Today’s spotlight is on Root Beer Floats!

The root beer float is traditionally made with vanilla ice cream and root beer, but it can also be made with other ice cream flavors. It’s sometimes referred to by the nicknames “brown cow” or “black cow”. Root beer floats were a popular dessert drink in 1950s diners.

History

Frank J. Wisner, owner of Colorado’s Cripple Creek Brewing, is credited with creating the first root beer float on August 19, 1893. The idea for the drink came to Wisner when he noticed that the snowy peaks on Colorado’s Cow Mountain looked like ice cream floating in soda. He combined root beer and vanilla ice cream, and called it the “Black Cow”, or more popularly known today as a root beer float. Wisner was the owner of the Cripple Creek Cow Mountain Gold Mining Company and liked producing a line of soda waters for the nearby town.

Root beer is carbonated by dissolving carbon dioxide gas in water. While it’s still in the capped bottle, the CO2 is kept in solution by pressure. Once the bottle is opened, a number of factors control whether the gas fizzes out or stays dissolved, such as temperature.

Here’s some science behind root beer floats:

• When carbonated root beer comes into contact with ice cream, carbon dioxide bubbles are released
• The soda also frees air bubbles trapped in the ice cream
• The fat in the ice cream coats the bubbles, protecting them and allowing them to expand
• This reaction between a liquid and a solid creates the foam you see on root beer floats
• The soda on the outside is warmer than the ice cream when poured over it, which can melt some of the ice cream and dilute the soda
• Sometimes the ice cream can be cold enough to freeze parts of the soda onto the ice cream, causing a “crispy” shell

Here is a Root Beer Float Recipe for you to try:

Ingredients:

• Vanilla ice cream
• Root beer

 

Directions:

1. Spoon a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream into a tall glass. Slowly pour root beer into the glass, allowing the foam to rise and then recede before adding more root beer.

 

Serve with straws and spoons.

 

The U.S. is the largest consumer of root beer in the world. Root beer is native to the U.S. and became popular during the prohibition period in the early 19th century. The main flavoring agent of root beer, sassafras, is banned in the U.S. because of the presence of safrole, a carcinogenic ingredient.

Some brands of root beer are produced in or imported by other countries, including Australia.

 

Here are some world records for root beer floats:

• Largest root beer float: 2562.5 gallons of root beer, created in 1999 for A&W’s 80th anniversary.
• Longest line of soda floats: 1,020 soda floats, achieved by A&W Root Beer, Admiral Beverages Company, and M&M Distributing in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2019
• Most floats given away: 16,000 floats given away at the 2020 Root Beer Float Bash
• Root beer has a distinct and complex flavor that makes it taste almost like a dessert.

 

National Root Beer Float Day is celebrated annually on August 6th to honor the frothy drink that features ice-cold root beer and a scoop of ice cream. The day is dedicated to America’s favorite carbonated beverage. Let us know in the comments if you have had a root beer float.