A&W

A&W Drinks, formed by Roy Allen and Frank Wright (hence, we assume, the name) in 1922, is a chain of restaurants in the USA, with the tagline “All American Food” (and, presumably, drinks, although it isn’t specified). They have more than 900 restaurants in 16 countries, 460 in the USA so it seems that American food remains very popular in America. As are indeed their range of beverages and soft drinks (or sodas in the US) – which are mainly root beer oriented, so perfect if you’re after a classic American root beer or a root beer float (that’s a root beer with vanilla ice cream in it, also known as a Brown Cow; in their restaurants, they serve them in their famous frosty mugs – a bit of a collector’s item, those). Or, indeed, the packets of powdered drink mix to make regular water taste like root beer; they make that too, available in the UK from this very website.

Their mascot is Rooty, the “Great American Root Bear”, named after the sarsaparilla root, which gives root beer its distinctive taste. Interestingly enough in 2013, he became the first mascot to have an official LinkedIn profile. This was swiftly shut down by the po-faced people at LinkedIn, who clearly take themselves far too seriously.

A&W drinks are vegan-friendly, dairy-free and gluten-free, but not their dessert toppings.