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The existence of rootbeer

GuybrushWilcoGuybrushWilco
edited September 2009 in General Chat
I happen to love rootbeer. I know it is featured in the Monkey Island games, and I know it is not common outside North America. Have any of you had rootbeer? Did you like it, or did it taste like mouth wash as some suggest?
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Comments

  • shrefshref
    edited September 2009
    never realized its not popular outside the us. i personally love it.
  • ScrawfflerScrawffler
    edited September 2009
    I've never had it. But yes, it is pretty unknown in the rest of the world. I live in the UK and have only ever spent 3 weeks of my life in the US.

    Not only does root beer make me think of Monkey Island, but I also associate it with the Peanuts comic strips, as it features in a lot of them too!
  • hansschmuckerhansschmucker
    edited September 2009
    Can't say I ever remember drinking it. In Germany we have something called "Malz Bier" for children, which is probably more or less the same. Might still taste different though because you usually don't find artificial aromas in Malz Bier.
  • guitarsareboringguitarsareboring
    edited September 2009
    I had one for the first time recently and found it very sweet but quite nice. Not something I could get hooked on but I'd drink it again.
  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited September 2009
    My mate loves it and imports it for an outlandish price, It's very very nice though :)
  • shrefshref
    edited September 2009
    so this thread made me want root beer really bad. and i went to the vending machines here at work looking for some and they dont carry it :( and theres 4 pop machines here...
  • JonJon Former Telltale Staff
    edited September 2009
    huh, i didn't realize Root Beer was mostly just in the US.
    what about Sarsaparilla (which is similar to Root Beer) or Birch Beer?
    i love Birch Beer and hate that you can't get it on the west coast.
  • hansschmuckerhansschmucker
    edited September 2009
    Birch beer sounds like "Kräuterlimonade" (herb lemonade). You can get it in Germany, but nobody would ever classify it as beer.
  • Thriftweed Fancy PantsThriftweed Fancy Pants
    edited September 2009
    Really?!

    Rootbeer is my favorite soda! I must share it's magnificance with the rest of the world!
  • wefeelgroovewefeelgroove
    edited September 2009
    Root beer floats are the best things in the world!
  • RawrRawr
    edited September 2009
    Nope, never tried it. As you say, it really isn't very popular outside of America. Even when I went to America I didn't try it mind you.

    Oh and I don't think I've heard of any of the others either, not looked for them though.
  • David EDavid E Telltale Alumni
    edited September 2009
    wefeelgroove wrote: »
    Root beer floats are the best things in the world!

    2258234559_79a6094b42.jpg

    Mmm...
  • hansschmuckerhansschmucker
    edited September 2009
    If that really was beer and you'd be in Germany, you'd hang from the nearest tree. Well, you'd probably hang for classifying rootbeer as beer anyway, so you can chose:
    Either
    a) Hang for calling a soda "beer"
    or
    b) (should you be able to convince anybody that rootbeer really is beer), hang for well, doing what I'm seeing in the picture above.
  • RawrRawr
    edited September 2009
    I have to admit... Mixing a Soda drink with Icecream.... What?

    Insanity...
  • wefeelgroovewefeelgroove
    edited September 2009
    If by insane you mean utterly delicious, then yes.
  • duduman56duduman56
    edited September 2009
    ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOT BEEEEEEEEEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    u r my 1 tru luv
  • hansschmuckerhansschmucker
    edited September 2009
    That's not the point. There's stuff you don't do to beer, even if it's just a soda that wants to be a beer. Actually I can see the rationale for calling soda beer, considering the similarity between soda and what passes as beer on some continents. Or as Monty Python put it: American beer is like making love in a canoe. :p
  • GuybrushWilcoGuybrushWilco
    edited September 2009
    Rootbeer floats are great :) I just wonder how anyone ever got the idea to put ice cream in root beer.
  • StrongBadinatorStrongBadinator
    edited September 2009
    "hey Phil! Whatca drinking?"

    "some root beer! Is that ice cream in you're hands, Carl?"

    "C'mon! What else do I eat on lunch break?"

    "good point. Why don't you sit next to me?"

    "Sure! Here I coooooOO{Carl trips}OOOooome! Ow!"

    "Carl You got ice cream in my Root Beer! Hmmm.....{takes a sip} holy crap! That's amazing!"

    ...........well, that's how I think it happened..
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited September 2009
    I'm pretty sure that using the name "root beer" for a non-alcoholic brewed drink came up as a result of prohibition, and just stuck, but I don't know. You're welcome to be needlessly offended either way. Sorry that a weird part of our nation's history left an odd cultural artifact behind. Scandalous.

    I enjoy your artibrary offense and veiled America bashing because we have a soft drink whicn includes the name "beer" and is mixed with ice cream, though. That's fun!

    For what its worth, root beer generally = anything brewed with sassafras (or, at this point a sassafras-like substance).
  • hansschmuckerhansschmucker
    edited September 2009
    I'm just teasing you. But all stereotypes aside, Germans love a good beer :)
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited September 2009
    hansschmucker wrote: »
    That's not the point. There's stuff you don't do to beer, even if it's just a soda that wants to be a beer. Actually I can see the rationale for calling soda beer, considering the similarity between soda and what passes as beer on some continents. Or as Monty Python put it: American beer is like making love in a canoe. :p

    ...root beer isn't beer or even trying to be. It's just amazing, and ice cream + root beer is possibly the greatest thing to have ever occurred in history.
  • ShaggEShaggE
    edited September 2009
    Root beer is to me as what Brett Favre is to John Madden.

    "You got your root, and you got your beer! I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I'm no quarterback, but, I mean, I mean, if I were, I'd be passing root beers to my team! BOOM! Right down the line! Here's a root beer! I mean, Root beer and turducken. Root beer... and turducken! It's an amazing thing!!"
  • hansschmuckerhansschmucker
    edited September 2009
    I got that by now. Although I have to admit that I initially thought it was more than just a soda. A few articles I found mentioned an alcoholic and a non-alcoholic variant, with the alcoholic one being an actual (low-alcohol) beer. But it seems that the non-alcoholic variant that's known as root beer today has nothing to do with the alcoholic version, other than the name (and the sassafras aroma).
  • IcedhopeIcedhope
    edited September 2009
    Man, now I want a rootbeer float.
  • RawrRawr
    edited September 2009
    I still don't think Ice Cream and Soda, Beer, whatever anyone wants to call it, should be mixed together. XD

    I suppose Dandelion and Burdock is a bit like Root Beer, as it's made from roots, not the same roots that are used to make Root Beer, however.
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited September 2009
    Rawr wrote: »
    I still don't think Ice Cream and Soda, Beer, whatever anyone wants to call it, should be mixed together. XD

    I suppose Dandelion and Burdock is a bit like Root Beer, as it's made from roots, not the same roots that are used to make Root Beer, however.

    If you actually had it, you'd change your mind instantly.

    And it's definitely soda, and definitely not beer, there is no speculation about that.
  • tredlowtredlow
    edited September 2009
    For me, rootbeer is one of those things that represents the pleasant things in life, as well as laughter, tiny babies, and chicken nuggets. Seriously, other soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi don't taste as sweet and heavenly as a tall glass of rootbeer.
  • LuigiHannLuigiHann
    edited September 2009
    Root Beer's taste seems to vary from brand to brand more than most other types of soda. I like them all, though. I find that generic store brand root beer tends to be excellent sometimes, especially for floats.
  • HaydenHayden
    edited September 2009
    If ghost pirates took over the world then I guess everywhere but North America would be in the ****! Hehe : )
  • Darth MarsdenDarth Marsden
    edited September 2009
    The thing that irritates me most is how tricky it is for me to track down where I live. In Asda they have 6-pack cans, and in Sainsbury's they have 2-litre bottles, but neither of those stores are particularly close to me, meaning that I can only get it as a 'treat'.

    Still bloody lovely though.
  • shrefshref
    edited September 2009
    just to clear it up no one in america thinks or refers to rootbeer as "beer" at all. before you mentioned an alcoholic version i had never even known there was one. rootbeer is drank in the same capacity as coke or pepsi, in that your just drinking it cuz your thirsty, it has NO alcohol. its not even drank for having the word "beer" in it. its just a good soda (or pop as i like to refer to it)
  • GuybrushWilcoGuybrushWilco
    edited September 2009
    Rootbeer is not a beer, or alcoholic and is considered neither by the general populace.
  • Jace TaranJace Taran
    edited September 2009
    Rootbeer floats were mentioned in SOMI by the cannibals. They said something about how it goes great with vanilla ice cream if you have any left over after ghost-killing. Rootbeer used to be my favorite soda, but I got kinda sick of it after a while. Now, I prefer Dr Pepper (when I get sick of that, it'll probably be back to rootbeer).
  • David EDavid E Telltale Alumni
    edited September 2009
    Why doesn't our vending machine have root beer? :(

    This thread is making me crave one (to the max).
  • shrefshref
    edited September 2009
    David E wrote: »
    Why doesn't our vending machine have root beer? :(

    This thread is making me crave one (to the max).

    you and me both...and im in the same boat as you...4 machines and no root beer. im definitely picking up a case of barq's tonight. cuz barq's has bite.
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited September 2009
    shref wrote: »
    you and me both...and im in the same boat as you...4 machines and no root beer. im definitely picking up a case of barq's tonight. cuz barq's has bite.

    Everyone knows it's all about the A&W.
  • David EDavid E Telltale Alumni
    edited September 2009
    Dad's!
  • ShaggEShaggE
    edited September 2009
    Pale Man wrote: »
    Everyone knows it's all about the A&W.

    Indeed. A&W is credit to team! (Sorry, been on a TF2 kick lately :p)
  • nikasaurnikasaur Telltale Alumni
    edited September 2009
    I very much enjoy a good root beer. I have to be in the mood for something a little off-kilter, but I think among sodas, it is one of my favorite.
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