100% of Germans hate root beer. They think it tastes like cough syrup, despite the fact that root beer is indeed delicious.
In America we enjoy the unbeatable combination of root beer and vanilla ice cream, the tasty root beer float. This is the worst nightmare for a German, a combination of overly sweet, rich ice cream swimming in a sea of medicine. Germans hate things that are sweet, except for popcorn. Those weirdos put sugar on their popcorn instead of salt and butter, like God intended.
On the subject of sweets, every German in America will have the same experience as every American in Germany. The foreigner will spot a delicious looking piece of a cake at a diner or bakery and think they must try it with great anticipation, only to be let down that the cake is completely wrong. The cake in America is of course way too sweet, the cake in Germany is naturally great looking, but completely void of that sweet cake taste that everyone else in the world enjoys.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Hey Du, Astrid,
hier die Übersetzung:
Die Deutschen hassen Root Beer
100 % der Deutschen hassen Root Beer. Sie finden es schmeckt wie Hustensaft, entgegen der Tatsache dass Root Beer wirklich köstlich ist.
In Amerika geniessen wir die unschlagbare Kombination von Root Beer und Vanilleeis, das wohlschmeckende Wurzelbiergeschwimme. Dies ist der schlimmste Albtraum für einen Deutschen, die Kombination von übersüßter gehaltvoller Eiscreme, die in einem See aus Medizin schwimmt. Deutsche hassen süße Sachen, ausser Popcorn. Diese Spinner machen sogar Zucker auf ihr Popcorn, an Stelle von Salz und Butter, wie Gott es wollte.
Beim Thema Süßigkeiten wird jeder Deutsche in Amerika die gleiche Erfahrung machen wie jeder Amerikaner in Deutschland. Der Fremde wird ein köstlich aussehendes Stück Kuchen in einem Restaurant oder einer Bäckerei entdecken und voller Vorfeude denken, dass er dies bestellen müsse, nur um dann bitter enttäuscht zu werden, weil der Kuchen komplett falsch schmeckt.
Der Kuchen in Amerika ist natürlich viel zu süß, der Kuchen in Deutschland sieht natürlich fantastisch aus, lässt aber den süßen Kuchengeschmack vermissen, den die Menschen in allen anderen Ländern der Welt so sehr geniessen.
Prost,
John
This entry was posted
on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 3:32 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 27th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Rootbeer schmeckt ja schon ohne Eis eklig. Aber warum, um Himmels willen, sollte ich Eis in einem kohlesäurehaltigen Getränk lecker finden? Das passt einfach nicht zusammen! Das wäre ja wie Joghurt im Kaffee oder Milch im Apfelsaft…eklig!
April 27th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Direct translation of Bettina: Rootbeer tastes already without ice disgustingly. But why should, for the sake of sky, deliciously find I ice in a coal sow original containing drink? That matches simply not! That would be yes like yogurt in the coffee or milk in the apple juice disgusting!
April 28th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Not so literal translation: Rootbeer tastes distigusting even without ice cream in it. But why, for heaven’s sake, should I like ice cream in a beverage with gas? That just doesn’t match! That would be like putting yoghurt into your coffee or milk into your apple juice… disgusting!
April 28th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Haha love the direct translation :))
“Germans hate things that are sweet, except for popcorn.”
What about Chocolate??? Germans sold like 1,26 Million tons last year.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I love Schoki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 1st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I have to agree with the sweet popcorn thing….I was REALLY surprised when I tasted it for the first time. I prefer the butter and salt.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
This is total bull, germans love sweet things. I even like rootbeer, but I could imagine, that many people don’t like the artificial taste of it. It’s not like the sweet taste of a good maltbeer for example, which actually tastes like something mother nature hast given to us and not the nutty professor. I think that goes for pretty much of the candies in Germany. Sweet is okay, but please let it taste like something known to mankind.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Yeah, Bastian, maybe if root beer tasted like Waldmeister it would be better. ; )
May 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
No, wait. I am German and I DO like root beer. I pay > € 1/can on the internet. And it’s even better with some ice-cream floating in it!
May 5th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Me too, I love root beer and would be addicted to it, if it wasn’t that expensive in Germany.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I’m another exception, I guess, as I really like root beer, too. Alas, it’s almost impossible to get in Germany. The Dutch have ample supply of it, however.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:15 am
The root-beer-ice-cream thingy just made my stomach lurch. You cannot seriously consider drinking/eating that, right? That must be a joke.
My host family in the US was sorely disappointed by the chocolate my parents had sent me for Christmas. They tried to be polite, but in the end they said the chocolate was almost bitter (it was creamy Milka, no bitterness there, really). I, on the other hand, almost got a shock when trying out chocolate fudge. I’ve never had so much sweetness to eat.
Popcorn … finally German movie theaters are offering salty popcorn with butter as well. They don’t advertise it, you have to specifically ask for it, but the great thing is you don’t have to share with friends because they don’t like it at all
May 6th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
@John:
Did you ever tried German Malz beer (with no alcohol)?
compare that to rootbeer…
May 6th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Desserts really are weird in the US. No matter what you order, it’s always basically a huge block of butter and chocolate/syrup/sugar. I kinda like it, but I still prefer a good Sachertorte (me being from Vienna)
On the other hand, chocolate is totally disappointing. Hershey’s tastes like the ultra-cheap 29-cent-per-100g chocolate at Plus. It’s barely identifiable as chocolate.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Why drink root beer when you can have real beer?
Let me suggest the following routine: on a nice May day (sunny, though not overly warm), saunter to the next Eisdiele, buy yourself drei Kugeln in der Waffel, Schdrazziatella, Schokolade und Erdbeer, then leisurely eat your gelato on the way to the next Biergarten, have yourself a Halbe and float home. Much, much nicer than a root beer float.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Root beer - yuck! Popcorn - OK … with sugar ;).
May 10th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I think root beer is a perfect example for an acquired taste. For someone who hasn’t been exposed to it’s taste his/her entire life, it seems strange and artificial. I’m German and actually like the taste of root beer, but only after being (gently) forced to “enjoy” it time after time after time while spending a high school year in rural Michigan.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Root beer is the BEST. Not even Dr. Pepper comes close. Malzbier by comparison is just in the cake example; it is a strong, hearty draught with just a hint of sweetness. No comparison with the weird-but-delicious aroma of sassafras root.
Why on Earth anyone would use sassafras root to flavor a drink is beyond me. But the idea was so completely off the hook that I just HAD to try the stuff when I was in the US (Plus, it helps against ghosts). And I liked it.
But I would not put ice in it, especially not vanilla ice. Spoils the taste of either. I found some ultra-cheap root beer brand to be the best; more expensive ones often have a too pungent vanilla flavor for my taste.
As regards popcorn: I’m equivocal. Certainly the butter-and-salt variety beats the usual sugared popcorn. But you sometimes get popcorn with a caramelized coating. Think maple syrup. This is perhaps the greatest of all.
There may be an explanation why Germans do strange things with corn. After WW2 - 1946ish I think -, there was a scarcity of grains (wheat etc) for baking bread - “Korn” in German. People complained, the matter got to some US general, who promptly had shiploads of corn sent to Europe. Not really good corn - this was shipped to prevent, basically, the people who brought us Hitler from starving. Not to feed them well. The corn was made into bread out of necessity.
So think German bread, made from mildly mouldy old corn. The war generation in Germany positively has a corn neurosis. People remember the stuff it even today.
American cake varies from bad to excellent; I would on average prefer it to German cake which runs the same spectrum, but IMHO has more bad varieties (the fruits-covered-with-jelly stuff I detest. Strawberries do not grow to be drowned in gelatin). But there are cakes like some approaches to the “Gedeckter Apfelkuchen” (which is NOT apple pie, though the construction is quite similar) theme which are supreme.
The US are, perhaps together with Spain, the Western country which is most disrespectful to chocolate, ’tis true. There has been a deluge in interesting choc varieties in Germany since last year. You get great stuff like choc with chili-friut paste filling, choc with caramel brittle, milk choc with candied orange peel, and perhaps my favorite ATM: high-cocoa milk choc. I don’t like the dark “bitter” choc; ironically because I find it too sweet. Because in dark chocolate, the sugar is still plentiful, and it really stands out in a coarse, unrefined way, and the cocoa’s bitterness enhances this. Adding milk takes away that edge and makes the flavors blend together more smoothly.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
this damn sweet brownies are way to sweet.
and ice + beer =>pure evil!
May 16th, 2008 at 8:09 am
@Eike: I discovered something new, saltet chocolate (Heilemann Meersalz). First I thought it would never blend, but now its part of my weekly shopping list - after all, I’m german
May 16th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Dammit, now i know what I forgot to do in the USA…I so wanted to try rootbeer, but at WalMart they only sold it in barrel-sized bottles, wich was way to much for me and my small hotel fridge, and later I forgot about it. Oh well, I will come back one day…
May 16th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
beer with vanilla is like ice-cream with ketchup!
It’s a sin!
May 17th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I’m German and i love Root Beer. I think the problem is that most Germans don’t know what Root Beer is, so they think “Bier mit Eis? Widerlich.” I wouldn’t put ice-creme in my normal beer.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
just the same as with Herman the German. I love Root Beer, but it is just hard to find in german stores.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:01 am
root beer floats are appalling so are ice cream sodas, but nothing beats home grown german atrocities like bananen-weizen - weißbier with granini banana juice or diesel coke&beer also coke&red-wine, those are the nadir of german beer culture.
as for the cake, my theorie is that america got all its pastry culture exclusively from the danish, since they are the only ones in europe that sugar things to death the way otherwise only americans know how to.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
update
ah, yes! korea, that’s what the red-wine & beer mix is called actually.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:59 am
“as for the cake, my theorie is that america got all its pastry culture exclusively from the danish, since they are the only ones in europe that sugar things to death the way otherwise only americans know how to.”
Have you ever tried greek pastry, your dentist will love it
May 18th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
@anonymous you’re right, greek pastry is awfully sweet too. i stand corrected.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Ever tried Rootbeer mixed with Coke?
May 20th, 2008 at 8:05 am
I’m german, I tasted root beer…. And it strongly reminds me of that liquid anaesthetic my dentist uses. Pfui!
May 20th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
bleeh…rootbeer. I tasted it at kfc and I really think its terrible.
but its not true that germans dont like sweet stuff. just look at the typical sterotype german: fat guys in leather pants living in bavaria. even those people love sweet things witch much sugar, fat and all that tasty stuff. I think there is no region in germany where people avoid sweets, cake etc..
you have to relate to existing stereotypes, dont create new ones ^^
May 20th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
baah, root beer is just disgusting, no matter what everyone’s saying. It’s disgusting in both ways: pure and as a float. When my friends made me drink it, I just spit it out. I just it would taste like german Malzbier, but hell I was wrong ^^ I’m really glad, they don’t sell that in Germany. That would let costs of health-care skyrocket in Germany, since 99,9% of the people would be brought to the hospital with an extreme stomach pain.
)
A great american drink, that should be sold more in Germany is Mountain Dew. I really got addicted to that stuff and only a few grocery stores sell it aroung here (actually the only store around I know to sell it reguarly is the KaDeWe
Pro Mountain Dew, against Root Beer!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Hey !
I have no Problem with Root Beer, as long as i dont have to drink it !
Beer has to be a bit bitter, that is for sure.
So if you want to try real Beer, so drink Holsten, Jever or Flensburger and forget this sweet stuff.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
thanks for that idea! mmmhh rootbier with icecream…
June 7th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Thats just sick
June 13th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
In my 1 year of living in the US now, I have tried root beer once, out of being polite. Never again is all I can say. It just seems wrong to drink something that smells and tastes like something we Germans take rheumatism baths in (yes I also tasted one of those, don’t ask). Whenever my hubby gets an A&W root beer float, I wanna puke.
I also noticed the difference in taste btw. I find almost all candies to sweet, and what I miss most is distinctive, recognizable flavour. For Germans, at least after my experience, a candy needs something that makes it different from other candies, like marzipan flavour or different kinds of chocolate or cream filled pralinés. Over here, as stated by others, everything seems to be purely sugar flavoured, that’s it. Take “peeps” for example. Not only that they come in neon pink, neon yellow and purple (ewww!), they also only taste sweet, nothing special in them. Why you would raise children telling them that colourful, artificial looking sweets or food in general (purple cereals come to mind) taste good is a mystery to me. On the other hand, when my mum brought over a “Russischer Zupfkuchen” when she came to visit, everyone looked strangely at it cause it looked (original comment!) “too natural”…
I dunno, stuffing things into you where you don’t know at all what possibly in hell could have created the colour it’s in doesn’t seem smart to me.
Another thing I notice is, a lot of Americans don’t seem to like bitter taste. Whenever my husband for example only thinks of Schweppes Tonic (I made him taste it once), he is literally almost puking. I have not yet found someone who likes Tonic here, same goes for Blue Cheese and anything remotely bitter or sour. Weird. I think just sugary is kinda boring.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Maybe it’s that little bit of German in me (I’m German, Polish, Italian, and Irish) that makes me hate really sweet things.
My friends think it’s weird that I can’t stand to eat triple layer chocolate cake because it’s too sweet.
And root beer tastes like the devil. (Random…I know.) ^_^’
June 19th, 2008 at 6:52 am
I love root beer, but can only recommend gourmet types such as IBC, Henry Weinhard’s (they make beer, too, btw), and one I’ve only found on tap in Minnesota: 1919 (incidentally the year prohibition started). Most of the root beer at the supermarket is cheap and relies on excess sugar. In Portland, Oregon you can get ice cream made with porter. MMMMMM!!!
One last thing, deutsche Schokolade schmeckt am besten!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Ditto doppelf’s statement on root beer.
It’s always interesting how much people reveal about their own socioeconomic backgrounds when they criticize other cultures.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I love Root Beer, especially from a & w and im a german!!
July 28th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Ich möchte etwas klar darstellen: Root Beer ist KEIN Bier. Nochmal: Root Beer ist KEIN Bier und hat mit “Bier” überhaupt gar nichts zu tun und hat nichts gemeinsames mit Maltzbier außer Schaum und Wasser. Wer es “Root Beer” als “Malzbier” übersetzt, hat überhaupt keine Ahnung von Root Beer!
Man darf es also mit Vanilleeis damit essen weil sie sehr gut zusammenpassen. Root Beer ist süß und wird von Kindern sehr gern genossen.
Das Root Beer Geschmack von heute kommt nicht mehr von Sassafraswürzeln sondern von “Wintergreen” (Wintergrün). (Wenn man das erst weißt merkt man es auch beim Trinken)
Ich glaube man kann es auch bei Karstadt kaufen unter der Marke “Stars and Stripes”.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I am German and love root beer and, especially, root beer floats (with butter pecan ice cream…. yumyumyum). I can relate to all that yuck-root-beer on here however… when it comes to birch beer. Once a year, at the Pennsylvania Dutch Festival (Dutch as in Deutsch), that is about as much birch beer as I can stomach. Talk about wintergreen… cough medicin with toothpaste… ewwwwwwww. By the way, the coincidence of Root Beer Production beginning the year of the Prohibition is no coincidence at all… root beer was intended as a substitute.
With all of you regarding chocolate…. unfortunately, German choc is hardly ever available here (imported that is…. you don’t expect Guinness to be the same when it is produced in the USA either, now, do you?)
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:59 am
Hey Stardust, not all Americans are that foolish. I LOVE dark chocolate (the darker the better) and think most American brands are too sweet.
Root Beer rules. The best is straight from a tap (like from A&W, it’s a fast food franchise for you across the pond.
I worked at a bar once where we had a root beer tapper (two brands!).
Also, you don’t have to buy the two-litre bottles here in the U.S. most stop and go stores (like the ones they have at gas stations) have it in smaller bottles.
September 25th, 2008 at 8:08 am
I also think it is more a matter of a preference for ‘natural’ foods than a preference for “not so sweet’.
I have tried root beer and think it tastes like tooth paste, bad one at that. But as a float it is actually tolerable. The idea of having ice cream with soda is also known in Greece where they offer for example pistachio ice cream in sparkling water. Quite refreshing. Or imagine a Coupe Colonel: Lemon Sorbet in Champagne for the deluxe version. Or vanilla ice cream in orange juice which is a very German thing.
It is a pity that Mountain Dew isn’t sold in Germany. I love that stuff. And it is funny that Americans find the idea of mixing Coke and Fanta very strange. Both are originally from America and are good on their own but even better when mixed as a Spezi.
You could really write a nice article on drinks and mixes, e.g. Radlerhalbe (Bier and Sprite), Apfelschorle (apple juice with mineral water), Berliner Weisse and so on. Korea (Coke with Red Wine) is probably the worst thing out there and I have only seen it in Germany.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
>> Both are originally from America and are good on their own but even better when mixed as a Spezi.
Well, Fanta was originally invented by Coca-Cola Germany during WWII as an alternative to Coke because the syrup mixture was not available.
And even Sprite was based on Fanta Klare Zitrone when lemon-lime sodas became so popular (especially 7up) and Coca-Cola needed a brand of their own.
Concerning the availability of Mountain Dew: Just go to your nearest larger gas station… there is a high probability that they’ll have Mountain Dew in 0.5 l bottles in stock. It’s just a little bit expensive compared to broadly available brands.
September 26th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Stefan, thaks for the historic info on all these brands. I didn’t know that. I am delighted to hear that MD is available now. Geld spielt keine Rolex!
My new homebase in Germany is Berlin. I will go there in November and look for Mountain Dew right away. I do know that on my last visit to Berlin an otherwise well-stocked Getraenkemarkt did not have Mountain Dew.
Perusing John’s wonderful blog I see he has already covered some of the crazy beverage choices we have. I think Weisenbier with Banana juice is about as crazy as a root beer float.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I like Root Beer bot i don’t know anybody who likes it.
So i’t s very hard to find it here in Germany.
But i never tried it with Ice. Mainly because i allway bui it at the gas station and it’s quite hard too mix it with ice while driving.
By the way, my car must have a cup holder.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Here is a video of a german and an american dude who talk about different drinks in germany and the US…they also cover Root Beer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxp2veCViTw
November 5th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
During my first trip to the States, I vistited a Film theatre to watch a movie.
I ordered a big box of popcorn, took a seat and started to eat.
Lets say I was really suprised by the taste. In fact I had a hard time not to spit it out. Come on…saltet Popcorn…you don`t really mean that…don`t you ?
And Rootbeer DOES taste like medicine. I guess drinking lots of Rootbeer just prevent you Americans from getting a cold because of the “Zug”!
November 7th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Golly folks, ain’t ya never heard a Cracker Jack before? What’s Cracker Jack but candied popcorn? And there ain’t too much else that’s more American than Cracker Jack. According to the official Cracker Jack web site (see http://www.crackerjack.com/history.php):
“The Beginning
1893 According to legend, a unique popcorn, peanuts and molasses confection that was the forerunner to Cracker Jack caramel coated popcorn and peanuts is introduced by F.W. Rueckheim and Brother, at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago’s first World’s Fair.”
Say, isn’t Rueckheim a German surname? Try typing the name into http://www.verwandt.de/karten. Or even better, try Rückheim.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:09 am
If you look at the nutrition information for Coca-Cola vs. Root Beer the amount of carbs (sugars) are about 27 grams vs. 30 grams. Probably the main reason why people think it’s so much sweeter is that Coke has caffeine which creates a bitter flavor that counteracts the sweetness.
Root beer is a totally cultural thing. Those in the US are used to cough syrups tasting like nasty cherry flavors, mostly, to try and make kids thing it’s yummy so they don’t spit it out. Your association of sassafras with medicine is purely German since I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a sassafras flavored medicine. That’s probably the result of some German herbalist that thought some root should go into all medicines for some weird reason. If you had a drink that tasted like cherry-flavored cough syrup, I’m sure those in the US would generally hate it too.
Root beer is no more artificial than Coke, it’s just different flavored. As others mentioned, you can get gourmet-ish root beers that are less sweet and with more real sassafras root (sometimes they have a slight ginger flavor mixed in too). These are often quite natural (though sugared) but I have the feeling most Germans would hate those just as much because they usually have an even stronger sassafras flavor than even the ghetto, cheap root beer. I don’t think it has much to do with natural vs. unnatural, but just a taste and its associations to you.
As for putting ice cream in root beer it makes some awesome creamy foam which can be really delicious if you like both root beer taste and the ice cream taste to begin with.
People mix milk-products with other beverages all the time, like coffees and teas, so I think the “milk-products should be by themselves at all times” isn’t really true, even in German culture.
There is some German drink in which you mix beer and Fanta or something (I can’t remember exactly) which I thought was pretty good, but probably wouldn’t be done here. I definitely wouldn’t love that drink if it was half flavored like cherry cough syrup, though.
It’s all really cultural.
I’m curious if any of you Germans have had an Irish Car Bomb? I’m wondering if you would think it an abomination, too? http://www.cocktail.com/recipes/i/IrishCarBomb.htm. If you try one you have to drink it down within about 30 seconds, though, don’t let it curdle.
December 15th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I’m afraid, that I must disagree with you on that subject, John.
I personally know a fair number of “pureblooded” germans who think that Root Beer is the best thing since sliced bread. Even though that only reduces the percentage to about 99.9999994 % (I actually did the math), I still believe it’s noteworthy.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Ok, I didn’t take the time to read all these other comments. But what I have to say to this post is the following:
I know! What is wrong with these people?!
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:43 pm
i’d like to apologize for my closed-minded fellow country men and women.
to someone who has never tasted root beer before, the taste can be very unpleasant, but to go so far as to say that 100% of germans hate root beer is plainly ignorant.
i’ve learned to love it and just to make a point, i’m gonna make a root beer float right now.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:21 am
I just tested your thesis.
I bought expensive Root Beer from a American importer.
My first reaction as with probably any other German was. - Chemical toilet. (Toi Toi/Dixie toilets)
Honestly, this taste is linked in the German consciousness with cleaning chemicals or medicine.
I knew it would be hard, I was warned.
But it already started to become nice and pleasant after the first sips.
Three cans later I can report that I rather like it. I can acquire the taste.
But I will probably not spend money on it again.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I happened upon this article while trying to find out info on a particular brand of root beer I’ve come to like. Can’t find that though. But I found this, and decided to comment, as the comments were rather interesting.
I am an American, my father and mother both descended from German immigrants (though one of my 4 grandparents came from a French family). Growing up a 4th generation German-American, I was raised on all the sugar aforementioned. As I’ve grown into adulthood, I’ve found that the Germans are right about a lot of the stuff they are saying.
I barely even enjoy eating commercial chocolates like Hershey’s and such anymore because they are just bland chocolate-flavored sugar bars. I’ll bite into a cake at some diners and although I’ll enjoy a couple bites, I feel sick after anything more.
As for rootbeer, however, I challenge all your German’s to find a US friend to ship you a nice bottle of root beer or sassafras that’s been barrel brewed traditionally, preferably purchased at a State Fair or autumn festival or the like. mmmmmm Far better than Barq’s or A&W or the like. At least then if you don’t like it, you know it’s because of the flavor of sassafras root, not because it’s too sweet or unnatural.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
In Milwaukee a popular brand of local root beer was called “Grandpa Graf’s Root Beer” and featured a winking older gentleman with a cherry nose and a Bavarian Alpen-style hat (Of course!) on the label. I always assumed that root beer was a part of our German heritage that we should embrace.
Be that as it may, you cannot REALLY enjoy a root beer float outside of the correct enviroment. Have one in the early evening of a hot and sunny Sunday in the Midwest after a big meal of fried food! MMMMMMM!
March 21st, 2009 at 4:13 am
It’s not just Germans that (generally) don’t like Root Beer. I’m Australia and I hate the taste of it. It reminds me of things like Deep Heat (you know those ointments you put on muscle strains etc?) and yes, tastes like ‘medicine’, but not even the kind of medicine you take orally…
April 7th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Well then…
I just had my first root beer float. The combination of root beer and vanilla ice cream is really nice (as are most other soda floats I tried so far).
Of course, before making the float, I tasted the root beer. I think it has been roughly 15-20 years since I last had the opportunity to drink root beer… some no-name stuff. This time it was the quasi-standard A&W from a 12 oz. can.
And now I finally could identify the reason why most Germans are suspicious to the taste of root beer and mostly dislike it.
The only place most Germans come into contact with a similar or identical flavour is indeed the dentist:
It’s either the prophy paste they use for cleaning your teeth or the dental sealant that is regularly applied to your teeth until the age of 18. Definitely one of those two.
Either it’s an ingredient that’s needed to make the stuff work or it’s an added flavouring that happens to be the same as in root beer.
However, I think you can get used to root beer. I like it, I do not love, but I like it.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Some additional research:
It seems that I wasn’t referring to “dental sealant” but to “fluoride varnish”, which is applied more often.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
One more thing (sorry for triple posting, perhaps the comments could be merged?):
When I read that root beer is flavoured with wintergreen, as well, I looked that up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wintergreen
The oil of wintergreen, consisting of 98% methyl salicylate, is indeed not only used to flavour soft drinks, but also in tooth paste and for example Listerine antiseptic mouthwash.
Also, methyl salicilate is an ingredient in DDD Hautbalsam, a kind of dermatological skin cream. Seems there a some medical products in Germany that smell or taste like wintergreen… but virtually no food.
A strong reason why first contact to root beer causes so many Germans to be thoroughly irritated or even disgusted.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Thanks for all the information, Stefan.
I was about to get one of my German friends to try Root Beer, and now I know to not even ask. The more I examine the taste of A&W the more it tastes like a dental prescribed toothpaste. But thank you. And I will go on liking Root Beer, if I do say so myself
I am American and I can say that a lot of the foods here are too sweet. But, we are sort of a melting pot when it comes to things as culture. And I’d say sweet is one thing that resulted from it all. I live in a predominately German part of the US, almost everyone has German blood in them and/or came from Germany in their lifetime to live here. We have German celebrations, and things such as that, but let me say that anything we could eat or drink here, could not possibly compare to that of authentic German food and drinks up there
Of course it’s better in Germany.
Personally, I love bitter things, and sour too. I guess it just depends on what you were raised on.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Caitlyn has it right,
the Americans are used to sweets. Look at the overwieghted guys and girls.
I think the industry has made it too sweet so that the kids get used to it.
I was born in the states but have been living a long time in Europe and after coming home for the first time in 45 years I found a lot of things sickning sweet. Still let’s put it this way, things are different.
BUT I STILL LOVE ROOTBEER
I’ll be back this year and the fridge must be loaded with rootbeer and icecream sandwiches.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
I spent a summer near Kenosha with friends of my family at the age of 16, my English at the time was okay for everyday stuff, but certainly not up to distinguishing what “root beer” was.
On the morning after my arrival (short sleep, totally jet-lagged), the (very well-meaning) housewife and mother of my friend (who had been over in Germany the summer before that) decided to prepare a hearty breakfast for me. She took out two of the largest T-bone steaks I ever saw in my life up to that moment and waved them (raw) at me, asking which one I’d want for breakfast. Now, I don’t usually eat anything for breakfast, but drink a large bowl of coffee and if hard pressed I’ll dip a real French croissant into it and slurp that. The very last thing I think of, at breakfast time, is salty or meat, especially as in a huge steak.
I was totally bowled over and started to fend off the steaks with incoherent babbling, trying to find a polite way out of that fix. Parallely the equally nice (and cute) older brother of my friend asked me from the huge fridge across the kitchen whether I’d like some “root mumblemumble…”. As he had a glass beaker in his hands which looked as if it contained either Malzbier or (sort of a foamy) coca cola I nodded, quite absentmindedly.
In the end I was fixed up with a huge glass of ice-cold root beer and a jelly-salami-peanutbutter triple-decker sandwich. Boy-oh! To the day I clap myself on my own shoulder for not spitting out either directly onto the kitchen table. My face must have told volumes, though! I swallowed both that one bite of sandwich and that one draught of root beer, put both on the table in front of me and must have looked like I’d keel over next.
That was when my friend came down to the kitchen and immediately started howling with laughter while telling everybody that “NO-NO-NO!” and “don’t do that to her! They don’t have such stuff for breakfast.” Thank God, from that day onwards all I got was coffee and a bread roll for breakfast and no one ever again tried to give me any root beer, coca cola it was from then on instead.
To any halfway normal German root beer tastes like something you get at the dentist’s or like liquid, spearmint-flavored flu meds. It’s really a no-no taste for most of us.
What I took away from the USA as fav US foods were steaks (prepared in the evenings), corn on the cob with butter and pancakes with maple sirup.
I never was able to tolerate the sweetness of US pastries, cakes and sweets, a year later I started studies in France and got so totally hooked on French baking and pastries, well, French cooking in general, that today I’ve often trouble even with German bread and cakes concerning finesse of natural flavours. Nothing like a real French butter croissant hot from the bakery, a tray of petits-fours or a real French baguette.
That said - I’m a believer of trying everything at least once
November 26th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
was ist Rootbier? Das gibt’s wohl nur in Süddeutschland. Klar, dass es eklig ist.
March 1st, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I LOVE rootbeer! (ok maybe it’s because I only am half-german hehe). The only place I can find rootbeer at in Munich is subway lol!