weird. too gingery i think.

when i was in australia i absolutely loved bundaberg's lemonade. but they don't sell it in the US 🙁
 
Fritzo said:
Hires was big when I was a kid. I still see it at specialty beverage stores. A&W is excellent though. What's weird is it's better out of a 2-liter bottle than fresh from one of their stores---it's always super-syrupy when they serve it fresh.

If you want a unique experience in root beer, get some Bundaberg...they use real sarsaparilla root (made safe with processing), and add fresh vanilla and ginger to it. It's very weird and first, then when you get used to it you end up craving it. Great with rum drinks!

View attachment 25048
Click to expand...
I like their ginger beer, but it's hard to find. I know one store that used to have the ginger. I should make a trip, and see if they have root beer also.
 
Craig234 said:
It's the original root beer going back to the 19th century, though of course it's changed. It used to be a very big seller, the dominant brand of root beer as I understand.
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Aha, it appears that it's the first commercially successful brand of root beer. It is not, however, the original root beer.
 
Craig234 said:
It's not clear how much that matters. In most taste tests I've heard of, people are pretty evenly split.
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Speaking only for myself obviously, but yes it's a test that comes back quite clear actually. Even though corn syrup should be avoided due to it's effects wrt leptin, I tend to let my taste buds make the call. No need to get serious about it when you're talking a small snack every now and then. I'll pound a Barqs. Personally I don't think it's a coincidence most if not all the high quality micro varieties use cane sugar.

Correlation is not causation of course, but I've noticed among my friends and family the ones who can't tell/don't care are fans of spirits. I was never really a drinker, and stopped altogether many years ago (no regrets). To me the difference is palpable, with too much cane sugar rendering a dish or drink so sweet my teeth almost ache, or vibrate even. It's hard to describe. That's a reaction I've never had with HFCS.

Just curious, anyone else experience that or something like it?
 
lxskllr said:
Sassafras contains safrole, which can cause cancer in sufficient quantity. That ingredient has been banned by the FDA, and I imagine most manufacturers decided chemistry was a better solution than removing safrole from natural ingredients.
Click to expand...
Hires Wiki page:
However, a process was later discovered by which the harmful chemical could be removed from sassafras oil while preserving the flavor.
Click to expand...
 
lxskllr said:
I like their ginger beer, but it's hard to find. I know one store that used to have the ginger. I should make a trip, and see if they have root beer also.
Click to expand...
They're going more mainstream. Might be able to find it in the specialty section of grocery stores now. It's sometimes around the drink mixers or beer.
 
When I was doing home brew, I once got some extract like this (not this particular brand):
craftbrewingshop.com

Zatarain's - Root beer extract

A specialty shop that helps people brew everything! Beer, Wine, Soda, Loose Leaf Tea, and Coffee Roasting. Follow us on facebook.com/craftbrewingshop
craftbrewingshop.com craftbrewingshop.com

Just mix with water, Sweeteners (sugar or corn syrup or honey), and carbonate. I just force carbonated it in my keg system. Best part was that it was easy to make 2 gallons without a huge investment. I remember Hires. I always liked A&W because you could get root beer floats and they had frosty mugs and really good Coney Dogs/Burgers. I was sad to see so many of them combine with Long John Silvers and close their doors around here. =(

Hopefully someone will keep root beer alive. It's definitely lost popularity and is a very limited niche beverage in a shrinking soft drink market.
 
Craig234 said:
Ya, it's one of my least favorite. Other bad ones include Dad's and Dogs 'n Suds.
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That's the thing---it's not a great root beer, but it's a fantastic mixer. I made a modded Old Fashioned using this instead of simple syrup and bitters, and it's been my go-to drink for the last couple of weeks 😀
 
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