Let’s Make Root Beer the Old-Fashioned Way!

Root beer is a distinctly American drink with a sweet, herbal flavor that’s been made since the colonial era.

Traditionally, brewers made the drink by fermenting an herbal decoction made with sassafras bark, sarsaparilla root, and other herbs with sugar and yeast to make a naturally bubbly, probiotic soft drink.

Sassafras, sarsaparilla, ginger root, and birch all give the brew its distinctive flavor, but without the additives.

• Sassafras gives root beer its distinctive, slightly mint-like flavor, and is traditionally used to purify the blood in folk medicine.
• Sarsaparilla is traditionally used as a renal tonic and for the complexion.
• Ginger gives this root beer recipe a rich, fiery note. Herbalists use ginger to support cardiovascular and metabolic health, as well as for nausea and stomach upset.
• Licorice gives the recipe a subtle, anise-like sweetness that pairs well with sassafras. Licorice also supports adrenal health, and may be helpful in addressing hormonal imbalance in women.
• Dandelion Root adds the subtlest bitter note to the brew. Dandelion root also supports liver health.

We will make a ginger bug (the life of the root beer!) and learn how to combine various herbs, roots, and barks to make this yummy and healthy elixir.

We get to sample some finished product, plus everyone takes home a flip-top bottle of what we make in the class.