This is very interesting. Very few root beers taste good to me. I grew up in New Orleans so naturally I think Barq's is the best. I see Birch Beer listed. I haven't seen that name in nearly 40 years! When I lived in N.O. we used to go to Royal Castle I'd get a big mug of Birch Beer. Birch Beer has a very, very unique and wonderful taste. If I recall correctly, it tastes a little sweeter than other Root Beers and a little more syrupy than most. Thanks for the memories!
The subject of root beer has always -- for reasons I'm hard-pressed to understand and/or articulate -- intrigued me. The list of root beers, and their grades, on the page to which you refer us seems to have all the better-known (which includes the better known of the more obscure) brands out there. Having tasted a great many of these, I kinda' agree. That said, there are some amazing and very small root beer labels out there that can be even better. For example, as I recall, there's a small brand that's available only in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area -- or maybe a wider area, but at least not much beyond southern Minnesota -- called, I think, "1918 Root Beer," that's arguably as good as any root beer ever made. And I see that it's not on the list. So, though the list is interesting, there are hidden gems out there that aren't on it. Also, I'm troubled to see A&W rated so low. At the same time, I understand it. The A&W that's available in bottles and cans is A&W at its worst. If that's the version of A&W that received the "C" grade, then I tend to agree. However, I'm old enough to remember a very different A&W that was only available at A&W root beer stands... with old-fashioned curb service and everything. You could pull-up into a space and push the button on the little speaker thingy on the poll, and you could place your order for a burger or a hot dog... and a frosty mug (and I mean a real, glass, fresh-from-the-freezer) mug of a very different-tasting A&W root beer... much, much better, with much less carbonation. This was the real deal. You could buy it to go, too... in half-gallon and gallon glass jugs on which you paid a deposit and the brought it back, later, once you'd emptied it. I could be wrong, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that that version of A&W would have gotten an "A" rating... or, at the very worst, an "A-" or "B+". Going to A&W after a little league game, getting a chilidog and a root beer float -- made with scoops of high-quality, off-white, hard ice cream, and not that wimpy frozen custard stuff that came later -- ohmygod! In the very early days of the A&W sit-down or sit-down-with-drive-thru-and-curb-service-also restaurants that popped-up later around the country, the mix used was very similar to those very early days to which I refer above. But even that was not quite the same... but still good... and infinitely better than what's in the bottles and cans today. Then, as many of you probably know, the restaurant group of A&W had some hard times and many of those restaurants closed. It went through a few owners and never really came back well; and now YUM owns it and, in many areas, has teamed the A&W brand up with KFC in a single location. Ick! Anyway, one of YUM's changes is that the old recipe to which I was referring, above, was phased out; all the very special, made-for-A&W-only-and-therefore-no-longer-repairable machines needed to make the old-recipe version of A&W root beer were dismantled and shipped to the A&W-old-recipe-machine-graveyard; and today's A&W sells nothing more than the fountain version of what's available in the cans. The old A&W recipe is gone... forever. Now, that said, not all of the old A&W restaurants closed during A&W corporate's hard times. Some of them -- darned few of them -- are still around. And a few of them are still owned by the same people who ran them back when the old recipe was what they sold. They realize that the new fountain version just ain't the same. But they can't get parts for the old machines; and YUM won't sell 'em the mix anymore. So they can't make the old recipe even if they wanted to... and, believe me, alot of them do. Well I know of a married couple who own one of those old A&W restaurants right off Hwy 101 in Marin County, CA. You can see it from the highway, on the West side, right next to a McDonalds. Oh, sure, it's remodeled to the more modern A&W look -- before YUM bought it -- and they sell those godawful burgers and hot dogs. They're stuck selling those since that's all YUM will let them sell. But he (the husband) agrees with me that while this fountain crap is good compared with what's in the bottles and cans, it just doesn't cut it compared with the old recipe. So, guess what: He's been experimenting with the carbonated water vs. syrup mix (the ratios), cooling, and even the method of carbonation... and he's damned-near duplicated the old flavor. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's still nowhere as good as the really old, original stuff. But he's got it tasting much, much better than what's in the bottles and cans -- or even the typical fountain version thereof (which is always better than the bottled/canned version just 'cause it's from the fountain). He's got it dialed-in so well that even though there's a perfectly good, recently-remodeled A&W/KFC store just a few miles up the road from me (which sells nothing more than the fountain version of what's in the bottles and cans), Mary-Anne and I sometimes hop on the motorcycle and ride on Hwy 37 over the top of the bay to Hwy 101 in Marin County, turn south, then watch for that A&W sign next to the McDonalds on the right, exit, park, go inside, and get a root beer float. Then go home. It's that good... er... and... well... there's also the fact that, as a lifelong motorcycle rider, I'm always that desperate for a reason to go ride... but that's only part of it. Most of it is that the A&W root beer, at that particular A&W restaurant, is worth the ride. Of course it'll never taste like the old, original recipe that I got from the neighborhood root beer stand when I was a little leaguer. But it'll have to do. I give it a "B+"... only 'cause I know what the old recipe, "A+" A&W root beer tastes (or, at least, tasted) like. [sigh] Memories. EDIT: Actually, it's been long enough ago since we've ridden over there for a float that it may or may not now be exactly as I've described. I mean, I have no reason to believe the couple would sell or anything, but if it turns out that they don't still own the place or something, then I'll bet the new owner is just selling the fountain version and that's it. So before anyone goes over there to taste what I'm talking about, Mary-Anne and I should probably hop on the bike and take a ride over there and verify that it's still as I've described it. I think it might be, but who knows. And there's always the possibility that YUM clamped-down on him for it or something. My point is, my information, above, as I think about it, is maybe a year old. So be forewarned that things may or may not now be as I described them. One can only hope.
Hey... I see that as I was drafting my waxing-nostalgic-about-A&W post, Jimmy was waxing nostaligic about Barq's. Memories, indeed! I kinda', sorta', a-little-bit like Barq's, too... but I hate that it has caffeine in it. I realize that that's the way it's pretty much always been made, but I just don't think any self-respecting root beer should have caffeine in it. Just my opinion, mind you. I also think the taste has changed a bit for the worse since Coke bought it... but, again, that's just me.
Gregg,Jimmy A&W was always a real treat and a float was especialy a big treat as a kid. When we camped we usually went to A&W drive in. Hires was also popular. Bit of a health nut now so I have Blue Sky or Heath Valley. Pretty good actually. I grew up in Twin Cities but do not recall 1919 root beer you refer to Gregg. Here is site: http://www.villagedrug.com/sections/rootbeer.php IBC is popular out here and is only brand some friends will drink. Comes in bottles only.
When we were in Richmond last month, we went to eat at a local brewery (I don't remember the name). They also brewed their own root beer. It was scrumptious. It was thick and sweet. Very satisfying for a root beer. When I was a kid living in El Paso, we had an A&W drive in -- root beer floats -- the great summer treat.
I like IBC myself! Quite delicious!!!! There used to be an A&W root beer hamburger joint in Thousand Oaks, California. When I was little, my aunts used to take me there as a treat (I used to spend the summers with my grandparents). The A&W employees used to bring the food out on rollerskates! Have a good weekend! Abner
What a wonderful post, Gregg. I'm with Sensei Abner on this one---IBC (diet) is great. Reglier sody is just too sweet for my taste. Oh, just noticed. Barq's has caffeine? (slavering drooling noises, off)
Don't know. But I once got stopped by a Tacoma cop for driving while I was drinking Sioux City Sarsaparilla Beer. Had to explain to the idiot that sarsaparilla beer was an old timey Civil War vintage terminology for root beer.
