Root Beer Cocktails: Spiked Floats, Root Beer With Vodka, Rum or Gin, and Schnapps Shots
Somebody on our street has carved the first lopsided pumpkin of the year, which in our house means root beer comes back into the cooler. It is the most autumnal soda there is. Its flavor already tastes like a spice cabinet: vanilla, wintergreen, licorice, a little clove and birch. Add a spirit and most of the work is done for you.
Old-time root beer was flavored with sassafras root. In 1960 the FDA banned safrole, the compound in sassafras oil, as a food additive, so today’s brands lean on wintergreen, vanilla and sarsaparilla flavorings instead. That shift is why modern root beer pairs so easily with vanilla vodka and spiced rum. They share the same sweet, warm notes.
Spiked root beer floats
We’ll start with dessert, because a float is the drink most people picture when they hear “root beer cocktail.”
The simplest is the Deja Vu: 1 1/2 oz vanilla vodka poured over ice, then about 6 oz of root beer, half a can. That’s it. The vanilla vodka stands in for the ice cream, so it tastes like a float without the spoon. Diet root beer works too, if you’d rather.
For a float you actually eat, try the Slacker’s Slammer. An ounce each of vodka and root beer schnapps goes into a glass of root beer, and a scoop of ice cream lands on top. It foams up dramatically, so leave plenty of headroom in the mug.
Bourbon fans have the Eskay Slammer, which pours Maker’s Mark into ice-cold root beer and finishes with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. The bourbon’s caramel and the ice cream melt together into something like butterscotch. It’s our favorite on a cold evening.
And since it’s October, a Halloween pick. The Jason Voorhies layers whipped cream, then 2 oz vanilla vodka, then 6 oz root beer, with a splash of club soda dropped into the middle. It’s named for the hockey-masked villain, it looks a bit murky on purpose, and it tastes like a creamy float.
If RumChata is already in the fridge, it’s a lovely stand-in for the cream or ice cream in any of these. Its cinnamon plays well with root beer’s spice, and we like to pour it slowly so it clouds the glass from the bottom.
Root beer with rum, gin and whiskey
Spiced rum may be the most natural partner of all. The Hard Root Beer is 2 oz Captain Morgan spiced rum and a 12 oz bottle of IBC root beer over ice, stirred once. The rum’s vanilla and allspice simply disappear into the soda, which makes it a dangerously easy drink at a bonfire.
Gin surprises people. The Root Beer Fizz shakes 2 oz gin with 1 oz lemon juice and a teaspoon of superfine sugar, then tops the strained mix with 4 oz root beer. The lemon brightens everything and the juniper picks up root beer’s piney, wintergreen side. We’d serve it to anyone who claims they don’t like gin.
For whiskey, keep it simple: two ounces of bourbon or Tennessee whiskey in a tall glass of cold root beer. It drinks like a whiskey and cola, only softer and creamier.
Jäger and root beer
Jägermeister’s licorice and herbal bitterness line up neatly with root beer’s own anise and wintergreen. The Deer Hunter puts 2 oz of chilled Jäger and 1 oz vodka over ice, fills the glass with 3 to 5 oz of root beer, and finishes with a squeeze of lemon. That lemon is what keeps it from tasting heavy. If you’d rather skip the vodka, the Zenmeister is just equal parts Jäger and root beer. Our what to mix with Jägermeister post covers the other sodas that suit it.
The Galliano and cola trick
Here’s a bit of bar magic we love showing guests. Galliano, the tall yellow Italian liqueur, tastes of vanilla and anise. Stir a little into cola and the combination reads uncannily like root beer, with no root beer in the glass at all.
The recipe called simply Root Beer pours 2 oz vodka over ice, fills the glass with 6 oz Pepsi, and swirls a splash of Galliano across the top. Its notes insist on Pepsi, not Coke. The Old Rootbeer Float goes further: 1 oz Galliano in 8 oz Coca-Cola with a scoop of vanilla ice cream eased in on top. Have a spoon and a straw ready. There’s more on that bottle in our Galliano cocktails guide, and more cola pairings in drinks with Coke.
Root beer schnapps shots
Root beer schnapps packs the flavor into a liqueur, which turns shots into little candy-shop bites. A few that we keep coming back to:
- Teddybear Shooter: 3/4 oz root beer schnapps in the glass, then 1/4 oz vodka layered gently on top with a bar spoon.
- Harley Oil: equal parts Jägermeister and root beer schnapps. Dark, herbal and sweet.
- Turlock Bulldog: not a shot, but too good to leave out. Baileys and Kahlua, 1 1/2 oz each, topped with 6 oz root beer. It tastes like a coffee float.
Picking the root beer
Brands vary more than people expect. Some lean hard on vanilla and pour with a creamy head. Others are sharper, with more wintergreen and bite. For floats, choose a creamy one. For gin or Jäger, a sharper, spicier one keeps the drink from going flat on the palate.
When you’re staring at a half-stocked cabinet and a two-liter of root beer, list what you’ve got in CocktailBuilder and it will sort out which of these you can make right now. One last tip from our kitchen: chill the mugs in the freezer for twenty minutes before pouring. A frosted mug keeps a float from melting into soup before the first sip.
Last modified on October 4, 2026
