Mix it up

Cocktails, floats & drinks made with craft soda

Root beer is more than a glass on its own — it floats ice cream, anchors an old-fashioned, and mixes long and easy. Here are classics and a few of our own, across the whole botanical-soda family. Pick your soda from the cellar.

Floats

The Classic Root Beer Float

Made with root beer

The drink that started it all: cold root beer poured over vanilla ice cream until the foam climbs the glass. It is the house benchmark every other float is measured against.

Ingredients

  • 2-3 scoops vanilla ice cream
  • 8-10 oz cold root beer
  • Whipped cream (optional)
  • Maraschino cherry (optional)

How to make it

Chill a tall glass and start with the ice cream, then pour the root beer slowly down the side so the foam builds without flooding the glass. Finish with a crown of whipped cream and a cherry, and serve with both a straw and a long spoon.

Inspired byIce Cream From Scratch - Easy Traditional Root Beer FloatBake It With Love - Classic Root Beer Float

Sarsaparilla Float

Made with sarsaparilla

Drier and more herbal than a root beer float, with sarsaparilla's saponin-driven bark and licorice notes playing against sweet vanilla. A soda-fountain classic for anyone who finds root beer too candied.

Ingredients

  • 2 scoops good vanilla ice cream
  • 8-10 oz cold sarsaparilla
  • Whipped cream (optional)

How to make it

Drop the ice cream into a chilled fountain glass, then pour the sarsaparilla down the side to control the fizz. Let it foam, top with whipped cream if you like, and drink it right away before the bubbles fade.

Inspired byWine Enthusiast - Sarsaparilla Soda FloatSustainable Slow Living - Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Soda

Boston Cooler

Made with ginger ale

A Detroit original named for the Boston-Edison neighborhood: Vernors ginger ale blended with vanilla ice cream into a spiced, creamy shake rather than a fizzy float. Aged ginger ale's pepper cuts the cream beautifully.

Ingredients

  • 3 parts vanilla ice cream
  • 1 part Vernors (or other bold ginger ale)
  • Extra ginger ale to loosen, if needed

How to make it

Unlike a float, blend the ginger ale and vanilla ice cream together to a thick, milkshake-like consistency, roughly three parts ice cream to one part soda. Add a splash more ginger ale if it needs loosening, and serve in a chilled glass with a spoon.

Inspired byAtlas Obscura / Gastro Obscura - Boston CoolerTasting Table - The Boston Cooler, Explained

Cream Soda Dreamsicle Float

Made with cream soda

Vanilla on vanilla, with cream soda doubling down on the ice cream for a soft, nostalgic float. A splash of orange tips it straight into creamsicle territory.

Ingredients

  • 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
  • 8-10 oz cold cream soda
  • Splash of orange soda or sherbet (optional)
  • Whipped cream (optional)

How to make it

Add the ice cream to a chilled glass and pour the cream soda slowly over it to manage the foam. For a dreamsicle twist, swap a scoop for orange sherbet or add a splash of orange soda, then top with whipped cream.

Inspired byThe Quicker Kitchen - Cream Soda Ice Cream FloatsIn the Kitchen with Matt - Creamsicle Float

Mocktails

Virgin Mule (Ginger-Lime Fizz)

Made with ginger beer

All the spicy, tart snap of a Moscow Mule with none of the vodka, carried entirely by a bold ginger beer. The zero-proof proof that a great mule is really about the soda.

Ingredients

  • 4-6 oz ginger beer
  • 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
  • Fresh mint leaves
  • Ice
  • Lime wedge, for garnish

How to make it

Muddle a few mint leaves with the lime juice in the bottom of a mug, then fill with ice and top with ginger beer. Stir once and garnish with a lime wedge and a fresh mint sprig.

Inspired byYummy Mummy Kitchen - Virgin Moscow MuleRenee Nicole's Kitchen - Virgin Moscow Mule / Ginger Lime Fizz

Cocktails

Root Beer Old Fashioned

Contains alcohol

Made with root beer

An old fashioned that leans into root beer's native vanilla, bark, and spice notes instead of fighting them. The sarsaparilla-adjacent botanicals make bourbon taste like it was always meant to go there.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz bourbon
  • 1/4 oz root beer syrup (or 1 barspoon)
  • 2-3 dashes aromatic bitters
  • Splash of root beer or soda water
  • Large ice cube
  • Orange peel, for garnish

How to make it

Stir the bourbon, root beer syrup, and bitters with ice until well chilled, then strain over a large cube in a rocks glass. Top with a small splash of root beer or soda, express an orange peel over the top, and drop it in.

Inspired byTipsy Cocktail Supply Co. - Root Beer Old FashionedBeverage Mixers / Portland Syrups - Sarsaparilla Old Fashioned

Birch Beer Bourbon Highball

Contains alcohol

Made with birch beer

Birch beer's bright wintergreen lift gives a highball a cool, almost minty edge that ginger and cola can't touch. It is the easiest way to show off a regional birch alongside good bourbon.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz bourbon
  • 6-8 oz cold birch beer
  • Squeeze of fresh lime (optional)
  • Ice
  • Lime wheel or mint sprig, for garnish

How to make it

Fill a Collins glass with ice and pour the bourbon over it, then top slowly with cold birch beer to keep the bubbles. Add an optional squeeze of lime, stir once, and garnish with a lime wheel or mint.

Inspired bySimple Seasonal - Pennsylvania Birch Beer CocktailRocky Mountain Soda - Birch Beer Guide & Cocktail Recipes

Dark 'n Stormy

Contains alcohol

Made with ginger beer

Bermuda's national drink: a layer of dark rum drifting down through spicy ginger beer like a storm cloud rolling in. The name is trademarked to Gosling's, who insist on their Black Seal rum to call it authentic.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz dark rum (traditionally Gosling's Black Seal)
  • 5-6 oz spicy ginger beer
  • Lime wedge
  • Ice

How to make it

Fill a tall glass with ice and pour in the ginger beer, then float the dark rum on top so it sinks through in a stormy swirl. Squeeze a lime wedge over and drop it in; stir only if you want to tame the cloud.

Inspired byGosling's - Official Dark 'n StormyInspired Taste - Dark and Stormy Recipe

Moscow Mule

Contains alcohol

Made with ginger beer

The 1941 Los Angeles invention that made vodka, ginger beer, and the copper mug all famous at once. Spicy, tart, and endlessly riffable, it is the gateway ginger-beer cocktail.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz vodka
  • 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
  • 4-6 oz ginger beer
  • Ice
  • Lime wedge and mint, for garnish

How to make it

Build it right in the mug: add lime juice and vodka over ice, then top with ginger beer and give it one gentle stir. Garnish with a lime wedge and mint, and use a stainless-lined copper mug rather than raw copper for the acidic mix.

Inspired byCookie and Kate - Classic Moscow MuleMoscow Copper Co. - The Perfect Moscow Mule

Ginger Beer Shandy

Contains alcohol

Made with ginger beer

A summer shandy with ginger beer standing in for the usual lemonade, splitting the glass evenly with a crisp lager. Lower in proof, high on refreshment, and built for the back porch.

Ingredients

  • 6 oz cold lager
  • 6 oz ginger beer
  • Squeeze of fresh lime
  • Ice (optional)
  • Lemon or lime wheel, for garnish

How to make it

Pour a cold lager into a tall glass, then add an equal measure of ginger beer slowly to preserve the fizz. Finish with a squeeze of lime and a citrus wheel; keep it roughly half-and-half so neither side dominates.

Inspired byHomemade Hooplah - Ginger Beer ShandyA Couple Cooks - How to Make a Classic Shandy

Spritzes

Elderflower Tonic Spritz

Contains alcohol

Made with botanical tonic water

A garden-party spritz that treats tonic as the botanical centerpiece, its quinine bitterness laced with floral elderflower and fresh herbs. For a zero-proof version, drop the gin and lean on elderflower cordial.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz gin
  • 1 oz elderflower liqueur
  • 3-4 oz quality tonic water
  • Lime wedge
  • Ice
  • Rosemary, thyme, or cucumber, for garnish

How to make it

Build over plenty of ice: pour the gin and elderflower liqueur into a wine glass or highball, then top with cold tonic water and stir gently. Squeeze in a lime wedge and garnish with a herb sprig or cucumber ribbon.

Inspired byGarnish with Lemon - Elderflower Gin and TonicSt-Germain - Gin & Tonic Cocktail

Punches

Root Beer Float Punch

Made with root beer

A root beer float scaled up to fill a punch bowl, foam and all. Built for a crowd, it stays photogenic only if you add the ice cream at the last minute.

Ingredients

  • 2 liters cold root beer
  • 1 quart vanilla ice cream
  • Whipped cream (optional)
  • Ground nutmeg or cinnamon (optional)

How to make it

Pour chilled root beer into a punch bowl, then scoop vanilla ice cream in just before guests arrive so it foams instead of melting flat. Add the soda and ice cream last-minute, and ladle into glasses with a little of the floating cream in each cup.

Inspired byIce Cream From Scratch - Sherbet Punch (method)Rose Bakes - Easy Party Punch with Sherbet

Please enjoy responsibly; alcoholic recipes are for those of legal drinking age. Categories label whether a drink contains alcohol.