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My son requested Root Beer Floats for his 6th birthday and I decided it would be fun to make our own Root Beer using a recipe I found over at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. Little did I know, we would all fall head-over-heels for this root beer (even I love it…and I don’t like any other kind of root beer!).
We had so much fun making the Root Beer! We used dry ice to carbonate it, so it was like a science experiment and a yummy treat all rolled up into one. This Homemade Root Beer Christmas Gift will be given to our neighbors and some family members who love Root Beer! I found some glass half-gallon bottles for a couple dollars each and then whipped up these fun “Have a Root-Tootin’ Christmas” gift tags.
{Print your own Large or Small Gift Tags!}
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own Homemade Root Beer:
(One recipe will make one half-gallon of root beer…double, triple, or quadruple as necessary)
4 quarts cold water
2 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons Zatarain’s Root Beer Concentrate (if making 15 half-gallons of root beer like we did, I would highly suggest purchasing the 12-pack as it is less than half the price per bottle!)
1-2 pounds of dry ice (purchase within a few hours of when you are ready to make)
Funnel
1. Mix half a gallon of cold water and 2 cups of sugar until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of Root Beer Concentrate and mix well.
3. Throw the dry ice down on the ground to break it into small chunks. Use tongs or gloves to place it into the root beer mixture. Never touch dry ice with your bare hands, the extreme cold will burn your skin. Do not let children handle dry ice.
4. Once all the dry ice has dissolved, use a funnel to pour the root beer into the glass jar.
Yummy Brown Goodness! 🙂
Print off your {large or small} gift tags.
Attach the gift tags using some twine.
Here is the back of the gift tag. If they don’t line up exactly, just print them off separately and use a glue stick to attach them.
- 4 quarts cold water
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Zatarain's Root Beer Concentrate
- 1-2 pounds of dry ice
- Mix the cold water and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the Root Beer Concentrate and mix.
- Take dry ice outside and drop on concrete to break into small pieces.
- Add root beer mixture to a large container and add small pieces of dry ice using tongs or gloves (do not use your bare hands), it will begin bubbling as it carbonates the root beer.
- Once the dry ice is dissolved, pour through a strainer to make sure there are no chunks of dry ice still left.
- Pour into a glass bottle and refrigerate until serving.
What do you give your neighbors for Christmas???
Click here for more recipe ideas:
Famous Dave’s Cornbread Recipe
Jenae is on a mission to cultivate a joy-filled home for her husband and three children. 
My son’s birthday is next week and he has requested that we make him homemade root beer as well. We normally make it a lot during the summers, but we have never used dry ice. We normally use a special type of powder to carbonate the drink. How well does the carbonation hold once you bottle it?
Honestly…it never lasts more than a day or two, so I am not sure! I would love to know what type of powder you use…I might have to use that if I get desperate and run out of time!