I love writing. Origins of Root Beer

I love writing and I'm pretty sure it runs in the family. My grandma is ever-creating new stories and family cookbooks and historical narratives of the valley our home is in. My mother's passion is research and she's working on a thesis alongside a book about divorce (recently she told me it may become two separate books, only more writing will tell).  I have taken to blogging, simply spewing out the random thoughts and experiences my life brings upon me. I guess I've done a little bit of research writing too. For each of us, it seems that we all move to the written word as an outlet for our (well mostly my) non-creativity in every other creative field.

Being home at the mountain house for the holidays, tucked away with little phone or internet access, sitting at the dining room table around which each member of my family is reading a different book, I realize how ingrained the love of words is in our family. Even my younger brother who mostly hated school most always has a book in his massive hands (he is 6'5" you know).

When we were in the car on the way down I-70 (beautiful scenic highway) to get here, my sister Nicole (8 years old) asked me why the called root beer root beer. I had no idea, nor did anyone in the car, but we decided (well mostly I encouraged) that it would be fun to do a research study with the whole family to see if anyone really knew much about root beer, it's ingredients, or its origin than compare what people know to what information we could find online.  With three simple research questions (Why do they call Root Beer, Root Beer? What do you think it's ingredients are? How is it made?) Nicole conducted and I transcribed interviews with 13 of the family members at the house.

What did we find?
1. Family agreed that root beer was probably called such because it was made from a root.
2. Original root beer did in fact come largely from a mixture of roots and spices (namely Sassafras) though currently Root Beer usually is made solely with artificial flavoring not stemming from anything root-like.
3. Root Beer was originally alcoholic (about 2%) and was often used to treat sore throats and mouth sores.
4. The drink was originally sold as a powder, and gained popularity during prohibition.

Resources
Wisegeek.com
Wikipedia

I guess that what it comes down to is that our family has a love of words and we particularly like them when they come in the form of research.

Expect much more writing from me.