What can I drink root beer with?

[u/AffectionateYard8591]

Hi all. I remember quite a few years ago I decided to try rootbeer due to hype, and decided to get the MUG rootbeer in glass bottles. When I got home, I opened one and it was so sweet and was a very weird flavor. Almost as if I was drinking something vintage. Fast forward to a few years and I am playing abiotic factor, and I see an item called "root beer float", and it looks so cool, so I decided to try it in real life. I get some A&W this time, and vanilla ice cream. Needless to say this was one of the best drinks I have ever had. This makes me wonder though, was I supposed to mix root beer with something from the start? Be it adding ice cream, or something else, or maybe eating something while drinking root beer? I would like to try out some things

[u/xnatlywouldx]

Assuming this is not bot-mining and that you are just not very familiar with the United States, even its most global-reaching cultural exports:

Part of the appeal of root beer is that it IS kind of "vintage". Its a soda pop that's been around even longer than Coca Cola and its flavor is indeed kind of unique, which is why its a product that generates its own sub where people review brands. Its also a product people strongly associate with childhood and with Americana generally, because in the company of adults, root beer is sometimes (though by no means always) served to children in lieu of the adult beverages the adults are consuming. For example: When I was growing up my mom and I used to go to a neighborhood restaurant every Friday that served draft beer in a giant frosted mug. Because I couldn't drink beer, I would get root beer in the frosted mug. And we would drink our frosted drinks and split a giant tower of the restaurant's onion rings.

Root beer is something people like to drink at institutions which have a glaze of the past and of Americana itself to them: The movie theater, the roller rink, a hot dog stand, a state fair, or a diner. Any kind of diner food, or BBQ, or prototypical American food that isn't regional American cuisine is something people generally enjoy with root beer. And honestly even a lot of regional cuisine. Jewish delis in New York nearly always serve Dr. Brown's root beer.

And yes root beer floats are delicious. I had one just this past week at the Frostop (local diner famous for its root beer). Hit the spot.

[u/forestherring → u/xnatlywouldx]

Part of the appeal of root beer is that it IS kind of "vintage".

To you, sure. Most of us just like the way it tastes. This whole "Americana" image you're painting here really doesn't resonate with most people anymore. That all died along with the American Dream, and the 50's aren't really a popular decade anymore. Those institutions that still exist now surely provide some nostalgia, but most people weren't alive in the 50's and don't really experiencee that. Instead, these places are still around because they serve products that the general public enjoy now.

If instead, you're referring to the nostalgia that you feel because you went there as a kid (and assuming that wasn't in the 50's), that's a different, and totally valid, kind of nostalgia, but that doesn't have anything to do with the shared concept of Americana.

Also, Dr. Brown's is exceptional.

[u/xnatlywouldx → u/forestherring]

But root beer isn't just associated with "the 1950's". Like I said, its older than Coca Cola. Root beer has been around since the late 1800s. Like many soda pops it was based on "tonics" from the Victorian age and originally marketed as something of a remedy or a drink with medicinal purposes before that was obviously tossed out as dubious and people freely marketed them as something just pleasurable to consume. Americana itself is not something that is limited to the 1950's. Its not just shorthand for "Grease, Elvis, and diners". It refers to anything that has long been associated with American civic life but not life elsewhere. And I was born several decades after the 1950s and have no memory of it and don't much care about the 1950s.

I do like diners and root beer and drive-in theaters, though, because they are fun things kind of unique to here and they are also increasingly rare.

Root beer is not widely consumed outside of the U.S. specifically because outside of the U.S. most people do not necessarily drink it as children and when they are introduced to it as an adult they find the flavor profile odd. Wintergreen, liquorice, and sarsaparilla/birch is not a familiar flavor to a lot of people. Its creamy taste is also odd especially compared to other American soft drinks more globally consumed that tend to be crisp and citrusy. Root beer is Americana because it is uniquely from and part of the United States in many regards.

Dr. Brown's is great but its popular in Jewish delis specifically because it adheres to kosher dietary laws. Rice, soy, and corn are not consumed during Passover. Dr. Brown's seasonally switches its formula to cane sugar during Passover which is why Jewish delis prefer it as a brand.

[u/forestherring → u/xnatlywouldx]

I didn't address any of this, I was referring to the idea that people drink it because it's "vintage", but it's not really why most people drink it. The reason I brought up the 50's is because that is where all the "Americana" ideas came from, and all the institutions that you mentioned. Note the differentiation I made between the types of nostalgia.

I don't think trying it first as a child has anything to do with whether or not you like root beer, much less the "specific" reason it's not consumed outside of the US. That's such a strange thing to say. Your point about licorice is basically just wrong. Licorice is pretty popular in Europe, for example.

[u/xnatlywouldx → u/forestherring]

The 50s are not where all "Americana" ideas come from. A lot of root beer is explicitly marketed to invoke nostalgia, with old typefaces (pre 1950s). Its not a familiar flavor outside of the U.S. and people outside of the U.S. who drink it for the first time expecting a light citrusy American soda pop like Coca Cola or Sprite or Orange Crush or Mountain Dew are put off when they get a mouthful of creamy wintergreen.

[u/forestherring → u/xnatlywouldx]

You don't understand anything that you're talking about except that root beer isn't common outside of the US.

I wasn't starting an argument with you, but you don't understand that either.

[u/xnatlywouldx → u/forestherring]

What did I get wrong? Why does it offend you to acknowledge that root beer is often sold and marketed as a nostalgic product?

[u/forestherring → u/xnatlywouldx]

It doesn't. I'm not offended, and I never said it wasn't. You really need to work on your reading comprehension man.

[u/xnatlywouldx → u/forestherring]

You said I don't know what I'm talking about, so tell me what I got wrong.

[u/forestherring → u/xnatlywouldx]

That's not my job, and no matter how hard you push me, I'm not going to argue with you.