The Root of It All

(Photo credit: Root Sellers/Facebook)

The hottest beer style on the market right now isn't even what we traditionally think of as beer. Alcoholic, or hard, root beer has soared in popularity of late, even as some critics dismiss this latest "alcopop" flavor.

The trendiest label among hard root beer makers right now is Small Town Brewery's Not Your Father's Root Beer. However, it's made with barley malt and is not gluten free. The same goes for Coney Island Hard Root Beer, produced by Boston Beer Co., the maker of Angry Orchard Hard Cider (which is gluten free).

However, Root Sellers brews its Row Hard Root Beer (6.7% ABV) without grains so that it's gluten free. Row Hard is made with pure cane sugar, molasses, spices and botanicals, and has "notes of vanilla, molasses, sassafras and wintergreen with a sweet finish," according to the brewer's tasting notes.

Row Hard's distribution is widening, but for now is limited to Midwestern U.S. states like Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, South Dakota and Kansas.