Root Beer Moonshine

[PCBBeachbum]

Anyone from Tennessee will probably know the brand "Sugarlands Shine". They make a root beer moonshine that is 35%/70 proof. It is the best I have found with an excellent root beer flavor. Has anyone been working on a recipe for something similar? It says it is neutral spirits with root beer flavoring and caramel coloring.

[MDH]

I'd do it like making gin. Make a neutral first, then put it in the still.

Then add the following herbs to the still: sasaparilla, sassafras, wintergreen leaf/berry, spearmint, cocoa nib or chicory root, cinnamon bark, star anise.

Distill all of this into a clear spirit, then add brown sugar and vanilla bean and age.

[PCBBeachbum]

How much of the herbs... tablespoons, teaspoons? Thanks!!

[MDH]

Sarsaparilla, to me, is the dominant rootbeer flavor. Gin is typically measured by grams of botanicals per liter of spirit at gin proof - 40-45%.

I don't have specific quantities. I'd say per every 1L of spirit, start with a large amount of Sarsaparilla, then slightly less of wintergreen or mint, then in smaller amounts anise, and after you've distilled this add vanilla bean to the spirit and then let it mellow for a few months in a warm cupboard somewhere.

Even just the basic ingredients of Sarsaparilla and mint together will get you a rootbeer like flavor. You can just start with this and make things more complex with experiment.

Keep the distillation slow as all of these herbs are quite oily and the tails will be cloudy.

[DeepSouth]

Just FYI, sassafras and safrole oil are banned as ingredients by the FDA now.

[just sayin]

The ATF banned moonshine. Dr. James Duke, author of Green Pharmacy put it in perspective, the safrole in root beer has 1/13th the cancer potential of the alcohol in beer.

[just sayin]

It has been years since I made "root beer", I don't know why it has been so long, I may have lost interest when I first saw a "root beer" in the liquor store. I thought I was the only one to have the idea I guess.

I started with 40 ABV neutral spirit and macerated young sassafras roots, sweet birch twigs, fennel seed, star anise, vanilla bean, a little ginger root if I remember correctly. I don't remember cinnamon, but my computer down so I can't access my files. The botanicals just stayed in the jar. I topped off the jar and added fresh botanicals as needed.
I kept playing with it until it was pretty good. The first time my daughter tried it she said, " Oh Daddy, that's delicious, that is just delicious!"

[WooTeck]

i made some a few years back on my first still. i just bought 20l of root beer cheap and dumped in yeats & sugar. fermented ok and tasted good from what i remeber. used to spike my bourbon cokes when swmbo draged me out to sub-par drinking astablishmenta

[Coonass]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm gonna add to it anyway! Here in South Louisiana we have Zataran's brand root beer concentrate. I cheated a bit and used the root beer concentrate and made an awesome root beer flavored moonshine. I added about 1/3 of 100 proof moonshine to my premade root beer then an extra teaspoon of the concentrate straight to the mixture. The result was awesome!! Tasted just like a good root beer with a hint of moonshine that'll still get you a good buzz!!

[contrahead]

Here in South Louisiana we have Zataran's brand root beer concentrate.

I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of alcoholic root beer two years ago and even mentioned it in a thread. I made it using a can of hopped liquid malt extract for the beer and flavored it with a little bottle of fake root beer extract concentrate. The root beer turned out OK, nothing fancy and I still have a couple bottles left. The beer was dry (it could have been sweetened by using a little lactose) and a little flat because I was a little overcautious with the priming sugar - hoping not to explode any bottles during secondary fermentation – as I have done in the past..

Had I distilled this batch rather than bottling it - it might have turned out to be very unique. My purpose in replying to this Root Beer Moonshine thread however, is to complain about the unpleasing and unusually persistent smell left behind by my particular fake root beer extract concentrate. I could not wash the odor out of my plastic fermentation bucket using soap or Clorox. I caught whiffs of the odor for several months afterwards. I've read that since the banning of sassafras (which contains safrole) that the dominant flavoring in many root beer soda pops became wintergreen.

I don't remember the brand name of the concentrate that I used and it is likely a different brand than your “Zataran's” root beer concentrate. Nowadays I can buy real sassafras and sarsaparilla at certain brew supply stores and earth-muffin type food stores. But if I lived near the state of pelicans and magnolia trees – I'd prefer to go out and find my own sassafras roots.

* Sarsaparilla is greenbrier type of climbing vine I believe, that originated in Central and South America. Well before the Revolutionary War sarsaparilla was being imported to North America in the same New England owned ships that imported Caribbean sugar. The sarsaparilla was considered important medicinally to treat many things – including arthritis and syphilis.

[cob]

I have successfully used root beer as mixer for neutral. quite tasty

[The Baker]

I have successfully used root beer as mixer for neutral. quite tasty

Might try that, my brother-in-law made a fairly nice alcoholic sarsaparilla (root beer, I think, in America);
it needs a bit of work but should be good then.
Based on a commercial product.
And he makes a better ginger beer, could try that too.
Geoff

[still_stirrin]

...And he makes a better ginger beer, could try that too.

Hmmmm....my thoughts here:

—> 1-1/2 oz vodka or neutral
—> 4 oz ginger beer
—> pour over cubed ice
—> add a lime slice

BINGO....a Moscow Mule!
.

FFC74241-1D9B-4E72-8C02-DFB1F8B8A2E0.jpeg

[Corsaire]

Tasty... but a dark n stormy is better still!

[contrahead]

Partial to a “Spicy Mule” here. It only requires that jalapeno and bitters be added.

spicy_mule3.jpg

[The Baker]

Thanks for the hints.

Geoff