ESSAY
In 1990, I picked up a can in America for the first time.Printed on it was the familiar word “Beer.” Without a second thought, I took a sip — only to be hit by an unexpectedly intense flavor and aroma unlike anything I had imagined. That was my first encounter with root beer.
Why does root beer taste “bad” to so many first-time visitors? The answer may have less to do with the flavor itself and more to do with how its distinctive aroma is tied to memory, culture, and sensory expectations. Based on my firsthand experience of mistaking it for actual beer, this article explores the strange taste of root beer and what it reveals about American culture.
In 1990s America, these kinds of discoveries could be found almost everywhere in everyday life.
→ 1990s America Experience Archive — The Hidden Logic Behind the Culture I Encountered Firsthand
→ Exploring the Food Culture Shocks I Experienced in 1990s America
Prologue — The First Apartment
It happened in 1990, in my very first apartment. The furniture was minimal, the rent suspiciously cheap, and the ceiling unnecessarily high. There was just one problem—no washing machine.
Instead, there was a large, oddly empty laundromat tucked into the corner of the property. Places like that usually mean one of two things: something begins, or something goes wrong. That day, somehow, it was both.
The Shock
I dropped a few coins into the washer and watched the drum begin to turn. The dry climate made me unusually thirsty, so I walked over to the vending machine in the corner and bought a drink.
It was a can I had never seen before, but it said “Beer.” I assumed it was beer. There was no reason to doubt it—if anything, doubting it would have felt rude. That assumption was the beginning of everything that followed.
It said “Beer,” but it was not beer at all.
I popped the tab and took a sip. First came an intense sweetness, which was fine—this was America, after all. The problem arrived a moment later: pomade, and then menthol ointment, rising quietly into the back of my nose.
This wasn’t just taste. Something stored in my memory had suddenly come alive inside my mouth.
The reaction was immediate. I stepped outside and spat it straight into a drain beside the laundromat. There was no hesitation, no second thought—there aren’t many moments in life that clear.
I remember thinking:
How can something this bad even exist?
A Misleading Name
Later, I learned the truth. The word “Beer” didn’t mean what I thought it meant.
In “Root Beer,” the “root” refers to plant roots—things like sassafras and sarsaparilla—while “beer,” at the time, was a much broader term meaning any lightly fermented, fizzy drink. It was originally made with sugar and yeast, producing a trace of alcohol—something beer-like, but not quite beer.
In other words, it was a fermented drink made from boiled roots.
The name wasn’t wrong. The mistake was mine—imagining an ice-cold lager where none existed.
Why It Tastes So Strange
The source of that unmistakable smell is a plant called sassafras, which gives Root Beer its distinctive aroma. But the real issue isn’t the ingredient itself—it’s what the smell reminds you of.
No matter how you try to describe it, it always comes back to the same comparison:
cola mixed with pomade and menthol ointment.
This is not a matter of taste. It’s a matter of memory. At that moment, my body made a decision before I could think:
“This is not something you drink.”
Originally, It Was Medicine
The story becomes even more complicated. Root Beer was originally a kind of herbal medicine, a tonic made from roots and plants. In 19th-century America, it was consumed for digestion and general health—a kind of folk remedy.
Which means that medicinal taste was never a mistake.
It was the point.
In that sense, it shares a similar origin with Coca-Cola—both began as medicinal drinks. They simply evolved in very different directions.
The Original Ingredient That Was Banned
Then comes the final twist. The original sassafras contained a compound called safrole, which was later suspected to be carcinogenic and banned in the United States in the 1960s.
So what is Root Beer now?
The answer is simple: it is an artificial recreation of that original flavor.
- Then: an actual medicinal drink
- Now: a drink designed to taste like medicine
Somewhere along the way, a very strange decision was made.
Why Americans Love It
In America, root beer was sold everywhere as a completely ordinary drink, and more importantly, the same flavor is used in candy, gum, and ice cream.
For Americans, the equation is simple:
“That smell” = something sweet and enjoyable.
A Matter of Cultural Memory
- For Japanese people: medicinal smell → rejection
- For Americans: candy-like smell → comfort
The flavor is the same, but the meaning is completely reversed.
So what I spat into the drain that day wasn’t just a drink.
It was culture.
It was not only the taste that surprised me.
→ The Texture Was Different Too — A Surprising Experience From America
Different Root Beer Brands
Not all Root Beers are the same.
- A&W Root Beer — sweeter, with a strong vanilla note. Supposedly beginner-friendly, though what “beginner” means in this context remains unclear.
- Barq’s Root Beer — sharper and more carbonated. There is no easy escape.
- Mug Root Beer — milder and easier to drink, or so they say. I remain skeptical.
The first one you try may shape your entire opinion.
Epilogue — Forty Years Later
That taste was never really about the tongue—it was rejected somewhere deeper, inside memory.
Nearly forty years have passed. Apparently, more people in Japan have started to accept it, for reasons I don’t fully understand, and now it’s easy to find.
Memory has a way of rewriting itself. The taste I once threw away into a drain sometimes comes back to me, and occasionally—much to my own surprise—I find myself drinking it again.
Just to remember what it felt like.
That feeling of “Why is it like this?” did not stop with taste alone.
I encountered many other unexpected cultural differences surrounding food in America as well.
→ It Wasn’t Called “Fried Potatoes” — My Embarrassing Experience at Burger King
→ Why Was American Coffee Culture So Different From What I Expected?
→ Exploring America’s Surprisingly “Japanese” Fast-Food Culture
→ Exploring the Food Culture Shocks I Experienced in 1990s America
In 1990s America, these kinds of discoveries could be found almost everywhere in everyday life.
→ 1990s America Experience Archive — The Hidden Logic Behind the Culture I Encountered Firsthand