I've had good results using all Turbinado sugar (ie sugar in the raw etc). It is unrefined or less refined sugar than table sugar and IIRC, that means it still has some molasses in it or something like that. I also use 8-16 oz of malto dextrin in addition to the normal amount of sugar. IMO, malto dextrin is not a substitute for sugar as it is not sweet or not very sweet anyway. Taste some and see for yourself. OTOH, most of the extract recipes call for way too much sugar for my taste. I cut it back by at least 20% usually. I've had good results using McCormick's extract, but it takes a lot of it and it's not cheap. I have not tried Sprechers yet, but plan to soon. Sprechers is pricey and especially so if you have it shipped. I once tried making root beer from scratch, ie from the raw roots and herbs. It was absolutely horrible. Don't know exactly what went wrong, but I think basically it was wrong proportions on more than a few of the ingredients. I'll probably give it another shot someday, but I'm not in a big hurry to do so at the moment.