GUEST asked if the maker of "real root beer" was local to Lansing. The answer, regrettably, is no. I don't recall for sure, but I think he was from somewhere in the south--Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi all come vaguely to mind, and I can't remember.

As a matter of fact, I'm beginning to doubt my own post. I have an uneasy feeling that he said that they, too, had had to switch to an artificial flavoring, but that his was the only successful imitation of the natural flavor.

My vague recollection is that they wouldn't sell it in bottles or kegs, and only sell it by the glass, through their own outlets, lest someone analyze their drink and duplicate it.

I just talked with my Beautiful Wife, and she remembers it as this second set of facts: That no-one is allowed to use the real extract, and that only his company had been able to make a convincing substitute, and they guard the formula with their lives, so to speak.

Dave Oesterreich