Root beer

Does anyone know a place that sells Root Beer? Like I.B.C. or similar? No malz bier substitutes either, please... danke.

Crosslink by admin: British and American Foods

I bought a few cans from Karstadt at Munchener Freiheit. Was not as good as IBC, but it had been such a long time since I drank the stuff, I did not care that much!!

There was not alot there, but it was called "Stars And Stripes" with an American flag on the can.

They had Root Beer in the Tengelmann underneath Saturn on Kaufingerstr last time I was there. I didn't buy any though, cos I can't stand the stuff...

I believe I recall seeing Root Beer at the Subway on Adalbert str. All the others probably have it as well. Barq's brand which is pretty good too. Unfortunately it's from the fountain so not meant for taking home.

Hey - on the other thread about Ben n Jerry's is the address of Karl's shop called Schmankerl Nische which is American goods imports (G & A shop). They sell Root Beer there, and Dr Pepper too.

There is definitely no rootbeer at Schmankerl Nische. I just went there yesterday and checked. The guy there said they stopped importing it due to some issue with cans and deposits. As far as I can tell, the only place to get rootbeer that can be stored (i.e. besides Subway) is at Britain Online

They have Sioux City Sasparilla - even at a reasonable price. They also have A&W cream soda but unfortuately no A&W rootbeer (the best kind!). As well they sell some mystery drink called Dr. Pepper fusion or something like that (does that even exist in the States? They claim so).

They actually have lots of stuff, including Vegemite (yum!)! They have a great collection of Patak's, too. Anyway, it's the only place I can find for rootbeer, and if you buy enough stuff it's worth the shipping cost.

@IPJ sorry sorry sorry!!
My fault!!

I meant to update the info about the Schmankerl Nische, but couldn't find the thread. When I last went wanting Dr Pepper, Karl said that they have stopped shipping any cans, as they can't sell them anymore due to the new Gmerna deposit law on bottles and cans or something. So they no longer sell root beer or Dr Pepper.

Please also see:

British and American Foods in Munich in the Guide

IPJ has written extensively there on her rootbeer search.

a website that wasn't listed - british food import - p&p ONLY EUR 5 !!! no matter what you order. If you order more than EUR 100 of stuff, there's NO P&P CHARGE!!

All British Import Shop

That last post also added to the page mentioned above. Anyone can add material to that page -- just edit it, it's wiki. Try it, it's great!

To update based on UrbanAngel's comment... I got lucky and the gas station market across the street from my office (new here it's on Orleans Str. by the Ostbanhoff) has Dr. Pepper... it's in German packaging so I assume there is a local supplier. Folks at the office always look oddly at the Dr., wondering what the heck it is.

However at 1.30 a bottle and the fact it's a mini-mart, not the place where you can stock up for the home supply. At least it's good to know if you need the Doctor!

Yeah, but Dr. Pepper ain't root beer.
And the best is Shasta Root Beer which I haven't seen in years.

My 2 cents (either in Euros or Dollars)... Henry Weinhard's (the Oregon cheap "gourmet" beer folks) make a small batch Root Beer that' darn good (though their beer sucks, even for America). But it's $6 a six pack, and that's in the US. Given stuff like Soda Club here I'm surprised you can't get Root Beer syrup. When I was a kid in SF Safeway supermarket used to sell the stuff to make your own... you bottled it in old Coke bottles. I assume you couldn't find that here

I used to have a soda maker back home, so I know it's definitely possible to get the syrup. I've thought about getting one of the soda-making things here they sell at Walmart and having my sister bring me some rootbeer syrup. It's much easier to buy it from Britain online at 70 cents/can. Then, since I'm spending the money on shipping, I'll also get some Patak's and cider as well.

What exactly is root beer? I have often wondered. (We don't have it AFAIK in Australia).

@bludger I bet you have more of it in Australia than they do here. Its basically a cola type drink with a rather sweet particular flavor, made of various plant extracts.
Read more about it here

Maybe it is available in Australia, but I don't remember it. Can any other Australians confirm whether it exists there and perhaps quote a brand?

@interplanetjanet

where in the states do you get the syrup? does it taste like a&w or more like barq's?

Hey bludger, I'm not Australian, but my husband is. I just had some rootbeer in Melbourne when I was visiting earlier this year. It's pretty much the same thing as sasparilla (though there are those who would argue). Some companies sell it as rootbeer, and some sell it as sasparilla. I've had both good and bad rootbeers in Australia. As far as I can tell, though, they're all available at your local Safeway.

@toast

I don't remember where I got the rootbeer syrup. I suggest you try some clever google searches. I just did a simple one and came across this website dedicated to rootbeer: RootBeerWorld.com

...

Well I guess that it must exist nowadays in Australia then. I just don't remember it from when I lived there (I left in 1993). I do remember having seen it often mentioned on American TV though. I guess it is not very common there. I do remember my father occasionally drinking ginger beer, but I think this is something else.

I did a quick search for "root beer australia" and came up with one brand from bundaberg (the rum makers I presume), but I didn't recognise it.

I think that Bundaberg is the one I liked. There was another one that I also bought at Safeway that tasted like licorice. I think it might have been a generic brand.

G+A SchmankerlNische at Baaderstrasse (corner Fraunhoferstrasse / on top of the U-Bahn exit) has root beer today and gets Dr. Pepper sometimes too. Both sporadically, he refuses the Dr. Pepper from Spain. Guess the Pfand problems got straightened out.

British and American Foods has been updated accordingly.

Hooray for Karl! Thanks for the update, I'll pick up a can or two when I'm next there. They also sell Ben and Jerry's!

Eh... well he's only got one pint left, I took the last Cherry Garcia this afternoon that I'm eating right now. MMmmmmm.

Darn - I was going to send MrDDBug down tomorrow...

UA
Ben and Jerry's is also avail at MiniMal (there is a large selection at the Arabella park one).

Yeah but I'm more often on Baaderstr than at Arabellapark

Sydney was full of that stuff, never quite worked out what they meant though, or why they kept sniggering...