Link to the free online book “Soda Fountain Beverages” by G.H Dubelle 1892: www.google.com/books/edition/Soda_Fountain_Beverages/ePdAAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=root%20beer
Thank you! I’m glad you like it. It’s fun to revive old recipe like this. I followed the recipe verbatim but after having made sodas for few years now I would add 1 ml of acid phosphate per drink. (NOT the full strength phosphoric acid used to clean pools, but the more neutralized one used for sodas.) 1ml of an acid would make the drink sparkle and greatly improves the flavor. You can find the stuff for sale on a few websites but this one does a good job of explaining what it is and it’s where I first learned of it. shop.artofdrink.com/products/acid-phosphate Enjoy!
Sprechers is good, an and w, barqs. Honestly I kind of like them all. I can’t think of one I dislike. I prefer less sweet ones though. I’ve made sarsaparilla using an old 1800s recipe and it’s my new favorite. It’s super simple. It has a nice clean brighter taste to it. vintageamericancocktails.com/sarsaparilla/
Yeah you can use the extract however. There was another root beer recipe I found called the Columbia root beer recipe, or something like that, and it had an extract too very similar to this one but it was fermented. I’m not sure about the sassafras flavoring. If the flavor is weak I would add more. Essential oil is very intense and most extracts and flavorings are 5-8% oil alcohol mixtures. If it is like that try using more and see what tastes right.
@@palomacampos2219 if the sassafras extract flavoring is an oil alcohol mixture use 12.5 mls or 2.5 tsp for a comparable substitute to the pure star anise oil in this recipe. Again play it by ear but that should be a comparable amount.
So all the recipes from that book were structured this way and I wanted to make them exactly as they were in the book but I don’t think I would make them that way again. I think the magnesium served 2 purposes. It helped clarify the extract and weight down any impurities and it neutralized any acids. I thought the magnesium was odd too at first. After making this video I later on found a recipe in that book where the author mentioned the magnesium helps clarify the extract. Also acid will break down oils over time so I think adding magnesium helps neutralize those acids and gives the extract a longer shelf life. There isn’t just one way to make soda flavors but the method that became the dominant style is the one John Pemberton (the creator of Coca Cola) used of making a 5% oil and ethanol mixture. That is the style I would go with today if you just want to make a soda. Sodas originated as a way to make medicines/tonic taste better by mixing them with soda water and sugar. The pemberton method lacks any medicinal qualities but it’s flavorful. Eventually the medicine element of sodas fell off and they just became tasty drinks. This world’s fair root beer recipe appears to be from that older time when they were still medicinal and the magnesium helps clear out any small bits. I shouldn’t have shaken the mixture and instead just let the magnesium settle at the bottom get the clarified root beer extract off the top. Here is a modern recipe that uses the pemberton method. Root beer essence: 90 ml 95% ethanol 2.5 ml coriander oil 1.25 ml star anise oil 1.25 ml lemon oil 0.5 ml wintergreen oil Then add 1.5 ml of this root beer essence to 1 kg of simple syrup Great question!
I was asked this on my website recently so I will copy-paste the answer I gave. Ah, a very good and simple question with a not very clear or simple answer. The problem is there is no one perfect supplier. There are many good essential oil suppliers but there are some crumby ones, and there are some cheap ones and some expensive ones. Fortunately, if an oil says it’s steam distilled or cold pressed and undiluted, then it probably is and I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Most oils are not too expensive so a bottle of cold-pressed lemon oil for 15-25 bucks is fine and most likely very high quality. Some though are very expensive. A 10 ml bottle of neroli or rose will never be less than 100 - 150 dollars. If you find a bottle of Neroli for less than that, it is for sure cut with other oils, but it will most likely say it is cut with other oils. In addition, there is no regulatory body overseeing essential oils. There are groups, such as the Essential Oil University, that will perform GCMS testing on oils and certify an oil’s level of purity, but submitting to groups like this is voluntary. The 2 main things to look for when buying oils are: 1). Only use cold press or steam-distilled oils. 2). Only use 100% pure oils. Never use oils cut with other oils. If you want to cover yourself find manufacturers that provide their GCMS oil test results. companies like Eden’s Garden and others do this, but those oils tend to come at a premium. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Lime or lemon oil for 15- 20 bucks is reasonable, but rose oil for 15-20 bucks? Impossible. You can find these oils online and 10-30 ml of pure essential oil will last you a long, long time. 10ml of an oil can fully flavor almost 2000 drinks. That’s over 5 years if you make 1 soda a day. Just to put the cost into perspective. By making your own syrups and sodas think of all the preservatives you are avoiding, but if buying oil stuff is a bit worrisome you can also make a homemade extract with the actual spices and peels. The essence recipes are 5% solutions but a standard extract will be 0.5%. just 10x each flavor for an extract replacing an essence. Instead of 0.5ml, use 5ml. just soak some nutmeg or lemon peels in vodka, add a teaspoon of each infusion, and call it a day. I hope this helps. Again it’s not a simple question to answer.
Can you update the app to include modern classics and change your categories for rum? White rum should be called silver rum, charcoal filtered or un-aged, gold should be called aged rum.
Wow! Im actually really happy someone is using it and messaging me back about it. I sometimes feel like I’m just projecting it into the ether. A few years back the rum section was much more split up. I had spiced rums and different years of aged rum, dark spiced, this and that, etc. The app even had a substitution ability where if you didn’t have the exact right item but one that was close enough it would list it as makable but with substitutions. The sub feature was added mostly because of rum. It started to get wildly out of hand specifically because rum has SO much nuance that other spirits don’t. Rum has always been the most difficult section to write for and I had to make a lot of generalization to keep it useable. Messing with the rum section too much scares me, but I’ll look into the names. I will add more modern classics, that’s in the plans. Originally I wanted to focus on only old recipes but over the years I’ve had a change of heart about that because there are many great modern drinks too. Thank you for the feedback. It makes me happy to know it’s being used!
@@VintageAmericanCocktailsI’m probably the one that still uses it. It would also be a game changer if you included more low abv, low calorie and non alcoholic drinks. I used the app to make the orgeat lemonade and it was great. I just want to point out that a mojito isn’t shaken, it swiveled. Anyways, great app.
![[Pepsi Syrup] Make The Original 1893 Pepsi - Clone Recipe](/img/n.gif)
Link to the free online book “Soda Fountain Beverages” by G.H Dubelle 1892:
www.google.com/books/edition/Soda_Fountain_Beverages/ePdAAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=root%20beer
As an Herbalist I already had all the ingredients so I made it, thank you it’s the best Root beer I’ve ever had.
Thank you! I’m glad you like it. It’s fun to revive old recipe like this. I followed the recipe verbatim but after having made sodas for few years now I would add 1 ml of acid phosphate per drink. (NOT the full strength phosphoric acid used to clean pools, but the more neutralized one used for sodas.) 1ml of an acid would make the drink sparkle and greatly improves the flavor.
You can find the stuff for sale on a few websites but this one does a good job of explaining what it is and it’s where I first learned of it.
shop.artofdrink.com/products/acid-phosphate
Enjoy!
This root beer tastes wonderful! I love the natural ingredients!
Thanks lady! Glad you liked it
Thank you so much for this recipe! I make my soda water with a Sparkle machine, citric acid and baking soda to charge. No carbon tanks needed!
Thanks for another awesome video and the link to the book. It'll be interesting to read it once I've got more free time
Glad you enjoyed it! It was a fun one to make.
Besides your homemade root beer, which commercial brand of root beer is your favorite?
Sprechers is good, an and w, barqs. Honestly I kind of like them all. I can’t think of one I dislike. I prefer less sweet ones though. I’ve made sarsaparilla using an old 1800s recipe and it’s my new favorite. It’s super simple. It has a nice clean brighter taste to it.
vintageamericancocktails.com/sarsaparilla/
Hi would I still be able to use sassafras flavoring for this recipe? And can I just use the extract without syrup for a hard root beer recipe
Yeah you can use the extract however. There was another root beer recipe I found called the Columbia root beer recipe, or something like that, and it had an extract too very similar to this one but it was fermented.
I’m not sure about the sassafras flavoring. If the flavor is weak I would add more. Essential oil is very intense and most extracts and flavorings are 5-8% oil alcohol mixtures. If it is like that try using more and see what tastes right.
Thank you so much I appreciate all the information. Thank you! ❤️
@@palomacampos2219 if the sassafras extract flavoring is an oil alcohol mixture use 12.5 mls or 2.5 tsp for a comparable substitute to the pure star anise oil in this recipe. Again play it by ear but that should be a comparable amount.
What is the Magnesium Carbonate for?
So all the recipes from that book were structured this way and I wanted to make them exactly as they were in the book but I don’t think I would make them that way again. I think the magnesium served 2 purposes. It helped clarify the extract and weight down any impurities and it neutralized any acids. I thought the magnesium was odd too at first. After making this video I later on found a recipe in that book where the author mentioned the magnesium helps clarify the extract. Also acid will break down oils over time so I think adding magnesium helps neutralize those acids and gives the extract a longer shelf life.
There isn’t just one way to make soda flavors but the method that became the dominant style is the one John Pemberton (the creator of Coca Cola) used of making a 5% oil and ethanol mixture. That is the style I would go with today if you just want to make a soda. Sodas originated as a way to make medicines/tonic taste better by mixing them with soda water and sugar. The pemberton method lacks any medicinal qualities but it’s flavorful. Eventually the medicine element of sodas fell off and they just became tasty drinks. This world’s fair root beer recipe appears to be from that older time when they were still medicinal and the magnesium helps clear out any small bits.
I shouldn’t have shaken the mixture and instead just let the magnesium settle at the bottom get the clarified root beer extract off the top. Here is a modern recipe that uses the pemberton method.
Root beer essence:
90 ml 95% ethanol
2.5 ml coriander oil
1.25 ml star anise oil
1.25 ml lemon oil
0.5 ml wintergreen oil
Then add 1.5 ml of this root beer essence to 1 kg of simple syrup
Great question!
Where do you get the flavouring oils?
I was asked this on my website recently so I will copy-paste the answer I gave.
Ah, a very good and simple question with a not very clear or simple answer. The problem is there is no one perfect supplier. There are many good essential oil suppliers but there are some crumby ones, and there are some cheap ones and some expensive ones. Fortunately, if an oil says it’s steam distilled or cold pressed and undiluted, then it probably is and I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Most oils are not too expensive so a bottle of cold-pressed lemon oil for 15-25 bucks is fine and most likely very high quality. Some though are very expensive. A 10 ml bottle of neroli or rose will never be less than 100 - 150 dollars. If you find a bottle of Neroli for less than that, it is for sure cut with other oils, but it will most likely say it is cut with other oils. In addition, there is no regulatory body overseeing essential oils. There are groups, such as the Essential Oil University, that will perform GCMS testing on oils and certify an oil’s level of purity, but submitting to groups like this is voluntary.
The 2 main things to look for when buying oils are: 1). Only use cold press or steam-distilled oils. 2). Only use 100% pure oils. Never use oils cut with other oils.
If you want to cover yourself find manufacturers that provide their GCMS oil test results. companies like Eden’s Garden and others do this, but those oils tend to come at a premium. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Lime or lemon oil for 15- 20 bucks is reasonable, but rose oil for 15-20 bucks? Impossible.
You can find these oils online and 10-30 ml of pure essential oil will last you a long, long time. 10ml of an oil can fully flavor almost 2000 drinks. That’s over 5 years if you make 1 soda a day. Just to put the cost into perspective.
By making your own syrups and sodas think of all the preservatives you are avoiding, but if buying oil stuff is a bit worrisome you can also make a homemade extract with the actual spices and peels. The essence recipes are 5% solutions but a standard extract will be 0.5%. just 10x each flavor for an extract replacing an essence. Instead of 0.5ml, use 5ml. just soak some nutmeg or lemon peels in vodka, add a teaspoon of each infusion, and call it a day.
I hope this helps. Again it’s not a simple question to answer.
Can you update the app to include modern classics and change your categories for rum? White rum should be called silver rum, charcoal filtered or un-aged, gold should be called aged rum.
Wow! Im actually really happy someone is using it and messaging me back about it. I sometimes feel like I’m just projecting it into the ether.
A few years back the rum section was much more split up. I had spiced rums and different years of aged rum, dark spiced, this and that, etc. The app even had a substitution ability where if you didn’t have the exact right item but one that was close enough it would list it as makable but with substitutions. The sub feature was added mostly because of rum. It started to get wildly out of hand specifically because rum has SO much nuance that other spirits don’t. Rum has always been the most difficult section to write for and I had to make a lot of generalization to keep it useable. Messing with the rum section too much scares me, but I’ll look into the names.
I will add more modern classics, that’s in the plans. Originally I wanted to focus on only old recipes but over the years I’ve had a change of heart about that because there are many great modern drinks too. Thank you for the feedback. It makes me happy to know it’s being used!
@@VintageAmericanCocktailsI’m probably the one that still uses it. It would also be a game changer if you included more low abv, low calorie and non alcoholic drinks. I used the app to make the orgeat lemonade and it was great. I just want to point out that a mojito isn’t shaken, it swiveled. Anyways, great app.