This recipe really surprised me, for a couple of reasons. First was how powerful the anise is. My first taste of the root beer was overwhelmingly like black licorice. It took several tastings before I really started to experience the other flavors. While some folks loved the root beer on their first try, with others it took a while to grow on them. The one thing this root beer wasn’t is boring. It’s packed with flavor and complexity, and I was incredulous that I had actually made this from just roots.

The second reason it surprised me was because of how full-bodied it was. It wasn’t like cheap canned root beer, it was much more like fancy bottled root beer (think Henry Weinhard’s or Thomas Kemper), and maybe even more full-bodied than those. When I poured it, it had a nice creamy, frothy head that actually stuck around for quite some time, much more like beer than soda.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the final product, because as of this week, it’s all gone. The good news is that I get to iterate on the recipe. My plan for next time is to double the sassafras and halve the anise to try for a more balanced flavor. I’ll also do a better job of recording how much sweetener I used to make a more reproducible recipe. I am only dedicating a single keg (and serving setup) to my root beer endeavors because root beer’s flavor is so strong it basically sticks around in soft parts (keg o-rings, plastic fittings, tubing, and faucets) forever, and I don’t want it polluting my beer. I’ll make sure to post about Mk. III, which will probably come along pretty soon — I’m eager to continue the experiment!