National Root Beer Float Day

The story

The root beer float's origins date back to the late 19th century, with Robert McCay Green improvising the first ice cream float in 1874 when he ran out of ice for his drinks. However, the official birth of the root beer float is credited to Frank J. Wisner, owner of Colorado's Cripple Creek Brewery, who, in 1893, combined vanilla ice cream with Myers Avenue Red Root Beer, naming it “Black Cow Mountain” due to inspiration from a snow-capped mountain.

A classic root beer float typically includes vanilla ice cream and root beer, but regional variations exist. In some places, a float with chocolate ice cream is called a “brown cow,” and the term “black cow” may describe a float where the ice cream is mixed with root beer. Throughout its history, the root beer float has seen creative variations like the Coke float, made with cola, and others such as the Snow White, Purple Cow, and Red Dragon.

The frothy top of the root beer float is a result of the interaction between solid (ice cream), liquid (root beer), and gas (carbon dioxide bubbles). When carbonated root beer meets ice cream, carbon dioxide and air bubbles trapped in the ice cream expand, creating the iconic foamy head, facilitated by the fat coating in the ice cream.