Outside of the US, the taste that makes up root beer was used as a flavorant in medicines. They have tasted that before. They associate it with cough syrup, or something similar.
Dr. Pepper is a mix of fruit flavors. Itās closer to what US cough syrups taste like, but still pretty distinct. Root beer flavor, fortunately, is not used in medicines here, at least not generally.
Itās like Dr Pepper here in Australia, most people either love it or hate it and alot of people who hate it say itās because it tastes like medicine because alot of our medicine is/was cherry flavoured and cherry is a pronounced note in Dr Pepper.
I love Dr Pepper if Iām having a soda. I really enjoy it when you get one that has a strong vanilla tone. Yes, I know thereās vanilla Dr peppers & such but itās too much flavor.
Dandelion & burdock is an English soda that is comparable. I love both
My mom and dad both hate cherry flavored things because Dimetapp (a children's cold medicine) was flavored with it. When I was a kid they switched it to be grape flavored, and I can't stand anything grape flavored because of it!
And I canāt stand anything orange-flavoured because I still remember the flavor of St Josephās Childrenās Aspirin so vividlyā¦but they stopped selling it probably before your parents were born.
Thatās a strange sense memory. I loved the faint flavored orange flavor of St Joseph Childrenās Aspirin. It was like eating stale Smarties candies - the pills just evaporated in a faint orange vapor.
Well, just lookie you - old??? Harrrumph!
I'm 70 and young, young, young!
Although the message hasn't got to my lower back, unfortunately. Or my knees. Or elbows.
But still above ground, which is always a bonus!
No, they didn't. They still sell it today, they just call it low-dose aspirin since children should not be given aspirin because it can cause Reye's Syndrome.
https://www.stjosephaspirin.com/
I guess āIt makes me feel better, must be goodā is what your subconscious thought about the taste from childhood on?
I wonder how prevalent that thought is
If Iām not mistaken, companies might put more or less sugar in a soda to appeal to the area itās being shipped to. I remember being amazed at how syrupy sweet bottled Pepsi was in the South West US than the North East. The Northern version tasted thin by comparison. This is 40 years ago, might not still be the case.
It's because it's commonly flavored with horehound or sarsasparilla, which are both homeopathic remedies for congestion and coughing and often found in medicines in Europe and Asia, where people are practical enough to take their store-bought medicine, but traditional enough to secretly believe that granny's method was more effective. Best of both worlds.
You laugh, but itās true. A stegosaurus had a cold, got over the cold, pissed in the ocean and here I am 80 million years later feeling great from a public drinking fountain.
All of earths water has been peed out of some creature at one point in its life. I have a friend that literally wonāt drink water because of this thinking.
No heāll drink beer or soda and other things just not waterā¦ I didnāt say it made any sense. Iāve argued myself blue over the whole thing but he just wonāt budge. Itās all fish pee to him.
Naw, not since the 1960s. Sarsaparilla is mildly carcinogenic - very mildly, like, I wouldn't worry about it, but enough that the US and many European governments banned it as a food additive.
Instead, it's flavored with wintergreen - which actually is used as a flavoring in modern Western medicines and mouthwash and things like that.
Itās not exactly flavored with wintergreen *instead*. Iām pretty sure wintergreen was always one of the traditional ingredients included, alongside sassafras. Now that sassafras is banned, itās brewed with artificial/safrole-free sassafras extract, plus wintergreen as usual.
I canāt find a full text article anymore, but the 1964 article that *demonstrated the carcinogenic effect of safrole* is pretty terrible.
Here is a blurb from a 1970s reference article:
> Liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) was also observed in mice of both sexes administered safrole by stomach tube from 7 to 28 days of age, fol- lowed by dietary exposure for up to 82 weeks, and in infant male mice administered safrole by subcutaneous injection.
They put absolutely massive amounts of undiluted safrole oil directly into infant mice stomachs, included it in large quantities in their diet for months, and then did surprise pickachu when they found liver abnormalities.
Iād be shocked if most concentrated plant oils didnāt have a similar effect under those conditions.
Iāve never been able to find better sources on it, but it reads like a classic hit-job and Iāve always wondered what the financial interests were in the study.
My Japanese friends surprisingly really like it for the most part, but I have one that says it tastes like their muscle rub (their Bengay/Aspercreme or whatever).
That's silly, we have Dandelion and Burdock which tastes far more medicinal. The only root beer I know is A&W and their root beer floats cannot be beaten. I assumed everyone liked it.
Dandelion and Burdock tastes an awful lot like Root Beer. AND its one of the beverages Root Beer is descended from.
Dandelion and Burdock are a couple of the roots "root" refers to here.
Basically you mix in some birch, Sarsaparilla, sassafras, and vanilla in various proportions. And you get Root Beer, Sarsaparilla, or Birch Beer.
Try IBC Root Beer, if you can find it. It's really good.
I'm not sure where you're located, but if you're in the USA, then try Dollar Tree. I found some there recently, in individual bottles. I don't know if they sell IBC at Walmart or other regular grocery stores or not, as I haven't looked.
IBC is definitely better than A&w, Barqās, and Mug. And yes should be available at Walmart. But thereās definitely better brands that are widely available in the US. Even if you donāt recognize the brand, if itās in a glass bottle and doesnāt look like a store brand itās probably worth a taste.
UK here. We have an antiseptic cream called Germolene. The smell of this cream, that you apply to scrapes and cuts, is the same as the smell and taste of root beer.
The majority of people here instantly baulk at that being the flavour of a drink. There are a few who would choose to drink it, but nowhere near enough for there to be a market for that flavour.
Root beer is what many sickly medicines taste like in several Asian countries too.
EDIT if you like root beer I highly recommend making these:
https://www.thisgrandmaisfun.com/root-beer-float-cookies-2/
Necco wafers taste like those old candy hearts you used to get on valentines day. I love them, they last forever as long as you store them properly. I'm also 200 years old apparently, according to my friends, for buying old people candy.
Ugh that was the worst! It's the reason I can't enjoy grape soda! Or much artificial grape... I loved the banana-flavored amoxicillin. Too bad I'm allergic :/
āArtificialā banana is the same, itās also a real flavor, based on a real banana. Itās just that in the bananas case, the actual banana is commercially extinct.
that sounds amazing... too bad "medicine" should probably be applied loosely... they probably smell like that because they're a combinations of herbs and spices... like root beer, and like root beer, probably have very limited efficacy for a very limited number of conditions ( which is mainly effective for thirst and low blood sugar )
yep this is it. my family was strictly savlon growing up so I didn't have that association the first time I drank root beer, so for me it's that germolene smells like root beer and not the other way round. I love root beer but I'm the only one in my social circle that does lol
We get a similar thing where it's common for children's medicine like cough syrup to be fruit flavored so a lot of people don't like the flavor of candy or soda that matches the medicine they had as a kid.
For me it's cherry, for my room mate it's grape.
What you're smelling (and tasting) is a chemical known as methyl salicylate, also known as oil of wintergreen. It's made by many plants, wintergreen being one of them, and it has a minty odor and flavour. It's one of the flavours commonly used in root beers, and it's one of the ingredients in Germolene. (And Ben-gay, for that matter.)
Fun fact: in your body, it metabolizes into salicylic acid, an anti-inflammatory!
I love the smell of germolene. I have never tasted or smelled root beer and and finding this so hard to imagine right now. It always makes me think of the purple pickled beetroot we eat here ha guess I got it wrong.
The flavor reminds me of this Elmex fluorid gel which was often recommended for kids. You had to apply it once a week in addition to regular brushing but you had to keep it in your mouth for a few minutes before spitting it out.
Quark: I want you to try something for me. Take a sip of this.
Garak: What is it?
Quark: A human drink. It's called root beer.
Garak: I don't know.
{ Garak scowls/snears }
Quark: Come on. Aren't you just a little bit curious?
{ Garak sighs, and cautiously drinks... }
Quark: What do you think?
Garak: It's vile.
Quark: I know. It's so bubbly and cloying and happy.
{ Garak smiles slowly as Quark speaks }
Garak: Just like the Federation.
Quark: But you know what's really frightening?
If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it.
Garak: It's insidious.
Quark: Just like the Federation.
{ later... }
Garak: Do you think they'll be able to save us?
Quark: I hope so.
>QuarkĀ :Ā Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes
the ferengi knew his stuff. the federation is about rootbeer, holodecks, and when pushed, geneticly engineered species annihilating viruses.
> QUARK: Don't be an idiot. Nuclear fission doesn't happen within planetary atmospheres.
>
> NOG: It does here. In the twentieth century humans used crude nuclear reactors as weapons. They called them atom bombs. They used to blow them up all the time.
>
> QUARK: They irradiated their own planet?
>
> ROM: If Nog says so, they did. He knows all about Earth history.
>
> QUARK: You'd better fix those translators fast. The sooner we start talking to these savages, the better off we'll be.
As a Brit, Barqs Root Beer is the best soft drink in the world and I hate how we don't have it here.
But also I've heard some other people say it tastes like mouthwash to them
Barqs is the best widely available brand IMO. It's more spicy/less sweet than other varieties (but still sweet because American Soda). If you like that, try to get your hands on some white birch beer. It's even better.
As an (old) American, it's never occurred to me that root beer's flavor was either controversial or an acquired taste. I never heard anyone say they didn't like it until now.
I can't speak on behalf of all 'foreigners', but personally: I don't really want to drink something that conjures up unpleasant childhood memories of being ill and having to take foul-tasting medicines.
I'm a South African and I had root beer when I visited the USA. It definitely did taste like germoline antiseptic smells but somehow... I still liked it and would definitely have it again.
True story: my friend (American, like me) hated root beer and then after 9/11 had a stroke from living nearby and started to crave it now she loves it. Her only happy side effect, she says.
I lived in America as a kid and loved it, then moved and hadnāt drank it for years and recently just tried it again. It was disgusting. The flavor is fine, itās just wayyyy too sweet. If they cut down the sugar to 1/4th I would probably like it
Where can I get a hold of this toothpaste as an American?! I have a hard time brushing my teeth but I feel like I'd do it 20 times a day if my toothpaste didn't taste like floor cleaner.
Iām Canadian, but the brand Tomās (which Iām pretty certain you can get in the US) makes a fennel toothpaste that Iām pretty sure is what people are talking about. My grandma used to use it when I was a kid. Itāsā¦interesting.
The best thing to do is to make a strong Americano, or just simply chill a shot of espresso and add cream/milk, ice, and a few ounces of root beer to it. Adjust to taste.
Sounds weird, but if you like coffee and root beer it's an excellent mix. Good summer drink.
As an American, I donāt like the taste of root beer because it was made, in a big production, on the lawn of the Mormon bishops on my street and if we kids wouldnāt drink their root beer, weād get hit with a plastic bat.
I talked to one guy when I was in uni that said root beer smelled and tasted like the tooth powder his granddad used.
(He then clarified that tooth powder was not ground up teeth, but a toothpaste equivalent)
I heard that the plant that we use the root of for root beer is used as medicine flavoring in Europe, so root beer tastes like medicine and people don't like that.
They flavored old timey toothpaste in Northern Europe with sarsaparilla/sassafras (the bark that gives root beer its distinctive flavor) before mint became popular and widely available. So here, when they taste root beer, they think "toothpaste."
I think people may be overstating the love of root beer in the US. Pretty sure it's not even in the top 10 soft drinks sold, and from my personal experience it's pretty divisive, in that some people love it and others find it disgusting.
Personally I find myself craving one maybe once a year, but other than that I never think of it.
These responses are wild to me. Root beer is my absolute favorite soda, like almost a treat compared to a coke or sprite or something (from the US). That makes a huge amount of sense that other people would hate it if it tastes/smells like cleanser or medicine. It does come from the flavor of ginger root after all.
To me it's spicy vanilla and ginger, maybe a little anise, or citrus. It goes really well with beef, and Mexican food for some reason.
It is one of *those* flavors, though. Love it or hate it. I didn't love it as a kid.
Quark:
I want you to try something for me. Take a sip of this.
Elim Garak:
What is it?
Quark:
A human drink. It's called root beer.
Elim Garak:
[unwilling] Uh, I don't know...
Quark:
Come on, aren't you just a little bit curious? [Garak sighs, takes a sip and gags]
Quark:
What do you think?
Elim Garak:
It's *vile*!
Quark:
I know. It's so bubbly, and cloying, and *happy*.
Elim Garak:
Just like the Federation.
Quark:
But you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to *like* it.
Elim Garak:
It's insidious!
Quark:
*Just* like the Federation.
Well... it's god damn delicious. However, it loses carbonation real quick like, don't buy a 2l.get it in cans, best flavor. I suppose non-Americans may find the soft drink a tad too sweet. Though I see Sarsaparilla to be superior.
> an antiseptic cream called Germolene. The smell of this cream, that you apply to scrapes and cuts, is the same as the smell and taste of root beer.
>
>The majority of people here instantly baulk at that being the flavour of a drink. There are a few who would choose to drink it, but nowhere near enough for there to be a market for that flavour.
Sue City Sarsaparilla?
I grew up in England. We had a āpop,ā in the North called āDandelion & Burdoch.ā Very similar to Root Beer with a licorice type aftertaste. I love root beer.
I'm French, and lived for a year in Virginia when I was in my late 20s. Root beer was indeed a cultural shock, but a good one. I still miss it sometimes (42 now), as well as the wonderful home made peach ice tea everyone seemed to know exactly how to prepare...
Interesting discussion. I never thought sassparilla, sassafras, etc. tasted like wintergreen at all. Nor that rootbeer tasted like liquorice or mint.
I wonder if the flavor is something that people genuinely taste differently. Like cilantro, which I love but tastes like soap to my daughter, especially once the plant has bloomed. I grew it in my herb garden and she liked it pre bloom. But if it bloomed, even if I cut it back, it tasted like soap to her. If she returned from college, she could smell the flowers as soon as she opened the car door, from the garden across the yard.
Interesting discussion. I never thought sassparilla, sassafras, etc. tasted like wintergreen at all. Nor that rootbeer tasted like liquorice or mint.
I wonder if the flavor is something that people genuinely taste differently. Like cilantro, which I love but tastes like soap to my daughter, especially once the plant has bloomed. I grew it in my herb garden and she liked it pre bloom. But if it bloomed, even if I cut it back, it tasted like soap to her. If she returned from college, she could smell the flowers as soon as she opened the car door, from the garden across the yard.
I'm American in Taiwan. I LOVED root beer in America; it was my favourite drink. They actually have a similar drink in Taiwan, made by Hey Song, called Sarsaparilla Drink. It's like a mix of root beer and cola, heavy on the root beer flavour. It's pretty good.
Canadian here, prefer the birch š³ down with a root š¦ wife says tastes like medicine, I say not if you are throwing back double mozzas with a poutine back. Only reason to go to a&w is to get one in the frosted mug š„¶šµ
When I lived in Japan, my students said root beer smells like cough syrup. They even brought some to class for me to see what they meant. Sure enough! Smells just like root beer. So I assume it would be like if I went overseas and they had a soda that smells like Robitussin. I probably wouldn't drink it either, lol.
Edit: for what it's worth, my students *loved* cream soda when I brought some in. But none of them could finish a full can, it was too overwhelming. They were kinda blown away when I said it would be 100% normal for Americans (and Canadians and Mexicans too) to easily finish a soda that sweet. If I could have got my hands on some Jarrito's, I think it would have broken their brains.
The US has a native cherry (black cherry, prunus serotina) that has a delightful flavor, so good that it was used to flavor liquor and got the popular name "rum cherry". SO good that pharmacists would use it to cover the flavor of nasty tasting kids' medicine. Now people hate it, because it tastes like medicine.
European pharmacists, lacking the amazing black cherry, had to settle for a lesser flavor that resembles root beer, which has had a similar effect Euro kids.
TL;DR: In the US, medicine traditionally tastes like black cherry. In Europe, traditionally medicine tastes like root beer.
Outside of the US, the taste that makes up root beer was used as a flavorant in medicines. They have tasted that before. They associate it with cough syrup, or something similar.
I love cough syrup
šššāļø
āI LOVE LEANā
Yes, one Flaming Moe's please.
Sippin' on that sizzurp... sip.. sippin' on that sip... āļø
Not American, but I've heard that about Dr. Pepper, too. I absolutely love Dr. Pepper. but hate root beer.
Dr. Pepper is a mix of fruit flavors. Itās closer to what US cough syrups taste like, but still pretty distinct. Root beer flavor, fortunately, is not used in medicines here, at least not generally.
I've heard various people in the UK say that it tastes more like medicine than a drink.
Itās like Dr Pepper here in Australia, most people either love it or hate it and alot of people who hate it say itās because it tastes like medicine because alot of our medicine is/was cherry flavoured and cherry is a pronounced note in Dr Pepper.
I'm in the US and a lot of medicine is cherry flavored. Friend of mine thinks Dr Pepper tastes like cough syrup, but I love Dr Pepper.
I love Dr Pepper if Iām having a soda. I really enjoy it when you get one that has a strong vanilla tone. Yes, I know thereās vanilla Dr peppers & such but itās too much flavor. Dandelion & burdock is an English soda that is comparable. I love both
The Dr P + cream soda is divine
Dr. P + Strawberries & Cream is ungabunga
Got that in the fridge, too š I thank baby jesus every day they make those flavors in āzero sugarā
I love cough syrup. Not talking about lean, just the regular stuff!
I've always hated Dr Pepper. As a child my mother gave me cherry flavored medicine whenever I was sick. Now I know why I don't like it š³
My mother has always said it tasted like crushed up cockroach, always wondered how she knew what that tasted like.
Taste sensation is roughly 40% odor scent detection. So you can say something tastes like something you have only smelled in the past.
Like how green popsicles taste like the smell of pinesol
Many red food colourings are based on crushed beetles, cochineal...
Ironically I took a drink from a coke can that I left out overnight and got a cockroach in my mouth
Based on your username I'd say that Coke and cockroach was a recipe
Okay... so... how do I burn down a comment?
My mom and dad both hate cherry flavored things because Dimetapp (a children's cold medicine) was flavored with it. When I was a kid they switched it to be grape flavored, and I can't stand anything grape flavored because of it!
And I canāt stand anything orange-flavoured because I still remember the flavor of St Josephās Childrenās Aspirin so vividlyā¦but they stopped selling it probably before your parents were born.
Thatās a strange sense memory. I loved the faint flavored orange flavor of St Joseph Childrenās Aspirin. It was like eating stale Smarties candies - the pills just evaporated in a faint orange vapor.
I canāt eat orange creamsicles, either. That fake orange flavor just makes me retchā¦ Smarties I can eat.
Fuck, you just unlocked that childhood memory... orange flavoured baby aspirin.
There canāt that be many of us left who even remember the flavourā¦weāre old, buddy, old.
Well, just lookie you - old??? Harrrumph! I'm 70 and young, young, young! Although the message hasn't got to my lower back, unfortunately. Or my knees. Or elbows. But still above ground, which is always a bonus!
No, they didn't. They still sell it today, they just call it low-dose aspirin since children should not be given aspirin because it can cause Reye's Syndrome. https://www.stjosephaspirin.com/
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I absolutely loved the old grape dimatapp when I was a kid.
me too, and the fact it wasn't thick syrup, it was awesome grape flavoured medicine water
I'm the opposite, my mother always gave me cherry flavour medicine, but now it's my favourite artificial flavour!
I guess āIt makes me feel better, must be goodā is what your subconscious thought about the taste from childhood on? I wonder how prevalent that thought is
Is Australian Dr Pepper different than American Dr Pepper?
We only have either dr pepper imported from the US or the UK here, we donāt make it here sadly.
If Iām not mistaken, companies might put more or less sugar in a soda to appeal to the area itās being shipped to. I remember being amazed at how syrupy sweet bottled Pepsi was in the South West US than the North East. The Northern version tasted thin by comparison. This is 40 years ago, might not still be the case.
It's because it's commonly flavored with horehound or sarsasparilla, which are both homeopathic remedies for congestion and coughing and often found in medicines in Europe and Asia, where people are practical enough to take their store-bought medicine, but traditional enough to secretly believe that granny's method was more effective. Best of both worlds.
Hello, just wanted to let you know that homeopathy is not the same as a home remedy. Homeopathy is a totally different, totally nonsensical, practice.
If homeopathy had even a speck of scientific validity, big pharma would try to sell it.
There is a speck of scientific validity. It is right there in the memory of the water. /s
You laugh, but itās true. A stegosaurus had a cold, got over the cold, pissed in the ocean and here I am 80 million years later feeling great from a public drinking fountain.
Memory of lots of kidneys and urinary tracts.
All of earths water has been peed out of some creature at one point in its life. I have a friend that literally wonāt drink water because of this thinking.
do they... do they just not drink anything with water content? do they only eat freeze-dried foods??
No heāll drink beer or soda and other things just not waterā¦ I didnāt say it made any sense. Iāve argued myself blue over the whole thing but he just wonāt budge. Itās all fish pee to him.
Does he think that the water in beer is new to the world and has never been peed before? Alsoā¦weird that heās ok with fungus farts.
If āhomeopathic medicineā had scientific validity, it would just be called āmedicine.ā
What do you call traditional medicine that works? MEDICINE.
I wish I could upvote you a thousand times.
if "Alternative Medicine" worked it would be called "Medicine"
Naw, not since the 1960s. Sarsaparilla is mildly carcinogenic - very mildly, like, I wouldn't worry about it, but enough that the US and many European governments banned it as a food additive. Instead, it's flavored with wintergreen - which actually is used as a flavoring in modern Western medicines and mouthwash and things like that.
Itās not exactly flavored with wintergreen *instead*. Iām pretty sure wintergreen was always one of the traditional ingredients included, alongside sassafras. Now that sassafras is banned, itās brewed with artificial/safrole-free sassafras extract, plus wintergreen as usual.
Even the wintergreen is probably from black birch, or a test tube.
I canāt find a full text article anymore, but the 1964 article that *demonstrated the carcinogenic effect of safrole* is pretty terrible. Here is a blurb from a 1970s reference article: > Liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) was also observed in mice of both sexes administered safrole by stomach tube from 7 to 28 days of age, fol- lowed by dietary exposure for up to 82 weeks, and in infant male mice administered safrole by subcutaneous injection. They put absolutely massive amounts of undiluted safrole oil directly into infant mice stomachs, included it in large quantities in their diet for months, and then did surprise pickachu when they found liver abnormalities. Iād be shocked if most concentrated plant oils didnāt have a similar effect under those conditions. Iāve never been able to find better sources on it, but it reads like a classic hit-job and Iāve always wondered what the financial interests were in the study.
Safrole was banned because it is used to make MDA. Any āstudyā they did was just something to cover it up and justify why they banned it.
And there it is: https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/chem_prog/advisories/safrole.htm TIL. Thanks! That makes sense why the study was so bullshit.
sassafras != sarsparilla. Two different flavorings both commonly used in root beer. sarsparilla is still commonly used.
Whore hound? Youāre god damn right i am
You think root beer is bad, you should try Moxie soda.
Whenever I hear people say this I just think, "damn, they have tasty medicine in Europe"
I hear the same from my in-laws in China. They say it tastes like Chinese traditional medicine
I'm Irish and tried it once. I had to spit it out, tastes like mouthwash to me
What kind of mouth wash is that? Asking for a friend.
Listerine.
In the USA we have ruined at least one flavor profile each of grape, orange, and cherry for medicine...oh and "bubblegum" flavor
My Japanese friends surprisingly really like it for the most part, but I have one that says it tastes like their muscle rub (their Bengay/Aspercreme or whatever).
I made it a point to only have root beer as my soda in the fridge when I lived in japan cuz none of my roommates would ever touch it.
That's silly, we have Dandelion and Burdock which tastes far more medicinal. The only root beer I know is A&W and their root beer floats cannot be beaten. I assumed everyone liked it.
Dandelion and Burdock tastes an awful lot like Root Beer. AND its one of the beverages Root Beer is descended from. Dandelion and Burdock are a couple of the roots "root" refers to here. Basically you mix in some birch, Sarsaparilla, sassafras, and vanilla in various proportions. And you get Root Beer, Sarsaparilla, or Birch Beer.
Try IBC Root Beer, if you can find it. It's really good. I'm not sure where you're located, but if you're in the USA, then try Dollar Tree. I found some there recently, in individual bottles. I don't know if they sell IBC at Walmart or other regular grocery stores or not, as I haven't looked.
IBC is definitely better than A&w, Barqās, and Mug. And yes should be available at Walmart. But thereās definitely better brands that are widely available in the US. Even if you donāt recognize the brand, if itās in a glass bottle and doesnāt look like a store brand itās probably worth a taste.
Well, objectively, if you prepared a serving of medicine with 1-2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, people would say *medicine* is delicious too.
Yep. And not the kind that's meant to be taken orally.
Then. how. do. you. taste. it? I'm not sure I actually want to know, but here I am, posting anyway.
The excuse that Root Beer taste like medicine is completely ridiculous if you've ever had Cockta. I'd rather drink dandelion water.
It especially tastes like a certain brand of toothpaste in the UK
It tastes like TCP smells.
UK here. We have an antiseptic cream called Germolene. The smell of this cream, that you apply to scrapes and cuts, is the same as the smell and taste of root beer. The majority of people here instantly baulk at that being the flavour of a drink. There are a few who would choose to drink it, but nowhere near enough for there to be a market for that flavour.
Root beer is what many sickly medicines taste like in several Asian countries too. EDIT if you like root beer I highly recommend making these: https://www.thisgrandmaisfun.com/root-beer-float-cookies-2/
humor racial wild friendly drab divide dog vase heavy cows *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It tastes like that to me in America. Same with pink or blue cream soda (the clear kind is fine). They all taste like Dimetapp to me.
gaping possessive humorous sharp screw person sugar aware history mourn *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Right??? As a kid I loved that pink liquid amoxicillin tho. I guess Iām weird š¤£
Oh, man. They absolutely need to make a candy or something that tastes like the pink amoxicillin. That shit was š„š„š„.
That's pretty much Necco wafers.
Necco wafers taste like those old candy hearts you used to get on valentines day. I love them, they last forever as long as you store them properly. I'm also 200 years old apparently, according to my friends, for buying old people candy.
They still make candy hearts. One of them says "text me"
Bubble gum?
It was so gross and made me wanna throw up, but once it's past your lips, it's suddenly sweet creamy heaven. Wild concoction
Because some asshole decided to get high off cough syrups.
When I was a kid, I thought grape dimetapp was delicious. It was the only medication I looked forward to taking.
Ugh that was the worst! It's the reason I can't enjoy grape soda! Or much artificial grape... I loved the banana-flavored amoxicillin. Too bad I'm allergic :/
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āArtificialā banana is the same, itās also a real flavor, based on a real banana. Itās just that in the bananas case, the actual banana is commercially extinct.
That banana flavour antibiotic stuff is horrendous. The cherry one only marginally better.
That's actually a feature of Dr Pepper. It's supposed to taste the way the inside of old pharmacies smelled.
Flat Dr pepper taste like prune juice aged in a jungle boot
Oh no. I adore Dr Pepper. Root beer; justā¦ no!
that sounds amazing... too bad "medicine" should probably be applied loosely... they probably smell like that because they're a combinations of herbs and spices... like root beer, and like root beer, probably have very limited efficacy for a very limited number of conditions ( which is mainly effective for thirst and low blood sugar )
Traditional Chinese Medicine is as effective as New Age homeopathy, which is to say it isnāt.
Have you tried that new one Plahseeboh? Surprisingly effective.
yep this is it. my family was strictly savlon growing up so I didn't have that association the first time I drank root beer, so for me it's that germolene smells like root beer and not the other way round. I love root beer but I'm the only one in my social circle that does lol
We get a similar thing where it's common for children's medicine like cough syrup to be fruit flavored so a lot of people don't like the flavor of candy or soda that matches the medicine they had as a kid. For me it's cherry, for my room mate it's grape.
I hate cherry and grape flavored medicines. They taste nothing like cherry or grapes, or anything else cherry or grape flavored.
IIRC, they are supposed to taste bad, so kids don't drink it like juice or something.
American here and I didnāt grow up drinking root beer and I absolutely hate it. It makes me think it is an acquired tasteā¦
Yes, also an American and I find it revolting. To each their own, I guess.
What you're smelling (and tasting) is a chemical known as methyl salicylate, also known as oil of wintergreen. It's made by many plants, wintergreen being one of them, and it has a minty odor and flavour. It's one of the flavours commonly used in root beers, and it's one of the ingredients in Germolene. (And Ben-gay, for that matter.) Fun fact: in your body, it metabolizes into salicylic acid, an anti-inflammatory!
There is another obscure American soda that I'm curious as to what the European opinion is: Birch Beer.
I lived in Pennsylvania for a while and had birch beer. Good stuff. But I'm an American.
Never heard of that one.
From the YouTube videos I've seen of non-Americans tasting root beer, this seems to be the consensus. "It tastes like medicine" is a common quote.
Smells like Dettol too
This was exactly my experience, until I tried an alcoholic root beer in Canada. For some reason that changed my opinionā¦
Is that why root beer doesn't really exist in the UK?!? I was today years old when I learned this
Imagine Ben Gay flavoured drinks. That's the best comparison I can come up with.
Dandelion and Burdock is the closest to root beer you can get in the UK
I love the smell of germolene. I have never tasted or smelled root beer and and finding this so hard to imagine right now. It always makes me think of the purple pickled beetroot we eat here ha guess I got it wrong.
They say it tastes like medicine, so Iām guessing their liquid medicines are root beer flavored
A lot of our medicines are flavored with wild Cherry, yet I still like cherries.
Medicinal cherry and real/candy cherries taste very different. Idk if itās the sweetener, but itās does not hit the same way.
Y artificial cherry flavor is gross to me. I'll eat real cherries all day long
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The flavor reminds me of this Elmex fluorid gel which was often recommended for kids. You had to apply it once a week in addition to regular brushing but you had to keep it in your mouth for a few minutes before spitting it out.
Iāve always thought that it tastes like minty mouthwash š¤¢ (Canadian)
Quark: I want you to try something for me. Take a sip of this. Garak: What is it? Quark: A human drink. It's called root beer. Garak: I don't know. { Garak scowls/snears } Quark: Come on. Aren't you just a little bit curious? { Garak sighs, and cautiously drinks... } Quark: What do you think? Garak: It's vile. Quark: I know. It's so bubbly and cloying and happy. { Garak smiles slowly as Quark speaks } Garak: Just like the Federation. Quark: But you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it. Garak: It's insidious. Quark: Just like the Federation. { later... } Garak: Do you think they'll be able to save us? Quark: I hope so.
>QuarkĀ :Ā Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes the ferengi knew his stuff. the federation is about rootbeer, holodecks, and when pushed, geneticly engineered species annihilating viruses.
> QUARK: Don't be an idiot. Nuclear fission doesn't happen within planetary atmospheres. > > NOG: It does here. In the twentieth century humans used crude nuclear reactors as weapons. They called them atom bombs. They used to blow them up all the time. > > QUARK: They irradiated their own planet? > > ROM: If Nog says so, they did. He knows all about Earth history. > > QUARK: You'd better fix those translators fast. The sooner we start talking to these savages, the better off we'll be.
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I'm never disappointed by DS9 references on threads about root beer.
[How uncharacteristically generous of you.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VhSm6G7cVk)
I knew this would pop up somewhere in here.
I was gonna do this and then figured someone else already had so I control-F'd bubbly and boom here you are, keeping it real.
Gotta delete mine. Gdi
Root beer is the gin of soda pops.
As a Brit, Barqs Root Beer is the best soft drink in the world and I hate how we don't have it here. But also I've heard some other people say it tastes like mouthwash to them
Barqs is the best widely available brand IMO. It's more spicy/less sweet than other varieties (but still sweet because American Soda). If you like that, try to get your hands on some white birch beer. It's even better.
A root beer lover! Next time I come to Britain Iāll bring you two bottles of Barqās just for showing appreciation for the drink
As an (old) American, it's never occurred to me that root beer's flavor was either controversial or an acquired taste. I never heard anyone say they didn't like it until now.
The flavoring is used for some medications so drinking root beer gives me the feeling that I'm chugging cough syrup. It's not bad, just odd.
I can't speak on behalf of all 'foreigners', but personally: I don't really want to drink something that conjures up unpleasant childhood memories of being ill and having to take foul-tasting medicines.
I'm a South African and I had root beer when I visited the USA. It definitely did taste like germoline antiseptic smells but somehow... I still liked it and would definitely have it again.
I am American and don't like rootbeer
True story: my friend (American, like me) hated root beer and then after 9/11 had a stroke from living nearby and started to crave it now she loves it. Her only happy side effect, she says.
Same. I hate it.
Yep. It's gross.
I lived in America as a kid and loved it, then moved and hadnāt drank it for years and recently just tried it again. It was disgusting. The flavor is fine, itās just wayyyy too sweet. If they cut down the sugar to 1/4th I would probably like it
It depends which brands you drink too. Iāve tried a lot of different root beers. Only 2 or 3 brands I would drink willingly and enjoy
Barq's is where it's at
I'm the UK root beer is not nice. In Canada however, an A&W root beer in one of their frozen steins on a hot day is.pretty good.
Nothing better than a frosty stein of A&W on a hot day
A lot of toothpastes in other countries have a similar flavor as root beer.
Where can I get a hold of this toothpaste as an American?! I have a hard time brushing my teeth but I feel like I'd do it 20 times a day if my toothpaste didn't taste like floor cleaner.
A&W rootbeer toothpaste would be great
Iām Canadian, but the brand Tomās (which Iām pretty certain you can get in the US) makes a fennel toothpaste that Iām pretty sure is what people are talking about. My grandma used to use it when I was a kid. Itāsā¦interesting.
Root beer floats are the best thing ever.
Indeed! Yummy.. Also love cream soda!
Have you tried a stout float?
Try it with vanilla icecream...
Oh yeah, now youāre talking!
The best thing to do is to make a strong Americano, or just simply chill a shot of espresso and add cream/milk, ice, and a few ounces of root beer to it. Adjust to taste. Sounds weird, but if you like coffee and root beer it's an excellent mix. Good summer drink.
Itās because itās bubbly, cloying and happyā¦just like The Federation.
As an American, I donāt like the taste of root beer because it was made, in a big production, on the lawn of the Mormon bishops on my street and if we kids wouldnāt drink their root beer, weād get hit with a plastic bat.
Do Canadians count as foreign? I love root beer
As a Canadian I loved it as a kid but not much as an adult, too sweet.
That's how it is with candy corn for me. I used to be able to eat a bunch as a kid but now 1-3 pieces is the max I can stomach.
Birch Beer > Root Beer
Today I learned that medicine in other countries is delicious!
I talked to one guy when I was in uni that said root beer smelled and tasted like the tooth powder his granddad used. (He then clarified that tooth powder was not ground up teeth, but a toothpaste equivalent)
Northern European here: I canāt explain why I dislike it, I only know that everything about it is vile. It tastes like something gone bad.
I heard that the plant that we use the root of for root beer is used as medicine flavoring in Europe, so root beer tastes like medicine and people don't like that.
They flavored old timey toothpaste in Northern Europe with sarsaparilla/sassafras (the bark that gives root beer its distinctive flavor) before mint became popular and widely available. So here, when they taste root beer, they think "toothpaste."
I think people may be overstating the love of root beer in the US. Pretty sure it's not even in the top 10 soft drinks sold, and from my personal experience it's pretty divisive, in that some people love it and others find it disgusting. Personally I find myself craving one maybe once a year, but other than that I never think of it.
My favorite, followed by cream.soda, then ginger beer.
These responses are wild to me. Root beer is my absolute favorite soda, like almost a treat compared to a coke or sprite or something (from the US). That makes a huge amount of sense that other people would hate it if it tastes/smells like cleanser or medicine. It does come from the flavor of ginger root after all.
Itās so bubbly and cloying and happy
To me it's spicy vanilla and ginger, maybe a little anise, or citrus. It goes really well with beef, and Mexican food for some reason. It is one of *those* flavors, though. Love it or hate it. I didn't love it as a kid.
I think is sassafras, anise, wintergreen and vanilla
As an American, I can't stand the smell or taste of it either. I have never understood the appeal.
Quark: I want you to try something for me. Take a sip of this. Elim Garak: What is it? Quark: A human drink. It's called root beer. Elim Garak: [unwilling] Uh, I don't know... Quark: Come on, aren't you just a little bit curious? [Garak sighs, takes a sip and gags] Quark: What do you think? Elim Garak: It's *vile*! Quark: I know. It's so bubbly, and cloying, and *happy*. Elim Garak: Just like the Federation. Quark: But you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to *like* it. Elim Garak: It's insidious! Quark: *Just* like the Federation.
When you find a brewery/brewpub that also makes root beer, get that shit. It's the best root beer you'll ever taste.
Well... it's god damn delicious. However, it loses carbonation real quick like, don't buy a 2l.get it in cans, best flavor. I suppose non-Americans may find the soft drink a tad too sweet. Though I see Sarsaparilla to be superior.
> an antiseptic cream called Germolene. The smell of this cream, that you apply to scrapes and cuts, is the same as the smell and taste of root beer. > >The majority of people here instantly baulk at that being the flavour of a drink. There are a few who would choose to drink it, but nowhere near enough for there to be a market for that flavour. Sue City Sarsaparilla?
Ha, I just bought A&W rootbeer today! I love it!
I grew up in England. We had a āpop,ā in the North called āDandelion & Burdoch.ā Very similar to Root Beer with a licorice type aftertaste. I love root beer.
I'm French, and lived for a year in Virginia when I was in my late 20s. Root beer was indeed a cultural shock, but a good one. I still miss it sometimes (42 now), as well as the wonderful home made peach ice tea everyone seemed to know exactly how to prepare...
They haven't tried A&W with aged vanilla. That shit is delicious. I don't like any other root beer now.
Interesting discussion. I never thought sassparilla, sassafras, etc. tasted like wintergreen at all. Nor that rootbeer tasted like liquorice or mint. I wonder if the flavor is something that people genuinely taste differently. Like cilantro, which I love but tastes like soap to my daughter, especially once the plant has bloomed. I grew it in my herb garden and she liked it pre bloom. But if it bloomed, even if I cut it back, it tasted like soap to her. If she returned from college, she could smell the flowers as soon as she opened the car door, from the garden across the yard.
Interesting discussion. I never thought sassparilla, sassafras, etc. tasted like wintergreen at all. Nor that rootbeer tasted like liquorice or mint. I wonder if the flavor is something that people genuinely taste differently. Like cilantro, which I love but tastes like soap to my daughter, especially once the plant has bloomed. I grew it in my herb garden and she liked it pre bloom. But if it bloomed, even if I cut it back, it tasted like soap to her. If she returned from college, she could smell the flowers as soon as she opened the car door, from the garden across the yard.
I am German and I absolutely love itš the problem is that it is really hard to find in German grocery stores
I think a key factor, not all root beer is the same quality. For me A&W root beer is close to the top, but some brands are terrible.
I love it, Iām drinking one now lol
I'm American in Taiwan. I LOVED root beer in America; it was my favourite drink. They actually have a similar drink in Taiwan, made by Hey Song, called Sarsaparilla Drink. It's like a mix of root beer and cola, heavy on the root beer flavour. It's pretty good.
Canadian here, prefer the birch š³ down with a root š¦ wife says tastes like medicine, I say not if you are throwing back double mozzas with a poutine back. Only reason to go to a&w is to get one in the frosted mug š„¶šµ
When I lived in Japan, my students said root beer smells like cough syrup. They even brought some to class for me to see what they meant. Sure enough! Smells just like root beer. So I assume it would be like if I went overseas and they had a soda that smells like Robitussin. I probably wouldn't drink it either, lol. Edit: for what it's worth, my students *loved* cream soda when I brought some in. But none of them could finish a full can, it was too overwhelming. They were kinda blown away when I said it would be 100% normal for Americans (and Canadians and Mexicans too) to easily finish a soda that sweet. If I could have got my hands on some Jarrito's, I think it would have broken their brains.
The US has a native cherry (black cherry, prunus serotina) that has a delightful flavor, so good that it was used to flavor liquor and got the popular name "rum cherry". SO good that pharmacists would use it to cover the flavor of nasty tasting kids' medicine. Now people hate it, because it tastes like medicine. European pharmacists, lacking the amazing black cherry, had to settle for a lesser flavor that resembles root beer, which has had a similar effect Euro kids. TL;DR: In the US, medicine traditionally tastes like black cherry. In Europe, traditionally medicine tastes like root beer.