PHILLY
EVENTS
Cravings: Root Beer Floats
- Percy Street Barbecue's creamy root beer float // Photography by Andrew Kahl
Ice-cream soda isn’t just for kids anymore. Thanks to a recent root beer revival at Philly’s craft breweries, the soda-fountain staple has become a big hit at bars, too. At South Street’s Percy Street Barbecue, Yards Brewing provides the root beer — a mildly spiced, creamy blend with a hearty head of foam, made exclusively for the restaurant — which is poured into a frosted Mason jar over a scoop of house-made vanilla-bean ice cream (pictured) for an addictive treat.
Over in Wash West, Varga Bar serves up a fine float using draft root beer brewed by Downington’s Victory Brewing. And for truly adults-only refreshment, NoLibs burger-and-booze joint P.Y.T. spikes its rendition with Root, a Philly-based liqueur inspired by an 18th-century recipe for “root tea,” the spirited pre-Temperance predecessor to root beer.
Over in Wash West, Varga Bar serves up a fine float using draft root beer brewed by Downington’s Victory Brewing. And for truly adults-only refreshment, NoLibs burger-and-booze joint P.Y.T. spikes its rendition with Root, a Philly-based liqueur inspired by an 18th-century recipe for “root tea,” the spirited pre-Temperance predecessor to root beer.
Originally published in Philadelphia magazine, July 2010
