Best Pre-Made Root Beer Syrup?

Anyone have a favorite? I got space in the kegerator now and want to do some sort of soda. I was leaning towards root beer, but am open to other options. What is peoples favorite syrup? ... So far there is

Sprecher, Gnome, Rainbow, Home Made Soda Co, Chicago Draft Company, ... Others?....

Looking for a mix, BIB, anything. I just want some GOOD root beer. My favorite bottle is Virgil's. Anyone got a recommendation?

-Eric

Sprecher's! It's awesome, and the syrup makes a soda that tastes very much like the bottled soda. I don't know where you could get it, except for Northern Brewer, though.

Yooper said:

Sprecher's! It's awesome, and the syrup makes a soda that tastes very much like the bottled soda. I don't know where you could get it, except for Northern Brewer, though.

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That's what I was leaning towards.....

We're just about to the bottom of our Sprecher (midwestsupplies.com) next we're going to give Gnome a try. Although the directions for it are for natural fermentation so I'll have to adjust the amount of sugar to add before force carbing. I suppose I should mention, the Sprecher is very good.

Chops said:

We're just about to the bottom of our Sprecher (midwestsupplies.com) next we're going to give Gnome a try. Although the directions for it are for natural fermentation so I'll have to adjust the amount of sugar to add before force carbing. I suppose I should mention, the Sprecher is very good.

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I actually just bottomed out the Gnome Cream Soda I had... It was good, but I think it had a slightly "odd"/chemically after-taste.

EFaden said:

I actually just bottomed out the Gnome Cream Soda I had... It was good, but I think it had a slightly "odd"/chemically after-taste.

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Hopefully the root beer doesn't have that same after taste. If it does I may try adding other stuff to try and hide it. Has anyone else ever had Frosttop soda? They have a vanilla caramel that was very tasty. I think it was basically a root beer with extra vanilla and caramel added to it.

I've tried Gnome and Old Fashioned but my FAVORITE is Homemade Soda Company (formally Hoptech) Root Beer #3.

By the way, my favorite in bottles in Virgil's too.

Try making it from scratch too.

duganderson said:

I've tried Gnome and Old Fashioned but my FAVORITE is Homemade Soda Company (formally Hoptech) Root Beer #3.

By the way, my favorite in bottles in Virgil's too.

Try making it from scratch too.

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Thought about making from scratch, but the ingredient list seemed a bit daunting.

duganderson said:

I've tried Gnome and Old Fashioned but my FAVORITE is Homemade Soda Company (formally Hoptech) Root Beer #3.

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I like both their #1 and their #3. My wife loves the #2 extract.

I'll try that one too.

Yooper - You know if Sprecher still sells syrup? I found a bunch of sites that are out of it, and a couple say it was discontinued?

EFaden said:

I'll try that one too.

Yooper - You know if Sprecher still sells syrup? I found a bunch of sites that are out of it, and a couple say it was discontinued?

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I know I'm not Yooper but I thought I'd chime in. Midwest Supplies is only out of stock for the Sprecher Diet Root Beer, everything else is still there.

Followed up with Sprecher... they still make it. So not sure why people say they don't.

Sprechers. I have made that and one from a little tiny bottle. The Sprechers was drank, the other was dumped. Their Red one is good too, I forget the name.

onthekeg said:

Sprechers. I have made that and one from a little tiny bottle. The Sprechers was drank, the other was dumped. Their Red one is good too, I forget the name.

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I got a jug of the Red one, the orange, and the root beer coming. ... and yes.. I tried one from a tiny little bottle in a brown box. It said it was cream soda, frankly I'm not quite sure what it was. It was, however, god awful.

Northern Brewer sells it on-line or in their catalog.

I did my first rootbeer for a party last weekend and it was a huge hit. The only problem was that I used the gnome extract and my wife flipped out when she read the ingredients list.

Does anybody know where I can find the ingredients for the Sprecher and the Old Fashioned extracts?

I'd make one from scratch myself but sourcing sassafras isn't the easiest (or cheapest).

Edit: I zoomed in on Northern Brewer's image of the Sprecher and they use high fructose corn syrup

I like to add my own sugar to taste anyway...

Just mixed up the Sprecher's Root Beer.... It's damn tasty.