Love of the root prompts a soda biz
When Cheryl and Michael Nelson first moved to Columbia, the re-created Gold Rush town and state historic park some 25 miles north of Yosemite, they soon discovered a taste for sarsaparilla. They were working at the Jack Douglass and St. Charles saloons in this state historic park, pouring frosty mugs of sarsaparilla soda — often called root beer’s cousin — for parched patrons. They loved the old-fashioned soda’s anise flavor and enjoyed making their own sodas at home with little bottles of Jack Douglass’ sarsaparilla root extract syrup.
When the extract went extinct — the East Coast vendor stopped making it — the Nelsons missed their favorite soda. So they did what anyone with that level of passion would do: They made their own and started their own soda works.
Now you, too, can quaff the Nelsons’ Columbia Soda Works Sarsaparilla. Naturally, we had questions, and Cheryl was happy to answer
Q What is sarsaparilla, anyway? A It’s really the original root beer, with different flavors from different roots, like anise root and the sarsaparilla plant, also known as smilax.
Q What was the inspiration behind the soda company?
A Way back in the ’70s, when we first moved to Columbia, the Jack Douglass Saloon was making the sarsaparilla, getting the base for it back East. When the saloon stopped making the extract, we asked if we could buy the base and their logo. They weren’t ready to let it go. Years passed, and they just never did anything with it. So we found the same base, and then we added our own twist on it and started making the fountain syrup for the saloons in town under our label, Columbia Diggins Extract Company, in 1996. We went to fairs and festivals with a covered wagon and served the extract over shaved ice or in soda floats. We were at the state fair every year and went to 32 events a year.
But this sarsaparilla had never been bottled as a soda pop, so we started Columbia Soda Works in 2001. We bottle it at 7Up’s local bottling facility. We just
wanted the sarsaparilla back. It really is a flavor that no other sarsaparilla has, and it just goes with this town.
Q How is sarsaparilla different from root beer?
A Root beer is made from the sassafras and sarsaparilla root. Originally sarsaparilla was sarsaparilla and black licorice root. Both extracts were used as tonics, said to cure all sorts of ailments: nervous disorders, dyspepsia, jaundice, loss of appetite and general debility. Sarsaparilla was the drink of the gold miners.
As far as the difference in taste, our sarsaparilla has an undertone of licorice. Even if you don’t care for licorice, it is different. There is anise flavoring in the base, which is from the real sarsaparilla plant root extract.
Q Where can we taste your sarsaparilla in Columbia?
A At the saloons in town. You can get the soda in an ice-cold bottle or on tap in frosty mugs at Jack Douglass or St. Charles Saloon, Brown’s Coffee House, the City Hotel Restaurant & What Cheer Saloon and the Columbia House. In the Bay Area, you can find it at BevMo, Raley’s, Safeway, Nob Hill and Save Mart markets. But you can buy our extract here in town and take it home to make your own soda (see recipe). We also suggest using the extract to flavor cheesecake, cake and cookie frosting and milkshakes, or pour it over shaved ice. Q Anywhere else?
A Right now we are in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas. Eblers Leather and Saddle Emporium, our other business here in Columbia, really takes our focus now. But we really want to work on the soda. Maybe one of these days, we’ll get it into Disneyland.