For quite a while I thought "root beer" to be a fictitious beverage, like Romulan Ale or Bloodwine.
Until I stumbled upon some comments by Americans mentioning it to be a real thing!
Only problem was that it is basically unknown and very hard to find here in Germany.
After unsuccessfully trying two special US stores as well as a couple of Asia markets (after someone mentioned that it is also a thing in some Asian countries) I basically gave up.
So imagine my excitement when accidentally coming upon this can in my local Edeka market (a type of German higher end grocery store)!
Now I and my kids are ready to try it, but this should naturally be with the right background.
So: Which Star Trek episode that references it should we watch while tasting it?
We are currently watching TNG, so this would be preferred (if it even appears in there?).
I would even be ok with a Wesley centered episode.. ;-)
Update:
First, thanks to you all for the suggestions! In the end we went with DS9's "Little green men", as other episodes would have required too much contextual knowledge (and are also much darker).
Individually perceived tastes of the Root beer varied somewhere between toothpaste and decomposed rubber.
Final verdict has been mixed:
My daughter completely hates it, my wife is not especially fond of it, I kinda like it and my son now has a new favorite soft drink :-)
OP I don't want to spoil your good time, but you deserve to know, not all root beer is the same!
I do not know this brand, but the line between "bad" root beer and "good" root beer seems to be clearly split by a single ingredient: "Bad" contains high fructose corn syrup, "good" contains pure cane sugar. You should be able to check the ingredients on the can, and most with pure cane sugar proudly declare it on the front of the label (which makes me worried this one may not) and they typically use glass bottles. They are more expensive but are so worth it.
I say that to say this: If you try it and don't like it, and it does have HFCS, try it one more time but with the pure cane sugar, it really makes all the difference. My brand is IBC Root Beer, idk if you can find it or get it shipped to DE but I really won't drink many other brands tbh, Boylan is good too. Both are on Amazon, but I understand the hesitation there, and idk if they ship to DE.
That said, also, traditionally it was made with Sassafras oil, which was banned by the FDA in the 1960s, so I've never had the real kind either and we never will, pure cane is the best we can do T_T
I'm an avid root beed drinker and I wish I could agree the HFCS v cane was the defining difference between good and bad root beer I find there are still some that use cane sugar and are still not great. These are on whole better than any of the HFCS ones but still not created equal. Unfortunately I'm not sure what it is that makes the big difference, but I do find smaller batch companies that do still use other root oils and extracts to be the best. You may also be able to find birch beer in the EU and I find that more akin to OG rootbeer flavors.
Also a note on OP's family experience, I find in America the devide on people who like it and don't also seems to fall along gender lines. I can think of maybe 4 women in my life that can even stand the taste of root beer.
I agree I still have my preferred cane sugar option as well and imo the others are "less good" than it, but I'd still drink them where the HFCS ones aren't even worth my time. Birch beer rules too.
Haven't noticed a gender divide myself, though. Might have to start paying attention to that lol.
Agreed the HFCS aren't worth it, might as well have a coke.
What is your preferred?
I could definitely be wrong about the gender divide, its just something I've noticed in my own life.
I prefer IBC personally, but will drink any pure cane. The only one I really don't like is frostee (or something like that) but imo it's just too sweet, they just put too much pure cane sugar in lol. Not that it is bad, I'd have loved it as a kid! Which is your preferred?
Funny I had the exact same thoughts on frostee.
I also prefer IBC (their black cherry soda is pretty tasty too) as the most accessible brand but if I can get my hands on it my favorite is from red hare brewing company. Unfortunately I think they may not exist any more.
Never heard of Red Hare, but if they are still open I'll keep my eye out!
High fructose corn syrup is thankfully not a thing here in Europe.
So no domestic German soft drinks use it and also almost all of the American soft drinks I have seen so far contain normal sugar (probably not made from sugar canes, though, but doesn't really matter), the root beer in the picture included! :-)
We will try it during our relaxed evening TV session, so I will be able to tell more in about two hours or so...!
Oh good, thank "Bob" lol, HFCS is a scourge upon humanity. Enjoy!