Philadelphia's Steven Grasse is a serial dabbler: He's an ad executive. He's an author. He's a tobacco purveyor. He just bought a stake in a Rhode Island brewery. And he's produced a series of films about four girls in bikinis who go on a killing spree (called "Bikini Bandits," in case you want to put it in your Net-flix queue). He hopes to be, in his own words, a "true Renaissance man, a pre-robber baron capitalist in the tradition of Franklin, Jefferson and Washington."

So, OK, he's not the humblest guy in the world, but at least he knows his roots; he says his family has been in Pennsylvania since 1708. So when he set out to create a new spirit, the self-proclaimed history nerd looked to his home turf for inspiration, and found it in Pennsylvania's historical link to root beer.

Mr. Grasse isn't new to the world of spirits -- he was the brander behind Hendrick's Gin and Sailor Jerry Rum. But with "Root," the new liqueur on state store shelves as of last week, there was no blueprint to follow.

"I was intrigued by the early takes on root tea," an herbal elixir that may have started with American Indians, Mr. Grasse said. Colonial Americans took the root tea and made it more alcoholic, an actual root "beer" of sorts. In the late 1800s, Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires stripped the root tea of most of its alcohol, called it root beer, and began marketing it at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. It's one of the oldest soft drinks in the world, and grew in popularity throughout the American Temperance movement.

And now we've come full circle, putting alcohol back into the mix. Having recently written about the Southern sweet tea phenomenon -- vodka flavored with sweet tea -- my first thought upon hearing of Root was that we're maybe a few weeks away from selling Coke with the rum already in it. Root beer with booze in it. Lovely. Can we all get on with our lives now?

But "Root" is not simply root beer with alcohol, pre-mixed. It's not beer at all, in fact -- at 80 proof, it has as much kick as vodka. Early trial mixes came back too sweet and syrupy; Mr. Grasse said he wanted something with more of a whiskey flavor, smoky and earthy, with that vanilla kiss of sweetness.

"I thought it would be interesting to try to do something that wasn't easily categorized," he said. "It can be drunk as a shot, but is very mixable."

In the end, after discarding rye and whiskey bases, Mr. Grasse went with a sugarcane-based mix created by Modern Spirits LLC, an organic distillery based in California and known for its own lines of organic and artisanal vodka.

Mr. Grasse is a marketer and conceiver of spirits, not a maker of them. Hendrick's Gin is distilled in Scotland, and that brand is still owned by William Grant & Sons. The rum brand, distilled in the Virgin Islands, is the property of Sailor Jerry Co., a marketing and clothing division owned by Mr. Grasse's larger marketing company, Quaker City Mercantile of Philadelphia.

Root is made by Modern Spirits for an outfit called "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," a Philadelphia-based arts and music cooperative and merchandising outfit. "Art in the Age" is, in turn, a division of Quaker.

But enough about all the branding. What about the booze? "Art in the Age" PR director Laura Price sent me a sample last week. The nose has obvious root beer qualities and a spicy, almost medicinal scent that may or may not correlate with those original root-and-sassafras potions. Root's press packet is also claiming a bouquet of "birch, smoke, baking spices and vanilla." The vanilla is more pronounced once you taste it, as is the liqueur's vaporous resemblance to Jager.

Which suits Mr. Grasse just fine -- he's hoping for the next Jagermeister, he said, a young man's spirit that can be imbibed straight or mixed versatilely. St. Germain elderflower liqueur and Canton ginger liqueur are hits on cocktail menus "because they are new taste profiles that mixologists can work with," Mr. Grasse said, and he thinks the same is true of Root. Bartenders, he said, "haven't had a taste profile like this in 130 years."

Pennsylvania is the first on-the-shelf market for Root liqueur (PLCB No. 005039, $32.99, 750 ml, 80 proof), but Mr. Grasse hopes it will be in other states shortly, and you can also buy it online (in the states where it's legal to do so). Judge for yourself whether Root has a future as a cocktail mixer by trying the recipes below.

And, yes, it tastes great mixed with root beer.

Root and Birch

• 2 ounces Root liqueur
• 4 ounces birch beer
• Ice cubes

Mix Root and birch beer in a glass over ice. Root beer also works in a pinch.

-- Nicholas Jarrett, bartender

Root and Rye

• 1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey
• 1/4 ounce Root
• 3/4 ounce Punt e Mes
• Lemon twist

Combine rye, Root and Punt e Mes (a brand of dark Italian vermouth; you can substitute another red vermouth) over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake well. Serve in martini glass and garnish with lemon twist.

-- George Costa, bartender

Scots Connexion

• 1 1/2 ounce blended Scotch
• 1 ounce Root
• Dash Peychaud's bitters
• Absinthe rinse
• Grapefruit twist

Rinse a tumbler with absinthe. Stir Scotch, Root and bitters over cracked ice, and strain into the absinthe-rinsed glass. Garnish with grapefruit twist.

-- Nicholas Jarrett