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[pricklyrobot]

How can sarsaparilla win a root beer shoot out?

Next thing you’re going to tell me that Moxie swept the Birch Beer Awards…

 

[jessenator]

Moxie

That swill has too much gentian root in it. Tastes like medicine. I was playing alechemist and in sarsaparilla you literally need like one "grain" of the stuff to taste it. Any more than that…

I've read conflicting sources that say the drink influenced the name of the root substitute (as it has a different name in Spanish) rather than the vice versa. Sassafras root bark has mdma precursors in it, as well as carcinogenic elements, so they took it out of the recipe to comply with FDA regulations in the '60s. Sarsaparilla root bark is the flavor we all know and love.

Sassafras root bark has a slightly different, almost bitter bottom end. In the end I didn't go 100%:

All by weights, not volume:

40 g. -or- 1.4 oz. Sassafras Root
15 g. -or- .5 oz. Sarsaparilla Root
5 g. -or- .2 oz. cinnamon stick (NOT POWDER)
10 g. -or- .35 oz. licorice root
1 g. -or- .04 oz. gentian root
450 g. -or- 16 oz. demerara sugar
1000 g. -or- 35.26 oz. water

boil about one and a half minutes after sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute, then let steep 10-20 minutes, lid on.

cool the syrup then stain into a jar for storage. Mix/dilute with club soda, seltzer, soda stream, or look up directions on home fermenting of you're brave.

One could also split or replace the demerera sugar (sugar in the raw) with honey, but you'd have to adjust it, because of perceived sweetness differences between it.

I don't recommend brown sugar or more molasses in the mix, but that's personal taste; exacerbates the low end bitterness of the sassafras.

You could also sub the licorice root for a star anise pod (or half).

You could also add a bit of vanilla (after it's cooled, if it's extract; during the steeping if it's paste or a bean, but you need very, very, very, very little) to make it taste more like Sioux City.