u/Unlikely-Goat-4871

I'm trying to make a root beer BBQ sauce. I've tried tried a few different things, each time I end up with good BBQ sauce, but the root beer flavor isn't coming through. I dont want it to be over powering, but so far I'm getting no root beer flavor at all. Any suggestions? The recipe listed below gave me the right sweetness, but it didnt actually taste like root beer.

40 oz root beer

1 star Anise

1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise to expose the seeds

3/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp minced Chipotle in Adobe

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp tomato paste

I put the star anise, vanilla bean and red pepper flakes in the rootbeer at the beginning and boiled it all down before adding everything else.