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A root beer float is a dessert that consists of root beer and vanilla ice cream. It is usually made by scooping ice cream into a glass or mug, and then pouring in root beer. The microscopic bubbles present in the ice cream act as "nucleation sites" which trigger the formation of large bubbles of carbon dioxide. The foam often overflows the container, and the amount of foam can be reduced to a more manageable level if the root beer is poured first, and the ice cream is then gently lowered into it.
Root beer floats are usually eaten with a spoon. A popular technique is to take some ice cream in the spoon, dip it in the root beer, and eat it. When all of the solid ice cream is eaten, the remaining mixture of root beer and melted ice cream can be drunk either with or without a straw. Another method is to mix the ice cream and root beer together, then drink the concoction after the ice cream has melted.
A root beer float can also be blended to create a consistently textured beverage not unlike a milkshake. This is often called a root beer freeze.
A&W Restaurants are well known for their root beer floats.
A root beer float is also sometimes called a brown cow or black cow, although the former also refers to an ice cream soda made with cola instead of root beer. Another related drink is the Boston cooler (named after the Detroit street where it was supposedly first made, not after Boston, where it is unknown), made with ginger ale.
The root beer float is thought to have been invented by Frank J. Wisner in August of 1893. He was inspired to "float" a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of his Myers Avenue Red root beer from his late night glimpse of the snow on top of the blackened Cow Mountain (location of his gold claims) illuminated by the full moon overhead. It was an instant hit with the children of Cripple Creek who soon shortened the convoluted name Mr. Wisner came up with to just a "Black Cow". Mr. Wisner often remarked that if he had a nickel for every time someone ordered a Black Cow, he would have been a rich man.
Variations
Instead of root beer, one can use a cola; with Coca-Cola such a drink would be called a Coke float or a black cow. Beer has also been used, creating a "beer float".
For those who concoct the mixed form of root beer float as opposed to the spoon-dipping type, there are two primary factions of Floatdom: Ice Cream First (ICF) and Root Beer First (RBF). As the name suggests, ICFs place scoops of ice cream into the glass first, then pour on root beer. This can sometimes result in an amusing foam-sucking game in which the maker of the float must quickly suck away the foam created by the ice cream/root beer combination before it spills over the side of the glass. This can be played competitively with other ICF float makers. The other faction, RBF, pours in root beer and then plops their ice cream in, sometimes resulting in a splashing mess.
In Australia, Coca-Cola resellers with access to soft-serve facilities (namely cinemas or small cafe styled stores) launched the "Coke Spider", a post mix Coke with vanilla soft-serve. Since then, many businesses and the general population refer to this drink as a "spider", with exception to McDonald's which marketed the same product in 2004 as the "Coke Float" (available in all Coke brand flavours.)
See also
References
- "Cripple Creek Brewing - The Legend Continues." Cripple Creek Brewing. Accessed on May 31, 2005.
- "Saint Arnold Brewing Company Lifts a Mug to Inventor of the Root Beer Float", Saint Arnold Brewing Company, (May 31, 2005)
I can remember my Dad calling a float, in particular a vanilla ice cream and ginger ale one, a "Horse's Neck." South Boston, MA
"Root beer float"