AW Root Beer Extract/Clone Recipe ?

Hello guys long time no see,i am hoping my American friends may be able to help,to be clear i live in Ireland btw.

Non alcoholic 1:1 clone recipe for AW root beer for a friend or as close as,tried ordering extract from USA but dayum expensive with shipping

Yep you can get AW in a few places but place that sold it here closed down,what i want to do is knock up and force carb a batch in a corny keg to give to him.I was rather hoping i could just buy the extract ready to dilute with water and force carb tbh

I know this isnt much help, but I was on a similar search once and the one guy who was able to help, gave me nothing but a list of chemicals I never heard of and the portions needed for each. It was at that moment that I realized it wasn't going to happen. Id love to have some myself, but I dont think there is going to be a way to duplicate it using "real" ingredients. One indication might be just looking at the "Nutrition Facts" on the label. I think the only "real" ingredients might be that "natural vanilla flavoring"?

I will be honest there is more need now as i have to give up home brew for a spell,i would be happy with a decent extract i could dilute an carbonate but have yet to find one i can get shipped to Ireland.

What flavor extracts are available there in Ireland?

My closest has been McCormick extract with equal parts of vanilla extract, though if you can't get that, I'm not sure what to tell you.

You might have to get your hands on some roots, though that will be a harder road. You'll need sasafrass, dandelion, and wintergreen. I don't know how easy those will be to come by there.

Are you able to find any dandelion and burdock recipes or ingredients? That won't be a dead match, but you may get where you need to be with copious amounts of vanilla. Or before you go that route, you might see if dropping a slug of vanilla mixed with about 20g of sugar into a can of Ben Shaws will get you anywhere close. I don't expect burdock to fit well in an A&W clone, but it's a start.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but how much dandelion do you use? I tried some of that and I think unused to much. That batch turned disgusting.

Absolutely nothing available here re extract for Root Beer i would have to order everything online and therein lies the probem,the stuff i have found is so expensive especially when shipping is tagged on. I have found soda stream extract and can get that easy enough but i was hoping to go a cut above that tbh. The roots excetra from scratch forget about it,never happen here.

http://sodastream.ie/flavours.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Root-Beer-S...038?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5400ec1a16

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zatarains-R...887?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43d91cc3ff

The above links are numbered in increasing difficulty to get and increasing price, i will probably just go with the soda stream to save my sanity but it really is a pity the stuff from the USA is like $25 a small bottle to get here.

Crazy8 said:

Not trying to hijack the thread, but how much dandelion do you use? I tried some of that and I think unused to much. That batch turned disgusting.

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I'll have to go dig up my notes, but not much. Dandelion root doesn't quite give the same notes as sassafras. It's much more earthy.

I have seen people use dandelion, so I thought I would try it, but I am a little skeptical on if it's something I want in my recipe or not. This is why we experiment. Ill try anything, assuming my trying is correct, and if it doesn't work, well then it doesn't work.

Traditionally, root beer is brewed from sassafras root. Thus the name ROOT beer.

podz said:

Traditionally, root beer is brewed from sassafras root. Thus the name ROOT beer.

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This is why I use sassafras, in addition to the other ingredients in my brew.

OP: Not to rain on your parade but you getting anything close to A&W may not happen, especially an exact clone, short of steeling the recipe. Due to restrictions on what you are able to get in Ireland, I'm thinking your best bet, might have to be one of the root beer extracts.

The other alternative would be to start brewing your own and forming your own recipe based on the flavors, body, carbonation, etc. that you like. This is the approach I took and I have 2 awesome recipes that have been enjoyed by more people than I can count. Plus it's a lot of fun and allows for much experimentation.

podz said:

Traditionally, root beer is brewed from sassafras root. Thus the name ROOT beer.

Click to expand...

The dandelion referenced above is dandelion root, also a common ingredient in ROOT beer along with licorice root, sarsaparilla root and burdock root.

Though I agree that sassafras is an important ingredient, it is the most flavorful of all those roots.

MrFoodScientist said:

The dandelion referenced above is dandelion root, also a common ingredient in ROOT beer along with licorice root, sarsaparilla root and burdock root.

Though I agree that sassafras is an important ingredient, it is the most flavorful of all those roots.

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...in addition to Yucca Root, and whatever other kind of root you'd want to use...lol I suppose we aren't making Dandelion tea here huh?

I also looked into making root beer in the UK as I'm one of the "weirdos" who likes it. I also found the cost of buying all the roots and herbs prohibitively expensive, especially as I was unsure of the recipe and didn't want it to go to waste.

To think 20 years ago, you could get it in McDonalds...

Crazy8 said:

This is why I use sassafras, in addition to the other ingredients in my brew.

OP: Not to rain on your parade but you getting anything close to A&W may not happen, especially an exact clone, short of steeling the recipe. Due to restrictions on what you are able to get in Ireland, I'm thinking your best bet, might have to be one of the root beer extracts.

The other alternative would be to start brewing your own and forming your own recipe based on the flavors, body, carbonation, etc. that you like. This is the approach I took and I have 2 awesome recipes that have been enjoyed by more people than I can count. Plus it's a lot of fun and allows for much experimentation.

Click to expand...

Yes i believe it will have to be a root beer extract however therein lies another issue,the damn ones from USA cost a bomb with shipping,i have yet to find a decent source here or in UK for root beer extract.I don't want to go the Sodastream route as i consider that the cheap end of the scale quality wise.

I also hear what you are saying regarding making my own recipe,however that brings me back to the mission impossible of getting most of the ingredients required so that is not really an option going forward,i did look into this fyi i just could not get most of the stuff i needed.

DrFuggles said:

I also looked into making root beer in the UK as I'm one of the "weirdos" who likes it. I also found the cost of buying all the roots and herbs prohibitively expensive, especially as I was unsure of the recipe and didn't want it to go to waste.

To think 20 years ago, you could get it in McDonalds...

Click to expand...

Yes i remember that at Mc Donald's,if you ever find a source for root beer extract in Eire or UK please do let me know,i am dying ti knock some up but i want to avoid the cheap sodastream stuff.