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Five Places for Amazing Root Beer at The Original Farmers Market, Los Angeles
First came micro-brewed beer, quickly followed by small-batch distilled spirits. And as people continue to take a closer look at the origins of everything that goes into their food and beverage, it’s hardly surprising that handcrafted root beer is now developing a massive following across the Southland.
So if you’re craving a frothy root beer, check out our merchants offering some amazing options.
Remember the good old days when root beer was made with sugar and not high fructose corn syrup? At Papa Jakes’s Sub Shop, you can enjoy locally produced root beer from Batch Craft Soda which uses all natural ingredients including old-fashioned sugar. Founded in 2013 in Orange County, Batch Craft Soda takes careful steps to make sure each soda they produce is of the highest quality. The soda is mostly found at a few select soda fountains around Southern California, including the one at Papa Jake’s. Speaking of the soda fountain at Papa Jake’s, if you don’t love root beer there’s also a Shirley Temple that is so good, it has to be tasted to be believed.
Bennett’s Ice Cream / The Refresher
Speaking of locally crafted root beer, have you ever tried Big Bear Root Beer? This product is produced by our own Bennett family and sold at their two shops: Bennett’s Ice Cream and The Refresher. Yes, the root beer is named after Big Bear Lake, where the Bennett’s have spent their family vacations for more than three decades. If you like a gentle root beer, with less bite and less head, this is the root beer for you. It is also caffeine-free and made with molasses to give it a light, smoky flavor. It is also the perfect match for Bennett’s handcrafted ice cream and we doubt you’ll find a better root beer float pairing anywhere.
At Phil’s Deli & Grill, you can follow in the footsteps of a New York deli tradition by ordering a bottle of Dr. Brown’s Root Beer. The root beer, which was first produced in 1869, was a common staple in New York delicatessens, where travelling soda salesmen would go door to door hawking their product. Long before Coca Cola ever received its kosher certification, the Jewish community were drinking Dr. Brown’s products as a tasty—and kosher—soda alternative.
If the success of local purveyors has inspired you to try your hand at manufacturing your own root beer, be sure to drop by Sur La Table where you can pick up a SodaStream system that will carbonate your beverages for you. You can either create your own test kitchen by mixing and matching the ingredients you like best—many of which can be purchased at Farmers Market merchants—or you can make it easy on yourself by picking up some SodaStream Sparkling Natural Root Beer base to create instant homemade root beer.
At Fritzi Coop, you can pick up a bottle of Margo’s Bark Root Beer, which has a great back story. Talk about enjoying local food, this root beer was created by the Youd family in Los Angeles as a science fair project for their young son Oscar.
The science fair project was such a hit, the Youd family went into business. After testing nearly every root beer on the market, the Youds came up with the formula for Margo’s Bark Root Beer, which they named after their family dog—a rescue shelter. And animal welfare is important to the Youd family, all proceeds from this root beer go back to help shelter dogs.
Bonus Pick: Cost Plus World Market
Remove: With the rapid rise in popularity of handcrafted root beer—as well as the extreme success of hard cider—we now find ourselves at the cross roads of a brand new trend. Hard or alcoholic root beer.
Add: If you prefer your hand-crafted beverages with a little extra kick, Cost Plus World Market offers hard (or alcoholic) root beer.