La Wall has found in some recent investigations2 that many so-called root beers have a large percentage of alcohol. Such beverages as these should be classed under alcoholic drinks. He says:

1 Food Inspection Decision 177 issued Aug. 20, 1918. 2 American Journal of Pharmacy, August, 1916, page 355.

The conditions under which the beverage is made are very favorable for the development of appreciable amounts of alcohol. Yeast, sugar, water and a flavoring extract which usually contains some inorganic salts for the stimulation and nutrition of the yeast, are combined under conditions favorable to the rapid growth of the yeast, and the mixture is then bottled and the bottles are directed to be tightly closed.

When the pressure of carbon dioxid, evolved by the fermenting mixture, reaches a certain point, the fermentation automatically ceases. It may easily be seen that if the mixture is allowed to stand for a short time before bottling, or if the bottles are not entirely filled so that a comparatively large air space remains, fermentation may proceed for some time, and the alcohol content is correspondingly varied or increased.

I accordingly made some experiments to ascertain just how high the alcohol would go under the most favorable conditions, and also to see what the average alcohol content of a product made strictly according to directions would be. The following results were obtained:

No higher alcohol content was observed in this series even after standing for 10 days longer.

Later some additional experiments were made, allowing the fermenting liquid to stand for three hours before bottling and also only partially filling the bottles, and while, of course, the alcohol content rose more rapidly in each case, the highest amount noted under the most favorable circumstances was 1.77 percent.

There is a very delicate question involved as to whether a beverage made in this manner could be sold as a non-alcoholic drink, using the expression "non-alcoholic" in its popular significance as equivalent to non-intoxicating. Under the internal revenue rulings we find No. 804, June 29, 1904, J. W. Yerkes, Commissioner, the following:

"The question whether fermented malt liquor is intoxicating or non-intoxicating is immaterial under the internal revenue laws, although it may be a material question under the prohibitory laws of a State or under local ordinances."

No ruling, so far as I can find, has ever been made with reference to root beer, nor can I find any literature on its alcohol content when made as above described. The soda-fountain root beer, of course, is made by diluting a flavored syrup with carbonated water and therefore contains no more alcohol than the minute amount contributed by the extract used to flavor the syrup, which would not exceed 0.05 percent, and is not to be confused with the home-brewed or fermented product, which is the subject of this article.

It is recorded in literature that koumiss, which is made from milk fermented under somewhat similar conditions, sometimes contains over 2 percent of alcohol.

The foregoing facts may come as a surprise to many who have looked upon home-brewed root beer as a strictly temperance drink. With beer averaging 4 percent alcohol, the mathematical ratio becomes apparent that three bottles of home-brewed root beer, which have been allowed to stand for 10 days or over, are equivalent to one bottle of ordinary beer.