Root Beer, Sarsaparilla, and Licorice
Written on Jun 12, 2026
What does root beer, sarsaparilla, and licorice have in common? They're all associated with plant roots. Originally, anyway.
Root Beer
Some root beer drinks aren't made from the extracts traditionally used for them. Some are. I've never had "real" root beer, even if the labels indicate otherwise.
This Wikipedia article explains the history pretty well. The first commercially-sold root beer used sassafras (Hires). A major competitor (Barq's) used sarsaparilla. Most brands use a sassafras extract or artificial flavors. I've tasted most of the brands, and I don't have a favorite.
The Sarsi soft drink in the Philippines is made with sarsaparilla. I don't know why, but I don't like it. But then, I rarely like soft drinks. The one reason I like root beer more than colas is that it doesn't contain caffeine. If I want caffeine, I'm more likely to drink coffee.
On a school field trip, in the 1970s, I had a sarsaparilla drink at a place called "Rawhide City" in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was a 1800s-style western town, and I was in a western saloon. Rawhide has since relocated to Chandler, Arizona and expanded the name and has more attractions.
Root Beer Brands
I can't tell you how many brands produce root beer. The flavor exists in countries other than the United States, as well as in the United States. Here are the few that I can remember:
- A&W
- Barq's
- Dad's
- Hires
- Mug
- Shasta
Some brand names produce all kinds of flavors, along with root beer. A popular drink containing ice cream is also made with it. It's called a "root beer float", "black cow" or "brown cow".
Sarsaparilla was a popular soft drink in the late 1800s and early 1900s and pronounced "sas-puh-ril-uh". You can only find it on rare occasions in the United States, and usually in stores that specialize in unique items. I've had it more than once, but only once in the United States.
It was originally made with the smilax ornata plant, but modern versions of it are sometimes artificially flavored. Some people confuse the sarsaparilla flavor with the root beer flavor. Although it was a root beer ingredient at one time, it's no longer used.
Licorice
The glycyrrhiza glabra plant is native to areas in Asia and Europe. Anise is similar in flavor and sometimes called licorice. A friend once described a cocktail called the "Jelly Bean" and anise was the ingredient. He swore it tasted just like a black licorice jelly bean.
If you're eating something with a licorice flavor, it's almost a sure bet that it has little or none of the real root extract in it. And then you have things called licorice that never had it and never will, like the things called "Twizzlers" and "Red Vines" today. They had other names years ago.
Licorice has nothing to do with root beer or sarsaparilla, but like them, it was originally a root extract.
Image by Markmark28, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons