Top 10 ROOT BEER brands

[Green Monstah]

When I was a kid in Oklahoma, one of the members of the High Council always probvided home brewed root beer made this way for the Stake Fathers and Sons outing. We called him Rootbeer Harry. I never cared for the root beer that much - too yeasty tasting. The guy later became the head of Salt Lake County Health Department, Harry Gibbons. When ever I saw him on TV it always reminded me those F&S outings and caused a smile.

I'm pretty sure I'm related to him.

Gotta be careful with that yeast...I swear I've had this home-brewed root beer that had a little too much kick in it, and I wondered just how long (and at what temperature) that yeast had been eating up all that sugar.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Why hasn't anyone started a list of top ten non-alcoholic beers?

IMO, Buckler is the best that is widely available. Buckler is also the only one that I have ever had that I have enjoyed.

[MartyFunkhouser]

For Christmas, my mom gave me a "Great American Rootbeers" sampler pack--eight bottles of rootbeer in one of those 8-bottle cardboard cartons. Seeing a bottle of Dad's as one of the prominently featured brews, I didn't look too closely at the others and just set it aside, thinking that it was a nice thought.

But...Over the last couple of weeks, I've worked my way through the rest of the pack and found some great new root beers. Now, I'm checking this thread and finding three of the four brands on SG's top 10--Bulldog, Americana, and Sioux City. Even the Dad's was good, and definitely not the same brew that's in stores (why is that???). I'll have to find out where my mom found this pack because I can't get any of these around here (our Lin's does carry Sprechler, Virgil's, IBC, and Weinhardt's--not bad for our sleepy little town).

Dad's has 2 different bottlers, one is very good the other is the mediocre one you usually get in stores.

[Slim]

For Christmas, my mom gave me a "Great American Rootbeers" sampler pack--eight bottles of rootbeer in one of those 8-bottle cardboard cartons. Seeing a bottle of Dad's as one of the prominently featured brews, I didn't look too closely at the others and just set it aside, thinking that it was a nice thought.

But...Over the last couple of weeks, I've worked my way through the rest of the pack and found some great new root beers. Now, I'm checking this thread and finding three of the four brands on SG's top 10--Bulldog, Americana, and Sioux City. Even the Dad's was good, and definitely not the same brew that's in stores (why is that???). I'll have to find out where my mom found this pack because I can't get any of these around here (our Lin's does carry Sprechler, Virgil's, IBC, and Weinhardt's--not bad for our sleepy little town).

I've seen that 8-pack at BevMo

[Commando]

we threw an epic St. Patty's rager a couple years ago mo mo style and had a keg of Red Rock Brewery root beer. We thought that it would disappear pretty quick during the party-- boy were we wrong! We had rootbeer floats on tap through May.

[ewth8tr]

http://www.zuberfizz.com/

I'm not sure it was my absolute favorite, but I grabbed few packs of it while visiting family in Durango and it is very good.

[BlueHair]

I am not sure this counts as a root beer, I would guess more Ginger Ale, however the main reason I hope to visit YOhio one day is to have some Sykline Chili and an Ale8.



*My intent was not to drag this thread off the original topic.

I had some of this in Kentucky one time. It has a very distinct taste.

[BlueHair]

My first thought when I saw this thread was to crack a joke about how rootbeer is for 7 year olds. Now I'm intrigued. I'm going to reserve judgement until I actually taste a few.

[eldiente]

What about chocolate

I'm not sure it was my absolute favorite, but I grabbed few packs of it while visiting family in Durango and it is very good.

Have you tried the chocolate flavor? It is surprisingly good IMHO

[Green Lantern]

If you can recommend good black cherry cream soda (vanilla, meh), I'm listening. I've only tried (that I can recall)

Henry Weinhard's-currently the best I've found, but I'm no connoisseur
Thomas Kemper's-blah
Virgil's-okay

Weinhard's Black Cherry Cream and Orange Cream sodas are fantastic. And I love the root beer too.

When we lived in Phoenix there was a great place called Pop-The Soda Shop that specialized in regional sodas from all over the country. I tried some interesting stuff: Celery soda is...unique.

[ewth8tr]

Have you tried the chocolate flavor? It is surprisingly good IMHO

No, I didn't see any last time I was there, how long ago did they start making that?

[Green Monstah]

For Texans, St. Arnolds is decent, but nothing groundbreaking. Straight from the tap at the brewery, I think it's much better.

[CJF]

I've become a big fan of Thomas Kemper root beer. They make a solid ginger ale also.

[Donuthole]

We have a soda and candy store near our house called rocket fizz. It might be a chain, I don't know. They have something like 30 different your beers. My don and I have decided to try them all. So far my favorite is one from louisiana. Sadly, I can't remember the name of it right now. Something with an A. Very tasty.

Sent from my Sprint EVO 4G

Tell us more about your don, please. You've piqued my interest.

[MarkGrace]

The Root Beer Store owner was featured on the local "New Day" news program today. Glad the word is getting out... maybe this place will have some staying power.

"There really is a store just for root beer"

cheers.

That is awesome. I'm a huge root beer fan, too. Unfortunately I'm not very familiar with anything outside the large brands (like Kemper, Weinhard's, etc.), so it would be cool to check that place out. Too bad it's so far away!