78. Root Beer

           

           Typically I don’t drink much soda pop. There are all the sugars that are not good for you and the carbonation takes away calcium, decreasing bone strength. There are lots of reasons not to drink it, so I seldom do. In my family as a kid a pop was a treat, so I still drink it as such: a rarity but something I enjoy on occasion. I think pop in general is originally an American thing and, although I don’t know that for sure, the raging cola wars would indicate that to be the case. We all know that Coke and Pepsi are American from way back but I know that you can get those sodas pretty much anywhere in the world.

            What I didn’t know until I lived in England for a while is how distinctively American root beer is. Apparently the flavor is associated with being sick and the flavor of some medicine that has been forced upon children over the ages. You can’t even find good old American Root Beer anywhere. I remember the distinct disappointment that all of our family had when we tasted a Sainsbury’s knock off of “American Style Root Beer.” It had a bitterness that we soon associated with anything labeled “American Style” in the UK. That’s one of those things on the American palate that the rest of the world doesn’t seem to comprehend. All those little candy root beer barrels would go to complete unappreciated waste in a British Sweet Shop.

When we flew from London to Vancouver, British Columbia after a year in the UK, my wife and I dragged our boys down to a Costco very near the airport, our heads swimming in the visual delights of our home away from home in the Northwest with its snowcapped mountains and friendly accents and totem poles. It was a quick, easy meal that we could get before we crashed for the night and then continued our journey the next day. What do you think we all chose to drink? Barq’s Root Beer. That bubbly American delight so available on this continent. We were so thankful for that cool drink on a hot August afternoon and we knew we were as good as home.