What is the difference between root beer and birch beer (because they sure do taste the same)?

Brainy Blonde

Birch Beer: A carbonated soft drink flavored with herb extracts, traditionally of birch tree bark. See: http://www.bartleby.com/61/31/B0273150.html http://brewersclub.safeshopper.com/35/478.htm?231 The names are derived from how this drinks USED to be made, flavored with the roots of trees. no companies really do this anymore, but you can if you really want to try. the way I see it is this: birch beer came from birch trees, sarsaparilla came from sassafras trees and root beer came from one or more of many different trees, most often the sassafras tree. See: http://www.annoyances.com/rb/faqs.html Root Beer information. See: http://www.root-beer.org/ Root Beer Created in the mid-1800s by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires, the original root beer was a (very) low-alcohol, naturally effervescent beverage made by fermenting a blend of sugar and yeast with various roots, herbs and barks such as SARSAPARILLA, SASSAFRAS, wild cherry, WINTERGREEN and GINGER. Today's commercial root beer is completely nonalcoholic and generally contains sugar, caramel coloring, a combination of artificial and natural flavorings (including some of those originally used) and carbonated water for sparkle. Birch Beer Dating back to the late 1800s, this American carbonated drink (usually nonalcoholic) is flavored with an extract from birch bark. It's sweet and similar in flavor to root beer. Sarsaparilla Originally derived from the dried roots of tropical smilax vines, this flavor is usually associated with a carbonated drink popular in the mid-1800s. Todays sarsaparilla products - including the no-longer-popular soft drink - use artificial flavorings. See: http://www.epicurious.com/ Feb 15 02, 2:40 AM