Root beer for a crowd.

Root Beer was a common drink in the Old West when people desired a sweet beverage.

There weren’t many fancy drinks available in the Old West.  Lemonade was the most popular, but lemons weren’t readily available.  People tried to make up some other drinks that tasted good, but sometimes simple cold water was the only beverage — even at wedding receptions.

Root beer has been around a long time.  People used to make it from the roots of the sarsaparilla plant, which grows in North America.  Here’s how to make enough for an entire classroom, birthday party or family reunion.

Ingredients

• Schilling Root Beer Concentrate
• (in spice/flavoring section of the grocery store)
• 5 pounds sugar
• 5 gallons lukewarm water
• ½ package dry yeast, dissolved in 1 cup lukewarm water

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Utensils

• 5 one-gallon plastic jugs with snap-on plastic lids or corks (wash with hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly)
• 5-gallon or larger plastic wastebasket or small plastic garbage can — get a new one and save it only for making root beer. Don’t use an aluminum container.
• Long-handled wooden or plastic stirring spoon
• Plastic juice pitcher
• Funnel

Directions

Put the sugar in the large plastic wastebasket. Pour in water and the root beer concentrate.  Mix it well with the spoon.  Stir the bottom of the container so the sugar dissolves.  Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of lukewarm water and stir it into the root beer mixture.  Stir well.

When it’s dissolved and well mixed, fill the clean plastic jugs by dipping the juice pitcher into the root beer mixture and pouring it into the jugs.  A funnel makes pouring easier.  Fill each jug to within 1 inch of the top.  Snap on the plastic cap.  Place the filled jugs in a warm place for 1 or 2 days.  (Room temperature is fine.)  Bubbles will begin to form in the root beer as the yeast causes fermentation.  This will make it fizzy.  Chill the root beer before you serve it.  Keep it in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days if you don’t drink it right away.

Trevor Ashcraft
AQHA Youth Intern