Talk:Birch beer

This article is slightly confusing. It starts mentioning birch bark - then all the way through the rest of the article, it seems sap is the most important ingredient. // Habj 21:47, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Would anyone consider this stub a beer stub or tea stub?--Witeandnerdy 23:37, 13 November 2006 (UTC)


 * No, because despite the name, it's not actually beer, and it's not tea either. —Keenan Pepper 04:30, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Ok, we will leave as is.--Witeandnerdy 02:09, 16 November 2006 (UTC) Be sides all what you are talking about, O.K. were can I fine this Birch beer at in Indiana? {lika@bp} —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.215.194.3 (talk) 16:18, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

Birch beer color
There really needs to be a reference cited for the idea that the color depends on the species of birch used. This seems rather unlikely to me, and even if true of old fashioned methods it certainly is no longer true for today's commercially produced birch beer. Even then, I would guess it to have more to do with the method of extraction of the birch flavor, than the actual birch species.

The refined birch oil commonly used today would naturally result in a clear birch beer. Boiling the bark can I believe produce a reddish tea.

--Ericjs (talk) 21:47, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

I have made it from scratch myself, and birch oil does not come from the sap, it comes from the inner bark layer of the new twigs. And REAL birch beer IS an alcoholic drink, as was Root beer originally (though only mildly alcoholic). This recipe is the closest I have found to how my grandfather taught me... http://www.grouprecipes.com/80154/pennsylvania-birch-beer.html ...and - the color does depend on the type of birch. Black birch (sometimes called "Sweet Birch" I believe) has the sweetest sap and the tea made from the bark (from whence comes the wintergreen flavor) is brown. --User:Robert 11:48, 11 April 2013 (EST)

Fair use candidate from Commons: File:Soft Drink.svg
The file File:Soft Drink.svg, used on this page, has been deleted from Wikimedia Commons and re-uploaded at File:Soft Drink.svg. It should be reviewed to determine if it is compliant with this project's non-free content policy, or else should be deleted and removed from this page. If no action is taken, it will be deleted after 7 days. Commons fair use upload bot (talk) 21:16, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Fair use candidate from Commons: File:Soft Drink.svg
The file File:Soft Drink.svg, used on this page, has been deleted from Wikimedia Commons and re-uploaded at File:Soft Drink.svg. It should be reviewed to determine if it is compliant with this project's non-free content policy, or else should be deleted and removed from this page. If no action is taken, it will be deleted after 7 days. Commons fair use upload bot (talk) 21:30, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Alcohol?
Has birch beer always alcohol in it and how many vol% has it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.134.142.156 (talk) 02:52, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

Add Simpson Spring to Commercial brands list?
For what it's worth: Simpson Spring sells White Birch Beer. According to their web site White Birch is their #1 flavor. http://www.simpsonspring.com/soda — Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.254.4.4 (talk) 17:52, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

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Changing lede.
The lede at present reads thus: "Birch beer in its most common form is a carbonated soft drink made from herbal extracts, usually from birch bark, although in the colonial era birch beer was made with herbal extracts of oak bark.[1] It has a taste similar to root beer. There are dozens of brands of birch beer available.[2]"

I am about to change the lede to read as follows: "Birch beer in its most common form is a carbonated soft drink made from herbal extracts and birch bark. There are dozens of brands of birch beers available.[1]" ("Dozens" is plural so "beer" should read "beers") (For the curious, go ahead and check the original #1 reference in history for yourself. There is NO mention of birch beer or ANY beverage made from oak on the archived page.)

... for now, and for the following reasons:


 * 1) The source originally cited never mentions birch beer or anything related to making birch beer from oak trees.
 * 2) The very notion of making any sort of beverage from an oak tree derivative and calling it birch [anything] makes utterly no sense at all. I'm absolutely certain that even colonial populations knew the difference between oak trees and birch trees. If they made a beverage similar to birch trees from oak trees, they most certainly would have called it Oak Beer, not birch beer. If I'm wrong, please change the lede with credible sources and citations.
 * 3) If you have ever tasted anything cooked on or over birch wood and/or oak, you would know immediately oak and birch produce a taste and odor markedly different, one from the other.
 * 4) Unless your taste is insensitive. In other words, many people may not taste the difference but a lot more would, thus the statement that the two are similar is highly subjective, and thus does not belong in an encyclopedic article.

THUS, I am changing the lede as aforementioned, and removing the citation and reference. I am also removing the reference to "tasting like root beer." Taste is a subjective term and should not be used as a comparative. I don't think the two taste remotely alike, and I'm sure many others do not as well. The original statement in the lede is far to subjective to personal tastes and does not belong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SentientParadox (talk • contribs) 06:23, 20 April 2018 (UTC)

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