2020 brought many horrible catastrophes such that the world will never be the same. In the midst of these apocalytpic conditions and daily blights, one smaller travesty occurred that went unnoticed by most, the discontinuation of McCormick’s Root Beer extract. This was a very personal blow for me, as for over a decade, McCormick was the root beer extract for my home brew adventures (save dedicated kits). Alas I was doomed wander the deserts of life, devoid of my celebrated homebrew. That is until I went to a family reunion in 2023 and my mom asked me to make a batch of brew for the fam and pulled out a sealed bottle of McCormick. Just what I needed to make things easier for me to find the replacement. After one farewell batch, I returned home, armed with half a bottle of my home brew standard to start some taste comparisons. I got several brands and mathed their recipes to make a single liter to match my soda water recipe. After testing the various batches with the family we aggreed that Shank’s Root Beer Extract provided the closest flavor profile to my standard with a ratio of 2-tsps of Shank’s for each tsp of McCormick in the recipe. Subsequent full batches using my uKeg tasted as good as I remembered them so I can give Shank’s my Seal of Approval as the root beer extract of choice. Now my root beer soirees are back with a vengeance! I’ll update my recipes soon to avoid confusion.
