31 Days: Day 25 - Root Beer

A friend of mine made this for a gift for her family a couple of years ago for Christmas, and I've been wanting to make it ever since.  I don't know why I've been waiting so long to make Root Beer, but really, it wasn't more than 10 minutes for us to be drinking it.

I found that our Walmart is carrying Watkins brand of flavoring, and have always felt that their brand is better than most - so I thought I would use their.  The other item that you need besides sugar and water, is club soda or sparkling water. I thought the club soda would be better to use, but in hindsight, the water may not have as much of a taste to it.

Before you give this to others, I highly suggest doing a trial run and making sure you like the taste.  The Watkins cost about $3.50 and the club soda was $.97.  Not an expensive endeavor for sure and you will have more than half of the Root Beer Concentrate left.

Here's what you need (from the back of the package):

• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Watkins Root Beer Concentrate
• Club soda or sparkling water 

Combine sugar and water in medium saucepan; heat and stir until mixture starts to boil and sugar is completely dissolved.  Remove from heat and cool.  (OK, we couldn't wait too long for that, so we used ice in our drinks!)

Add Root Beer Concentrate and mix thoroughly.  To serve, add 1/2 to 1/3 cup root beer syrup to 5 fl. oz club soda or sparkling water.

Makes 3 cups root beer syrup.

This is what the syrup looks like.  It filled two of these pint jars.  When I give this to someone, I plan to give them a jar of this with one bottle of the club soda and the directions.  I will also make a new batch just before giving it away and keep it refrigerated.  I think that a family with young kids would enjoy this or a root beer enthusiast!

Bottoms up!  It was great, but different from the purchased kind.  It has a darker taste.  We found that we mixed on the lighter side - the 1/3 cup to our taste.  It ended up being the club soda bottle (just over a quart) with 2 cups of the syrup.  It's not an exact measure, but it would be easy to give in this size.  Have fun with your little experiment!  It sort of looks like moonshine, doesn't it?

Don't forget to check out those blogs I love to link up over on the right.