Natural Ginger Root Beer from Zevia

Recently we were invited to try the new diet soda alternative Zevia, the soda made with the Stevia supplement instead of harmful artificial chemical sweeteners-- specifically their new Ginger Root Beer flavor.   This led to the following brilliant insight on the part of my son Evan, who then enlightened me--Root Beer is flavored with Ginger Root!  Hence the name! Ginger! Root! Ginger Root!

That's right, until that day I never realized that the traditional flavor of root beer has always been made with ginger.  These two dots have now been formerly connected in my brain.  I always thought "root beer" was some mysterious un-named plant or flavor that gave it the distinctive root beer flavor.  Maybe there was a plant called root beer plant.  But no. "Root" is just a shorthand way of referring to ginger root.   Once identified, it is forehead smackingly obvious, but in my defense may I point out that my son Evan had the same revelation that day. 

We owe this new culinary insight to the good people at Zevia, who had the sagacity to put the word ginger in the title of their fourth new soda flavor.  And it's good! This new flavor makes it even easier to order a case of 24 from their web site,  allowing you to try all four flavors if you wish. 

My family was fairly unanimous in their positive review of the new ginger root flavor of Zevia.  "I like it the best," said Ethan. Jim said "Their new flavors are always the best".   Evan says "it's made with ginger!"  Me? I like it too!  I enjoy the subtle flavors, gentle and refreshing. 

Having struggled with a diet soda addiction myself,  as well as caring for a diabetic loved one, it gives me great pleasure to have a natural and healthy alternative to sodas made with artificial chemical sweeteners. ZEVIA is made with Stevia, the sweet-leaf plant supplement that is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar but with zero calories.

For those of you rightfully concerned about the ethics of the diet soda industry: Please be advised that Zevia is completely GMO free, and is NOT associated with Coke or the Cargill company in any way. Zevia uses pure Stevia, as it occurs naturally. This is important, because industry reports are that the Coca-Cola company, in association with Cargill, has plans to develop a genetically modified (and hence patentable) version of stevia  called "Rebiana".   I do NOT support GMO foods, nor this attempt by Coca-Cola and Cargill to continue their monopolies in the beverage industry.  Furthermore, if one is to consume diet sodas at all, I encourage the support of companies like Zevia who refrain from the use of GMOs and who have the health of their customers firmly in mind.  Indeed, the concern with health is why Zevia was created in the first place! Please have a look at their web site to learn more about their history.

One final note to the commenter who tried to leave a note stating that Zevia was part of the Coca-Cola/rebiana/Cargill unholy trinity: Please get your facts straight before you make acusations against a company that is trying to provide a genuinely healthful alternative!  Zevia is one of the good guys in the beverage industry.

Previous Zevia reviews: here and here.

Comments

[Anne Dinwiddie]

Happy Mothers Day!
I am also very impressed with the Ginger Root Beer. I am also excited that there is no caffeine in the formula. Don't feel too bad about not having the previous knowledge of Root Beer being shortened from Ginger Root Beer. I had no idea myself! I think the Root Beer is going to be a major hit. Who doesn't like Root Beer? I am thinking about making a Root Beer Float with it tonight. I am sure it will be simply amazing. For others out there that there I would highly recommend you try the Ginger Root Beer. http://zevia.com.

[Elise]

I thought root beer was made with sassafras?

[poodlebird]

root beer is not short for ginger root beer. ginger ale is the ginger flavored soft drink. root beer is flavored with sassafras. adding ginger to root beer sounds like a tasty idea, but they are not the same. Here is part of the entry from wikipedia
Root beer extract may contain a variety of flavors,coming from the wide range of ingredients. Bark from the roots of the sassafras tree was the typical flavor in root beer historically, and is the primary flavor most individuals associate with the beverage. It is slightly red at times. Sassafras bark was banned by the FDA in 1960 because of the carcinogenic properties of its constituent chemical safrole. A safrole-free variety is now used, with some claiming that it has a weaker flavor than the pre-1960 variety.[3] Acacia is also used.

[TheVoiceofReason]

While the information in the above article is true as far as Coca-Cola, Cargill, Stevia, and "Rebiana" is true, be aware that Coca-Cola will no doubt hide this under new names to obfuscate issues. Since Stevia can be grown in just about any American herb garden or windowsill pot, Coca-Cola would HAVE to do something to protect the massive amounts of money they have invested to find an alternative sugar-free sweetener. Don't hate them too much. You know the truth, after all.

Ginger Root Beer is not the classic dark brown to dark red frothy soft drink either traditionally or contempoary known as "Root Beer". As has been mentioned in some above comments, the traditional and contempoary "Root Beer" comes from Sassafras and the FDA has forbidden its use due to the already mentioned carcinogen.

Ginger Root Beer "MIGHT" be Ginger Ale. I won't debate the differences between Ales and Beers here. That would take too much space. I will simply say that Ales tend to be quite 'light' in color compared to their darker beer cousins. This also (generally speaking) is comparable to 'taste'.

I suppose it IS possible for a "Rookie With a Cookie" to make a mistake on the difference between an "Ale" version of a ginger flavored soft drink and a "beer" version. It should NOT be possible for someone with pretentions of a 'taste sense' to mistake an Ale or Beer version of ginger with an Ale or Beer version of Sassafras. It would be the rough equivalent of mistaking Peanut Butter with Refried Beans. That is maybe a bit harsher than intended. Forgive me for pointing out that information I confirmed is in more than hundreds of webpages scattered across the internet. It is also available in most local libraries. It is likely also available in many family recipe books. My Great Grandmother and both of my Grandmothers each had a separate recipes, yet it made clear the ingredients, and thus, the differences, of both.