Real Root Beer Update as Requested

A few of you guys asked me to post about how the batch is going.  I racked it after 15 days in primary.  It's been in secondary for 4 days now.  The sample I took while racking tasted like Guinness.  At least that's what 4 different people said that tried it.  The alcohol content could be anywhere I can't know for sure but I liked what I tasted very much.  The root beer flavor comes in right before bottling when I'll add a cup of Sarsaparilla/Sassafras/Licorice root tea brewed just like tea steeping for 30 minutes.  If you want a great smokey porter/stout then forget all the spices and just brew what's left in this recipe for a kick ass beer (do keep the molasses though as it blends the smokey flavor in very nicely) :

http://www.byo.com/stories/recipeindex/article/recipes/111-soda-pop/1329-real-root-beer

I'm going to ride it out and finish the Root Beer flavoring and see if I can nail an alcoholic root beer.  Many friends are waiting on just that; A root beer that gets you drunk.  I'll post again when I bottle on the 20th and sample but I have a feeling this one really needs to sit in the bottles for at least two months to mellow out.  I'm going to open the first one on Thanksgiving and if it's not ready then open another one on Christmas.

Thanks again for all the advice guys it really helped after not brewing for 10 years.  This is a pretty gnarly recipe to start again with.  Long live the hombrew and it's brewers.  -BM5150

Ok so to follow up, I added 2 cups of tea before bottling here's the measurements:  11grams sassafras bark, 11grams sarsaparilla bark, 6grams licorice root and 1gram of star anise.  I emptied out 8 teabags and sealed them back with equally measured amounts of the spices listed above, steeped in the 2 cups of boiling water for 30 minutes microwaving every 7-8 minutes to get all the flavor out of it.  I boiled my corn sugar and mixed it with the 2 cups of tea in the bottling bucket, racked my brew from secondary into the mix and bottled.  I poured a 12oz cup to sample and the result was mind blowing.  Although it tastes nothing like root beer the sample had an incredible taste of a strong stout with great mellow tones from the tea to even it out.  I'm going to report again in 3 weeks when I open the first carbonated bottle.  So far this batch has been a real mind blower.  If anyone lives in the San Diego area please feel free to post and you have a free 22oz beer on me.  Thanks for all the help guys and girls.  I'll talk to you in 3 weeks.  -BM5150

Thanks maybe I will try it I have sassafrass growing all over