Art in the Age's ROOT

Art in the Age wrote:ROOT traces its heritage all the way back to the 1700s when colonists were first introduced to the Root Tea that Native Americans would drink as an herbal remedy. Brewed from sassafras, sarsaparilla, wintergreen birch bark, and other roots and herbs, Root Tea was used to cure a variety of ailments. As colonial settlers passed the recipe down form generation to generation, the drink grew in potency and complexity. This was especially true in the Pennsylvania hinterlands where the ingredients naturally grew in abundance. These homemade, extra-strong Root Teas were a favorite in colonial homes and public houses all over the northeastern colonies.

By the middle of the 19th century, the Temperance movement began to take hold in the States as various temperance organizations blamed the social ills of urbanization on alcoholism. Temperance groups like the Templar of Honor and Temperance, the Anti-Saloon League and the National Prohibition Party began to grow rapidly as they swayed supporters into their fold with increasing conviction and religious fervor. Despite the fact that the temperance movement had been founded to promote moderate alcohol consumption, it now advocated complete prohibition. In 1851, Maine became the first state to pass prohibition legislation, banning Root Tea and all other alcoholic beverages except those used for “medicinal, mechanical, or manufacturing purposes”. By 1855, just four years later, 12 other states had become “dry states.”

Around this time, an enterprising Philadelphia pharmacist by the name of Charles Hires decided to make a dealcoholised version of the popular drink for Pennsylvania’s hard-drinking coal miners and steelworkers. Hires found success when removing the alcohol from his homemade Root Tea and mixing it with soda water. Root Beer had been born.

Hires first introduced his non-alcoholic Root Beer—“The Greatest Health-Giving Beverage in the World”—to extensive public acclaim at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. A few years later, Hires began selling concentrated Root Beer syrup that could be mixed at soda fountains everywhere. In 1886, Hires’ Root Beer had become so popular that the family began a single-serve bottling operation and Root Beer as we know it today could soon be found on store shelves everywhere. Several commercial Root Beer makers, including Barq’s and IBC, would come into existence within the next decade to meet increasing public demand for the beverage. It appeared that the Root Teas of pre-Temperance America had been relegated to distant memory.

That was, of course, until now. Here at Art In the Age we’ve worked diligently to reproduce colonial Root Tea in all of its genuine glory. Well, we’ll be honest, you can’t use sassafras root anymore since the FDA banned it in 1960, but we’ve gotten pretty close with our special essence of sassafras made from citrus, wintergreen, and spearmint. Our certified-organic ROOT is a truly contemplative quaff, rooted in history and our own cultural landscape. It’s certainly like nothing we have ever tasted before. It is not Root Beer-flavored vodka or sickly sweet liqueur.

Art in the Age wrote:What would happen, we asked,if we took a traditional German “Lebkuchen” and distilled the ingredients into an organic spirit? What is a lebkuchen, you ask? A ginger snap!

But not the mass-market, high-fructose junk at the supermarket. We’re talking a real Pennsylvania Dutch (which actually means Pennsylvania German, not Dutch. Many years ago, someone apparently misheard “deutsch” for “dutch”) ginger snap made with hearty blackstrap molasses and fresh ginger. The kind our mothers, grandmothers, and great-great-great-grandmothers used to make.

“Lebkuchen” was invented by German monks in the 12th century and first appeared in America in the late 1600s when German Anabaptists looking for religious freedom came to Pennsylvania to be part of William Penn’s “Holy Experiment.” Although most people don’t know it, the Pennsyslvania Dutch are a diverse and tolerant bunch, encompassing a mix of religions and the non-religious. What they all had in common was a strenuous work ethic and a robust culinary tradition. Because these early Germans were rustic farmers, they baked with hearty blackstrap molasses rather than refined sugar. Back then, this was considered backward and unsophisticated by the “English,” but today we know otherwise.

Blackstrap molasses retains the natural goodness that gets stripped away by the refining process. It also provides a very distinct and earthy flavor. Of course, the Pennsylvania Dutch didn’t distill a Lebkuchen spirit. That was our idea. But we think it is a delicious one. There are other alcoholic ginger products on the market, but they are either sickly sweet liqueuers or artificially flavored vodkas. This is a sophisticated organic spirit based on authentic folk history designed for people who know how to drink. It’s the kind of genuine xperience we wish there was more of in the world. Try it and you will say “nix besser,” which is Pennsylvania Dutch for “none better."

TASTING NOTES

• Somewhat sweet, spicy and buttery.
• Lively brown sugary aroma, like just-cooked ginger snaps with a touch of cinnamon.
• Molasses up front with a long ginger finish and hints of vanilla. Ginger Rye
• Excellent in cocktails, especially good with bourbon. Or just drink it neat.
• We don’t compare it to anything else, because it doesn’t taste like anything else.
• Good with ginger snaps. Try dunking.