Brewing up sass and fizz: Premium root beers bubble with myriad grown-up flavors

Chicago Tribune (MCT) - When celebrity pastry chef Gale Gand lived in England in the early 1990s, the two things she missed most from her native Chicago were Frango mints and root beer. The soft drink, which she associated with childhood summer road trips, was virtually non-existent in the United Kingdom _ as it is most everywhere else in the world.

The reason? Outside of the United States, sassafras, one of root beer's main flavor components, is only typically used for medicinal purposes.

"America is the only place that drinks root beer," said Chris Reed, president of Reed's Inc., the producer of Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer. "When we have samples of Virgil's at international food shows, non-Americans think we're joking."

Nonetheless, Americans _ or at least many Americans _ love root beer. The last decade has seen the introduction of a number of premium root beers such as Virgil's, which is made with cane sugar, anise from Spain and Madagascar vanilla. The sodas allow people who grew up drinking root beer to trade up to artisanal takes on their beloved beverage.

Root beer evolved from a bitter spring tonic made of sassafras and other roots brewed by Colonists. By the late-1800s, the drink assumed its current style. During Prohibition, a number of breweries, including Independent Brewing Co., or IBC, turned to brewing root beer. Some, like IBC, never returned to beer.

With hundreds of root beers brewed throughout the U.S., and no set ingredients, the soda can contain anything from cinnamon to licorice root to cherry tree bark. It no longer contains pure sassafras because the Food and Drug Administration banned the root from human foods after finding that safrole, a substance found in sassafras, caused cancer in rats when consumed in large amounts. Since 1960, root beers have incorporated sassafras flavor via a safrole-free extract.

Due to the lack of a defined formula, root beer can be sweetened with honey or corn syrup or cane sugar. It can taste sweet or bitter, appear chestnut- or coffee-colored, and be nearly flat or sharply carbonated.

But until recently, the majority of root beers, like Barq's and Mug, contained inexpensive artificial ingredients and high-fructose corn syrup, which some soda aficionados such as Danny Ginsburg, owner of RealSoda.com, a Web site devoted to soda in glass bottles, consider second-rate to sweeteners like cane sugar or honey.

That's changed as artisanal root beer producers, like Chicago-based Goose Island, Aurora, Ill.-based Walter Payton's Roundhouse and Janesville, Wis.-brewed Berghoff, spurn corn syrup for cane sugar and other ingredients.

Many of these root beers, such as Gale's Root Beer, which Gand developed after returning to the States in 1993, are geared to an adult palate. Dry with strong cinnamon, vanilla and ginger notes, the flavor of Gale's Root Beer is unique. But it's not for everyone, warned Ginsburg.

Find all your stocking stuffers and Christmas gifts at Catholic Online Shopping

"Some people will like some root beers more than others _ and it has nothing to do with quality," he said. "It's similar to beer, not everyone likes the same flavors."

THE TASTING

We stocked up on eight premium root beers _ many of them with hometown or Midwest ties _ for a blind tasting. Opinions and scores of the five tasters ranged all over the place, suggesting the tasters' preference for a certain style (whether milder or more strongly spiced) played a significant role. The root beers were ranked on a scale of 1 to 9, with 9 being excellent. Prices are what we paid per six-pack (unless otherwise noted) in local stores.

Gale's Root Beer ($1.59 per 12-ounce bottle)

Looks: "Very dark." "Good fizz." "Burnt caramel."

Scent: "Spicy." "More herbal than roots." "Cinnamon."

Sip: "Very unusual, not a traditional root beer taste." "Medicinal and herbal." "Extremely strong cinnamon flavor."

Score: 6.6

___

Sprecher Root Beer ($1 per 16-ounce bottle)

Looks: "Good carbonation." "Very dark." "Amber."

Scent: "Citrus overtones." "Vanilla, creamy."

Sip: "Grapefruit notes ... followed by typical root beer flavors." "Cinnamon and vanilla upfront ... clove on the back end."

Score: 6.4

___

Berghoff Famous Old-fashioned Root Beer ($6)

Looks: "Tea-colored." "Caramel." "Medium gold."

Scent: "Very pleasant, sugar and caramel." "Butterscotch."

Sip: "Not too sweet." "Well-balanced." "Cinnamon with a burst of honey and ginger."

Score: 6

___

Boylan Bottleworks Root Beer ($5 per 4-pack)

Looks: "Dark plum, with moderate head."

Scent: "Caramel, spicy." "Herbal notes."

Sip: "Not too sweet." "Like soap." "Lighter than aroma, vaguely medicinal."

Score: 5.8

___

Roundhouse Rootbeer ($6)

Looks: "Sepia-toned." "Chestnut." "Dark amber."

Scent: "Caramel." "Subtle." "Butterscotch."

Sip: "Cloying finish." "Sweeter than the rest, but also a strong flavor that I like." "Needs zing."

Score: 5.4

___

IBC ($3.69)

Looks: "Almost black." "Tea-colored." "Medium fizz."

Scent: "Classic root beer aroma." "Slight anise and molasses."

Sip: "Too sweet." "Better on the nose than the palate." "Like root beer candy."

Score: 5.2

___

Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer ($6 per 4-pack)

Looks: "Like Bourbon." "Dark caramel, good fizz."

Scent: "Cough medicine?" "Cinnamon, with a little licorice." "Caramel."

Sip: "Molasses-like." "Odd and unpleasant." "Sweet at first, then mildly herbal."

Score: 4.8

____

Goose Island Root Beer ($6)

Looks: "Dull." "Not many bubbles." "Dark brown."

Scent: "Vanilla." "Slightly leathery." "Earthy."

Sip: "Tastes stale." "Wet cardboard with roots and sugar."

Score: 4.4

___

© 2008, Chicago Tribune.