ROOT BEER THREAD PART 1: Post the best root beer you've ever tasted.

[Archae]

For those who love root beer and don't like beer:

A & W root beer from the mid 70's.
ESPECIALLY in a root beer float!
Those big frosty mugs...

[loli phabay]

1. blech

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Made my own...

from sassafras root, sugar, and a spritzer bottle.

[sakabatou]

38. How'd it turn out?

[TreasonousBastard]

40. Pretty good, but I don't really remember exactly how I made it...

some simmered sassafras root and sugar were most of it, but it was a long time ago.

[OriginalGeek]

3. My grandma always made me Brown Cows

root beer float with chocolate ice cream. that's the only kind I even like now.


I used to work next to a place that sold slices of cheese cake and IBC root beer. That was a helluvva snack.

[fishwax]

4. I remain partial to Henry Weinhard's

Can't get it this far East, but whenever I go to visit family they usually have some waiting in the fridge for us

[HopeHoops]

5. Bear Run

[CBGLuthier]

6. Like you say, A&W. When you could get a quart or so in a large paper container

nineteen cent coneys on Tuesdays didn't hurt either.

[MrYikes]

7. okay, this is timely

Last month I went to Jungle Jim's (large grocery store by Cincy, Ohio). Came home with 4 different root beers. IBC, Stewarts, and two others I can't remember. None tasted good enough to buy more. And that is such a shame. I love root beer.

[Archae]

9. Do you have "Point" root beer in your area?

They make it in Steven's Point, WI.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. A & W was the best, especially in those frosty mugs (until the ice started melting onto your lap).

They even had small mugs for the kiddos. Not to mention, you flashed your lights or honked your horn for carhop service.

[hlthe2b]

26. Yes... I'm an A&W fan

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

10. Sprecher's

Made in Milwaukee. I seriously thought I didn't like root beer until I moved to Milwaukee and tried theirs. The Point Brewery up in Stephen's Point, WI also makes a might fine root beer.

[Scuba]

35. Great root beer, lousy politics. Sprecher's is a big Scott Walker donor.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

36. Oy....(nt)

[Major Nikon]

11. I make my own from commercial extracts

These are the ones I'm currently using.

http://homemadesodacompany.com/http/homemadesodacompany.com/rootbeerandsodainstructions.aspx

#1 tastes the most like A&W, Dads, etc., but it's not quite the same since all natural ingredients are used. #3 has a stronger, more spicy flavor. #2 is a compromise between the two.

[benld74]

12. A&W definitely, at the A&W drive in, and I do have a number of the original mugs!

[Bertha Venation]

14. Dude.

[Bertha Venation]

13. Yup. A & W at the A & W drive in (not drive-thru)

There's an A&W that I pass on the way to Bowie Baysox games. I want to stop there everytime and get a root beer. I'm sure it wouldn't taste as good as what I got when I was a kid in the 60s, but it'd still be damned tasty.

[turtlerescue1]

15. Wow, i fit. A&W in that frosted mug.

"Dad's" is okay, but nothing compares to the A&W's.

[LynneSin]

16. Some place along rt 896 in Lancaster Count PA

There's this Amish family that makes homemade Root beer for sale.

[handmade34]

17. not quite 'beer'... but yummy

http://www.artintheage.com/spirits-landing/root/

[pipi_k]

18. Oh yes!!!

A & W root beer.

The best!

Paired with a couple of Mama Burgers with literally everything on them.

Heaven...

[eppur_se_muova]

19. As kids, we preferred Frostie ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frostie_Root_Beer

Haven't seen it in years, except once. Apparently it's still made with cane sugar.

Here's something I'll have to get one day ... http://www.beveragesdirect.com/Ultimate-Root-Beer-Sampler.aspx

[Gold Metal Flake]

20. Oh, there are sooo many different kinds of root beer, if you look for them!

But you gotta find them.

I often visit a little store in Little Rock, ca. for small label pops. But there is an online store and you can see just how many small label root beers, birch beers, sasparillas and others there are. Many made with read sugar.

http://www.sodapopstop.com/products/browse.cfm?link=1

Of those available in the usual grocery stores, I prefer IBC to A&W, Dad's and Weinhard's. But I just don't bother with those at all any more. Sioux City, Faygo, Virgil's Thomas Kemper, Mason's Boylan, Hank's, these are good stuffs!


Buuuurrrrraaaapppp!

[MrMickeysMom]

21. Local Pub's root beer...

Rivertown Pourhouse, home brewed not only great beer that seasonally change, but GREAT root beer AND cream soda!

Yum!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. A&W from the drive-in, definitely

The canned stuff cannot match it.

Second place: Hires Root Beer.

One of the restaurants in my neighborhood has a lot of old-time signs on its walls, including one for Hires Root Beer. The first time I went in I asked if they actually sold it, and they said no, but that nearly everyone over a certain age asks that question.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

23. The A&W rootbeer floats were second to none

I grew up in Southeast Asia during the 1980s and A&W was popular there and those rootbeer floats were a highlight. Even now when I go back to that country in Southeast Asia, an A&W rootbear float is a must-do every time

[texanwitch]

24. I bought a six pack of IBC in bottles today.

Put one in the freezer for an hour, tasted great.



Root Beer seems to tast best in glass bottles.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

27. IBC is very good.

Their cream soda is, too, if you like cream soda.

[kcass1954]

30. That's my favorite, too!

[Honeycombe8]

25. Yep...A&W in a frosty mug...and BEST in a float w/vanilla ice cream. Yum! nt

[AsahinaKimi]

29. I had a A&W rootbeer vanilla ice cream float

last night! So yummy!

[Honeycombe8]

31. Did you make it yourself? The A&Ws here closed down years ago. nt

[AsahinaKimi]

32. Yes of course..

Put a generous portion of vanilla ice cream into a mug. Slowly add A&W Root beer, mostly cause it foams up, so much. I try to eat the foam away so I can get as much root beer into the mug as possible. Sometimes I will even stir it up so the ice cream will mix in with the soda.

So yummy!

[Honeycombe8]

33. Okay, well....I'm gonna have to pick the stuff up today to make one (or two) this evening!

But I'm going to use diet A&W root beer, if I can find it, and non-sugar ice cream. Chilled mug. I'm set.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. Hires.

Have not seen it in decades.

We don't have any small root beer breweries around here.

[OxQQme]

34. A & W

in mug. Yummy

Things to try:
There was a local A&W that sold SwampWater Frosties. Half RB, half Orange soda, whirred all up with ice cream.
Adding cream or half and half to a tall frosted mug tastes like a RB float.

[sakabatou]

37. A&W or Barq's

[Hotler]

39. Frostie Top......

I live near Littleton, Colorado and there is a Murdoch's Farm and Ranch store that bring in Fostie Top from somewhere in the mid-west. Even the diet is really good, large deep foamy head. mmmmmmmm