Actually, you can make a decent soda at home with much less sugar. An uncle of mine used to make Birch Beer (non alcoholic) and a cream soda that he sold in his store in the 50’s. As kids, we drank gallons of it. I still have most of my teeth.
Folks don't know what they're missin' either. Old fashioned creme soda and root beer stored in glass... that's the real thing... A wholly different experience from that which passes by those names today.
I am fond of real root beer, particularly.