This Old-School Soft Drink Was Every Cowboy's Favorite In The Old West

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American cowboys of the 19th century were tough people. We know them as whiskey shooting gunslingers who loved a good card game and didn't tolerate disrespect, but there also was a sweet side to the Old West. Among the dusty brown bottles of booze at the local saloon was another popular drink, a sweet soda known as sarsaparilla. It was a slightly bubbly soft drink that tasted like a bitter, earthier version of root beer.

Sarsaparilla soda was the kombucha of the Old West. It was a health tonic and the drink of choice for anyone who thought whiskey was too crass or strong for their liking. Cowboys opted for sarsaparilla when campfire meals on the trail made their stomachs turn. They reached for it for refreshment and revival after a long day of hard work. Not only was it good for an energy boost, it was rumored to heal everything from food poisoning and hangovers to gout and worse.

There were a few versions of this old-school soft drink floating around in the Old West. True sarsaparilla was made with extracts from the root bark of the sarsaparilla vine, a plant related to the lily. Sarsaparilla isn't native to America, though, which meant it needed to be imported from Central America and was often in short supply. So, saloons and apothecaries would use birch oil and sassafras to make the drink instead. Sassafras is another medicinal plant hailed as a health tonic which was said to help with digestion and inflammation. Mixed with other roots and flavorings, it creates a soda-like drink that's a little sweeter than straight sarsaparilla.

Sarsaparilla is undoubtedly among the staples real cowboys ate in the Old West, and today you can still find it in its true form. You might have to search it out because it's not as popular as the old fashioned root beer you find in every grocery store. Look for brands like Earp's Original Sarsaparilla or Sioux City Sarsaparilla for an authentic Old West experience. You won't be able to get your hands on the sassafras blend, though, which is why today's root beer is missing its signature ingredient. Sassafras was banned in the 1960s by the Food and Drug Administration because it was shown to cause cancer in mice. These days, most brewers use artificial flavors to mirror the taste of true old fashioned root beer.

If you really want to embody the Old West spirit, make sarsaparilla soda yourself. It's an easy DIY project that involves boiling sarsaparilla root, wintergreen, vanilla, and spices to make a syrup. Then, you combine some sarsaparilla syrup with sparkling water for a carbonated drink along the lines of this refreshing, two-ingredient soda alternative. Sarsaparilla kits make the project even easier. They provide all the supplies in one simple setup, so you can to get in-character with Hopalong Cassidy and Davy Crockett without having to track down individual ingredients.