Boozy Root Beer may soon be your drink of choice

Root beer, with the emphasis on “beer,” is swiftly gaining popularity among craft beer drinkers. According to Bloomberg, a growing number of breweries are producing hard root beer (“think A&W with alcohol”). The most notable is perhaps by Pabst Brewing, which is best known for making PBR, the Budweiser of hipsters.

The company recently purchased Small Town, an Illinois-based brewery that produces Not Your Father’s Root Beer. Even though Pabst has been pushing the drink nationwide, it’s apparently so popular that it has become hard to find: Online message boards are “filling up with reports of long lines and tips on where to track down” Not Your Father’s.

 Matt Simpson, an Atlanta-based consultant and beer expert, explains the appeal of boozy root beer: “It tastes pretty good. It tastes like root beer, only with alcohol that you can’t really taste anyway.” Plus, alcoholic root beer requires “less of a nudge” to get consumers to try them. The flavors are already familiar, and it’s easier to imagine drinking compared to beers that are now brewed with everything from black truffles to Sriracha.


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