Why Root Beer Is a Big Deal in Utah

When I was growing up, my grandmother would pick my brother and me up from school on Fridays and take us straight to a diner where she and my grandfather had gone on some of their first dates. Our order was always the same: a burger, cheese fries, and a kid-sized root beer in a frosted mug. Once, when my brother brought a school friend along, we watched his eyes widen into saucers as we placed our orders. “My parents don’t let kids drink beer,” he whispered. 

He’s not the first or the last to get confused. For many, root beer is something of a mystery.

Beloved in certain regions of the United States, particularly in parts of the South and, oddly, Utah (more on that later), you could argue that root beer is an underdog American icon. It conjures images of drug store counters, jukeboxes, and good, clean fun. It’s also syrupy sweet, carbonated, and — a relief to childhood friends everywhere — non-alcoholic. What’s not to love? 

What is root beer? 

Root beer is a soda (or pop, or soda pop, depending on your region) invented in North America, likely in the 18th century. At first, it was served hot, but by the 1850s enterprising cold beverage fans began combining root beer syrup with soda water for a refreshing twist.  

Initially, Americans used root beer medicinally. Its unique flavor came from the American sassafras root, a perennial tree once used by the Eastern Cherokee (and later European settlers) to treat conditions including colds, fevers, and rheumatism. Even modern root beer as we know it (carbonated, cold, sweet) was initially marketed as a medicinal beverage by drug stores. Hires Root Beer, for example, was invented by a pharmacist who first sold it as Hires Root Tea. 

Today, no two root beer brands are alike in flavor or ingredient list. In 1976, after a study on rats revealed that sassafras root extract was carcinogenic, the FDA banned its use. 

As a result, root beer brands had to develop alternative recipes to maintain the same (or at least similar) flavor that drinkers had come to love. While there’s no standard recipe for modern root beer, most brands now use alternative roots and barks instead of sassafras, such as birch bark or dandelion, licorice, or sarsaparilla roots.

Depending on the ingredients used, root beer can taste sweet, spicy, and ever-so-slightly like an herbal tincture. 

Additions like vanilla and molasses give root beer a creamy mouthfeel, not unlike cream soda, while spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger imbue a subtle kick, similar to Dr. Pepper. 

Root and bark extracts add the top notes that set root beer apart from other soft drinks like vanilla-forward Coca-Cola or cream soda. Some detractors, particularly those across the Atlantic, where root beer never made much headway, liken root beer to medicinal items like mouthwash or cough syrup.

Does root beer have alcohol?

Despite its name, almost all root beer is, and has always been, alcohol-free. However, in recent years, hard root beer brands with names like Not Your Father’s Root Beer have appeared on the market. 

The “beer” in root beer comes instead from its original brewing process, which was similar to standard beer brewing. The first root beer was carbonated by fermentation using yeast, which resulted in a foam head similar to what you’d get when ordering an IPA on tap. Today’s canned root beer uses carbonated water instead — no party-trick foam and far easier to produce at scale. 

Does root beer have caffeine?

Root beer is also naturally caffeine-free, although some brands, like Barq’s, add caffeine; each 12-ounce serving of Barq’s contains ​​22.5 mg, roughly the equivalent of a cup of green tea. 

Where is root beer most popular?

No pun intended, root beer has deep roots in specific corners of the United States. In 2022, Eat This, Not That used Google Trends data to identify the most popular soda brands by state, and root beer topped the list in Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina (a betrayal given that it’s Pepsi’s home state), and South Dakota. 

And then there’s Utah. The state is well-known for its soda consumption, mainly because of its high population of members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, known informally as Mormons, who follow religious doctrine that requires them to abstain from alcohol and hot drinks like coffee or tea.

Historically, LDS Church leaders interpreted that to mean no caffeine, full stop. On menus across the state, caffeine-free soft drinks abound, and Utah is credited with starting the TikTok-famous “dirty soda” trend. But root beer has long been integral to LDS culture, celebrations, and lore. 

Long before the religion found its permanent home in Utah, LDS founder Joseph Smith supposedly made root beer on his farm in Palmyra, New York, selling it at a “cake and beer shop” in town to support his family and followers. Today, LDS families serve homemade root beer, typically made with root beer syrup and dry ice, at Fourth of July barbecues and in punch bowls at Halloween gatherings. They also often include root beer syrup in care packages for LDS missionaries who long for a familiar flavor far from home.  

“We have long speculated about why root beer and root beer floats are so popular among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,” says Alexander Foster, a family representative of Hires Big H, a historic diner chain in Salt Lake City. “[Root beer became] part of our culture early on, so it’s part of the community fabric. Many of our social interactions focus on gathering around sweet treats and ice cream instead of alcohol, tea, or coffee.” 

Hires Big H gets its name from Hires Root Beer, which the restaurant has sold in ice-cold mugs since owner (and LDS member) Don Hale opened the first location in 1959. 

“Don enjoyed a good glass of root beer and because of its popularity [in Utah], thought it would be a fun addition to the menu and the restaurant,” says Foster.

He was right. Even as root beer’s popularity has declined elsewhere in the U.S. in favor of other soft drinks, Hires Big H holds tight to its, well, roots. 

Pop in six days a week (they’re closed on Sundays), and you’ll see frosted mugs at every other table. The restaurant group even negotiated a special deal with Coca-Cola to allow them to continue serving root beer in addition to Coke products. 

There’s also something a little, dare we say, debaucherous about root beer, which lends it heightened appeal among Utahns. 

“I think there’s a slight thrill for some LDS members when they order a drink that has ‘beer’ in the name,” says Foster. “It’s the beverage equivalent of using ‘darn’ when you’d like to swear, but don’t want to break the Ten Commandments.” 

Root beer may not have spread far abroad, but in small pockets of the U.S., it’s a darn fine soft drink.