Root beer shootout!
10Ok. I know it was mentioned somewhere else. Maybe a meet the staffer. And in the ask a mod. But what’s your favorite root beer?
It could be
Dad’s
A&W
Barq’s
geek beer
Or something not named here. Let us know 
(why if you wish. Btw I’m hoping it doesn’t evolve into sasparilla and cream soda)
Just to clear it up. Mine is Rookie’s root beer a local Vermont Amazing soda
- 27 comments, 72 replies
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No love for Virgil’s?
I do love some A&W, but given a choice, I will always order sarsaparilla over root beer.
@conandlibrarian I had Virgil’s a few years ago. My tasting notes were that it was “Tinny tasting and almost too herby.” I guess I didn’t like it.
A&W Fountain is great but the canned stuff is drek.
Cragmont (Safeway store brand) used to be great 20+ years ago, don’t know now.
I still love IBC
Also love their Cream Soda.
@mfladd Cream Soda Best Soda!
@mfladd I absolutely love their black cherry soda.
Capt’n Eli’s. Sadly only available in the New England area but this may very well be my favorite root beer ever.
@cinoclav Oh damn. That sounds delicious.
@cinoclav Holy crap! I just pulled out my old root beer tasting spreadsheet. Not only was Capt Eli’s on there, but it was near the top of my ratings. I KNEW it sounded good. If I remember correctly, I had found it at a little store in southern Minnesota that sells a bunch of different root beers by the bottle, mix-and-match style.
@SpenceMan01 Yeah, I’m hoping to find it in some eclectic store around me. Otherwise I guess I’ll just have to wait until winter when we’ll most certainly be taking another ski trip to VT or NH. Have to say, I’m impressed that you kept a spreadsheet.
@SpenceMan01 @cinoclav I’m glad I’m not the only one who created a ‘root beer tasting list’ (though mine was more a database than spreadsheet). I think it was lost in one of our long-past computer meltdowns. Perhaps it’s time to recreate it!
@compunaut Yeah. When I was coming home with bottles of 8-12 different brands at a time, I figured it would be good to track them. It’s hand to know if a) you’ve had that brand before and b) you liked it or not. Kept my list in up in my Google docs. It hasn’t been updated in 2 years, sadly. That will be changing, though.
@cinoclav No, you can buy it here in Orlando FL in various places.
@charley Are they specialty places? According to the website it’s only sold regularly in the New England area.
@cinoclav I’m not sure where all my wife has gotten them. I think she’s even gotten them at publix (grocery store)
I’m partial to this root beer:
@dashcloud Not bad, but I prefer Not Your Father’s hard root beer
@compunaut @dashcloud mix in some Bailey’s for a root beer float.
@compunaut
FTW
@dashcloud This tasted like root beer flavored cough syrup. I tried making a float but ice cream didn’t improve it.
@HemlockTea None of the hard root beer I’ve tried so far (Not Your Father’s, Coney Island, & Best Damn) is very good compared to many popular soft root beers. Still, I like one as an occasional alternative to craft beer or hard cider.
I’ve heard Sprecher, Abita, and Spindoktor are top hard root beers but have no personal experience with them yet.
This is going back quite a few years, but when I was up in Portland, I had some Henry Weinhard’s root beer, and it was gooooood.
@narfcake I get a bottle of that when I go to our little local pizza joint for lunch. Good stuff. Nice vanilla flavor. Very bubbly. I originally didn’t care for it because it tends to have a really frothy head to it, but it’s grown on me.
I’ve discovered that my local Total Wine store has a section of premium sodas, including a whole bunch of root beer varieties. I did a side-by-side taste test between Boylan’s (est 1891!) of NYNY and IBC. Preferred the IBC for slightly smoother ‘texture’, but it might have just been familiarity.
Now that I think of it, I should probably check for unique RB brands @ Central Market and Whole Foods too
@compunaut If you see some St John Brewers root beer next time you’re at Total Wine, try some. It’s very good.
Abita is probably regional to Louisiana, but they make a solid root beer in addition to all the non-root beer they produce.
@djslack Abita is available at Shake Shacks nationwide
@devyanks90 Not surprisingly, there are no Shake Shacks near me. But good to know if I ever come across one!
@djslack be prepared to spend. It’s one of these new uber organic fast casual places that have come of age in the last decade, we got burgers, drinks (soft), and fries for 3 there and spent like $80. Suffice to say I wasn’t the one paying.
@jbartus What? That’s nuts! I’ll still probably try it once just to see. But at least now I’ll be forewarned.
@djslack I can get Abita here in the DMV. Both hard and soft. Both are tasty!
@brhfl your DMV serves beverages? I’m jealous, all our DMVs server up are long lines and a general all-pervading sense of despair and dissatisfaction.
@jbartus Hah, that would ease the pain of renewing one’s license, wouldn’t it?
(DC, MD, VA)
ETA: DC is a weird haven for alcoholic beverages. Something to do with not being a state (if what I’ve heard is to be believed) allows for the bypass of many distribution laws. Lot of otherwise only locally-distributed booze ends up available in DC. Suspect that’s why I can get the hard Abita. The soft Abita I can get at a speciality soda shop within walking distance of my apartment.
@brhfl I’m going to be driving through your neck of the woods in about three weeks, can you get me a list of places to check out for interesting offerings? Specific recommendations are most welcome.
@jbartus now you are scaring me. We could have a meet up between you, me, brhfl, and cinoclav.
@mfladd Terrifying!
@jbartus Shoot me an email with more specifics of whereabouts you are or are willing to be and I’ll try to offer some advice. b@(my username).com
@mfladd Say what now?
@brhfl I am taking a car from Fort Lauderdale to Connecticut. Everything else is entirely unplanned at this point other than I need to be back in MA by 6/16 at the latest.
My all time favorite has to be a very unusual tasting root beer called Rat Bastard. I bought a couple bottles from a candy store like a year ago and haven’t seen any since.
(Also I’m very partial to birch beer, ran into it a lot when I visited the east coast)
@candreasen
Grew up drinking Dad’s and Hires. Occasionally A&W, in the refillable gallon jug you carted back and forth to their drive-in.
There are much, much better root beers - but the root beer of my youth seems to always come back in favor.
Much like why I occasionally crave a Hamm’s or a Schlitz.
@Pavlov That’s about what I would have written, except leaving out the Hamms or Schlitz. I’ve moved on to much better beer & ain’t going back.
@Pavlov sadly the root beer I’d my youth is no longer available…it was just A&W in store draft, and the restaurant is still there, but 15-20 years ago, the city did a drastic upgrade on their water system which is/was a good thing ( people aren’t afraid to drink it anymore!)
The down side, however, is there was a certain flavor from one of the naturally occurring chemicals in the water (knowing the region, it was most likey black sulfur- smells like rotten eggs) that contributed a certain something that is definitely lacking now.
Granted, now the sugar will kill me first, instead of the water…
But it’s just not the same.
Hot damn, now THIS is a thread!
I’m a huge fan of Bulldog Root Beer. It’s hard to find locally, so when I get some, it’s a real treat for me.
I also like a local (for me) product called Iron Horse root beer:
The most recent new one that I’ve had was St John Brewers root beer. Picked it up at Total Wine. Was damn good.
Currently in my drink fridge are a few bottles of Dad’s. Not my favorite but it’s available locally and the wife doesn’t like it, so she stays out of my stash.
Dog-n-Suds. On tap at the restaurant. In an ice cold glass mug. 50 years ago. So thick your straw could stand up straight. The stuff that passes for root beer today just isn’t the same.
@Mehrocco_Mole I’ve been to Dog-n-Suds; more like 30yrs ago. A drive-up type place (like Sonic today) where you ordered from your car & a carhop delivered it on a tray you hung from your rolled-down window. According to website, there are still 14 locations (Midwest).
My recollection: the root beer was so thick because the thick glass was cold enough to turn the liquid into a slushie. I’ve had similar experience at A&W
Do I smell an Available Only Locally root beer swap brewing?
(see what I did there?)
@Mehrocco_Mole I’d totally be in for that.
@Mehrocco_Mole Count me in.
Ok, send it all to me and I promise to share it with everyone! You can trust me; I used to work for the government.
@Mehrocco_Mole in that case you should sell off some of the unnecessary stuff you purchased to meet your yearly budget on Craigslist and use the proceeds to send us all root beers!
@jbartus Did I say government? I meant to say I directed television news.
(No Mom, I was just kidding. I didn’t work at a TV station. I was playing piano in a whore house just like I told you.)
@Mehrocco_Mole uh huh…
@Mehrocco_Mole Man, I think the shipping will kill us. Too bad there’s no VMP
I have to say I’m a pretty big fan of the Stewart’s Fountain Classics line of soft drinks, especially their Root Beer and Orange and Cream.
@jbartus My dad worked at a Stewart’s when I was a kid (many decades ago) & used to bring root beer home fresh from the kegs. Boylans is also good and for birch beer, Pennsylvania Dutch Red in a keg.
Definitely Gale’s Root Beer, on tap if you can find it. Bottled, as with all beverages, it’s not quite as grand.
Well, it’s not root beer but I did just have this at lunch at it was freaking delicious.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention 1919 Root Beer. It’s draft-only and very popular up here in Minnesota where it’s made. I’ll quite often see a keg of it at grad parties next to the regular beer.
@SpenceMan01 I’ve sampled well over 100 brands of root beer, and 1919 is right there at the top. Any time I’m in the Twin Cities I have to get me some.
No love yet for Henry Weinhard’s huh?
My family went through a quest to find the best rootbeer and judged 20+ brands on things such as overall flavor, foam, fizz, creaminess, aftertaste, etc and Henry’s won hands down. A bit pricey, but super good. Give it a shot if you haven’ yet!
@luvche21 OK, I guess I lied since @narfcake already mentioned this one. But I only looked at pictures in my first glance through.
@luvche21 I think its kind of too sweet, but then when I buy root beer its the kind I always buy… So I don’t know what that means
I’m typically a ginger beer person so Henry Weinhard’s is more like a special treat.
@metageist It is pretty sweet, but it’s a creamy sweet, so I like it!
Fitz’s Root beer from St. Louis Missouri. I taste every root beer I can and nothing beats its taste.
and nothing beats a fitz’s rootbeer float
@Conklaven I want a root beer float now. This is your doing.
@jbartus Haha… I always have vanilla icecream and root beer on hand just in case. You’re welcome to stop on by.
@Conklaven First Fritz’s frozen custard, now Fitz’s root beer. What’s with this St Louis weirdness?
Hmmm… I wonder: how does a RB float taste if you use StL concrete?
@compunaut Do you mean ted drewes frozen custard?
@Conklaven be careful what you offer.
@Conklaven Yes
My favorite is definitely Sprecher. It’s made in Milwaukee.
@SPARTEN2 I remember it from a lifetime ago. Haven’t been able to find it since I moved South
@SPARTEN2 I remember this when I lived in Milwaukee. It’s Milwaukee I wish I could forget (except Summerfest).
@SPARTEN2 Just had one tonight. Good, on the sweeter side compared to others.
@SPARTEN2 their Orange Dream is also really good. My local homebrew store sells syrup jugs for both so you can mix it with water in a keg and have your own draft Sprecher’s
@SPARTEN2 Sprecker was pretty good, I found some at an HEB here in Houston.
Does anyone here on meh. actually brew their own Root Beer? I would love to know.
@mfladd I did as a kid, in a ceramic vat… in the summer you could hear them popping in the heat in the shed
Well look what you jerks went and made me do…
We canceled our family camping trip this weekend on account of cruddy weather. In some surfing related to our discussions here, I came across a place about an hour away. So yesterday I threw the family in the car and off we went…
The place is crazy. Wall-to-wall lined every sort of candy you could imagine, smoked meats, fresh-baked pies, novelty sodas, puzzles… They even have a TARDIS.
But the real reason we came…
(Not me; just a random guy. This is the clearest shot I could get. The place was packed.)
Bottles are $1.89 each, with a case discount when you buy 24 bottles. So, naturally, I came home with 48 bottles.
Some of my favorite standbys:
Bulldog, Eli’s (@cinoclav), St. John Brewer’s, Iron Horse
Some new ones that came highly-recommended online:
Hippo Size Beverages Jumbo Root Beer
Abita
Other assorted new ones:
Virgil’s (giving it a second chance for @conandlibrarian)
Dorothy’s Isle of Pines Root Beer, Saint Arnold Root Beer, Death Valley Root Beer
Crater Lake Root Beer, Fireman’s Brew Root Beer, Lost Trail Root Beer, Dog n Suds Root Beer
WBC Chicago Style Root Beer, Olde Rhode Island Molasses Root Beer, Hosmer Extra Rich Draft Style Root Beer, Bawls Guarana Root Beer
Dang! That’s Good Root Beer, River City Root Beer, Columbia Soda Works Sarsaparilla, Old Red Eye Root Beer, Polar Root Beer
Filbert’s Old Time Quality Draft Root Beer, Jackson Hole Soda Snake River Sarsaparilla, Jackson Hole Soda Buckin’ Root Beer, Brownie Caramel Creme Root Beer,
The Pop Shop Root Beer
Hank’s Gourmet Philadelphia Recipe Root Beer, Sparky’s Fresh Draft Root Beer, Spring Grove Root Beer (a local brew), (Always ask for) Avery’s Root Beer
I think I’ll be set for a while…
@SpenceMan01 OMG…SCORE!!!
Let us know what you think of them.
@SpenceMan01 Root beer heaven. Totally jealous. I’ve had the Brownie, it was found surprisingly at Home Goods. Not a classic flavor but I really enjoyed it. Now I’m off to Google best places to find root beer around me. I was trying to stay away from soft drinks too. Damn you!
@SpenceMan01 Btw, if you run across Levi’s Champ Cherry soda anywhere, give that a try too. It’s a Philly staple, been around for about 120 years. Not the easiest stuff to find but it’s delicious.
@SpenceMan01 Awesome! St Arnold (Houston) might be most local to me, but I’ll have to do some research.
Don’t forget: blame the goat (@medz) for any time or $$ spent on root beer tasting
@cinoclav The wife and kid were eyeing the Brownie last night. It’s already taken its place in the fridge and I have a feeling that it won’t be there for long.
I’ll keep an eye out for the Levi’s next time I’m over there. Wouldn’t be surprised if they had it. They had a TON of specialty sodas; so many that it was overload and I just focused on root beers.
@compunaut You’re totally right.
Dammit, @medz! I had to drive uphill, into the wind, through the rain for an hour both ways and I spent entirely too much money on sugary beverages. For shame!
@cinoclav I too started a search. I found that a number of sites really like Dominion Root Beer made at Old Dominion Brewery in Dover, DE. I haven’t tried it yet, but will let you know. I may stop by the brewery when I am in Dover next time for work.
http://www.rootbeerbrothers.com/2011/10/old-dominion-living-root-beer-dream.html
@mfladd I could swing by there on my trip north… hmm
@jbartus actually, if you drove the route I mentioned you would be going right thru Dover! Win-Win!
If it was during work hours I could even meet you there
(there is suppose to be a good burger joint in Dover too.
@mfladd which route? The bridge-tunnel or the other one?
@jbartus bridge tunnel will bring you thru eastern shore of VA 13N. Then is Salisbury, MD you will exit continuing on 13N which will bring right into Dover. In Dover you will take 1N which is a nice highway that will take you straight thru DE, almost into PA.
Just got back from the store and did get my hands on some Dominion Root Beer. Also bought some Stewart’s for a taste test.
@mfladd I like Stewart’s.
Couldn’t get to Total Wine this weekend to check out their selection of specialty root beers (reasons), but stopped by the regular grocery store: they had Frostie, Stewart’s, and IBC (plus some sarsaparilla & ginger beer!), but the real surprise was individual bottles of Texas Root Beer by Dublin Bottling Works. I’ll be doing a taste-test soonish
Dublin used to be responsible for the only Dr. Pepper available sweetened with cane sugar (instead of the typical HFCS) until running afoul of the corporate giant. Owned by a local family, they now make unique sodas mostly available in and around Austin.
I’m partial to Boylan’s Creamy Red Birch Beer. Not technically a “root” beer, however, since it’s flavored with birch bark.
I’ve also always wanted to try Sioux City Sarsaparilla, just because . . .
@beavsco Thanks for the reminder. I drank a bottle of Jackson Hole Soda Snake River Sarsaparilla from my stash the other day and I forgot to put anything down in my notes. For the record… IT’S DAMN GOOD.
For Father’s Day, I asked for a double-blind not-diet root beer tasting. I got 4 bottles of expired diet root beers from the local grocer poured into plastic pill cups with conspicuous markings. I was happy for the effort, but now I wish that @SpenceMan01 were my son.
@JerseyFrank I struck out very badly last night, though. First bottle was a very nasty-tasting sarsaparilla. Second was a bottle of Abita that expired a year and a half ago (I need to be checking dates in the stores). Third was Brownie’s Caramel Cream and it was AWFUL. Ended up dumping all 3 out and had a can of Izze Clementine juice to cleanse the palate.
Tried this stuff at my local hardware shop. Might just be the best stuff I’ve ever had, and is really really good in root beer floats. My wife hates root beer typically, but she steals all of my Hanks.
@lichme That’s some goooood stuff. Had a bottle from my stash a couple weeks ago. Extremely well-balanced. Light caramel notes. Touch of wintergreen. Very, very tasty.