Abita Root Beer is a favorite throughout Louisiana, but we’ve all had the thought—wouldn’t this be better with alcohol?
The team at Abita Brewing finally has the answer to your boozy prayers with the launch of Abita Bayou Bootlegger Hard Root Beer. The grown-up root beer has a an alcohol content of 5.9 percent to complement the drink’s traditional soda shop flavors of vanilla, clove, anise and sassafras. There’s no liquor added here; the root beer achieves its alcoholic status through a yeast fermentation process, keeping its original recipe intact.
According to Abita customer engagement specialist Ben West, the Bayou Bootlegger was in the works for months to meet popular demand.
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“We’ve been making great root beer for a long time now and we do it the right way with pure Louisiana cane sugar. Because of this rich root beer tradition at Abita, we thought we could bring a lot to the table with a hard root beer,” West says. “Our fans had been asking for it, so we’ve been working behind the scenes for many months to get it just right.”
The drink is named in honor of swashbuckling French bootlegger Jean Lafitte, who defended New Orleans in the War of 1812, and the packaging describes the soda as “brewed with the swagger and rebellious spirit of our most famous pirate.”
Bayou Bootlegger Hard Root Beer is now widely available in Louisiana, and you can expect to see it pop up in stores across Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Texas in early 2016. The brand plans to eventually have Bayou Bootlegger available anywhere that Abita beers are sold.