The designated Root Beer (and Sasparilla) thread - For me, it's 1919

[Tsukasa Kadoya]

By popular demand here is the official root beer thread!
Let loose your autism and let's talk the best (and worst) root beers! And root beers cousin sasparilla!
I'll start with some of my favorites:



(Why yes i am a burger, how could you tell?)

 

[Valstrax]

Dad's Root Beer is like crack to me, it's just a shame that there's only like one store in town that sells it.

 

[Harvey Danger]

That's a good sarsaparilla.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

The best root beer I've ever had is 1919. It's some weird limited distribution thing that they only sell to restaurants, and I can't get it where I live now, but it is AMAZING.

 

[Nameless One]

I heard Sprecher's is pretty good. The best root beer I ever had was when I was too young to remember but it was probably a glass of Mug or Barques.

 

[The Blue Morpho]

It'd be bad opsec to name my favorite, but needless to say its very good and you can even get it on draft in frosty mugs at certain places.

Whenever I hit a soda fountain, though, I like to go half-n-half rootbeer and diet cola

 

[legtard respecter]

does birch beer count for this thread too?
i wish we actually got brands other than A&W

 

[Migraine Box]

Wild Bill's is a mainstay at conventions, and one I attend every year has been routinely the best root beer I've tried. Expensive as all hell, but since I'm an exhibitor, all I have to do is buy the mug and I get unlimited free refills for the entire 3 day event. I've yet to give myself a kidney stone so I guess I'm not abusing it enough.

For more conventional store-boughts, Barq's and IBC are pretty good. I've sampled about every root beer sold at Cracker Barrel, Dad's is probably the best but it's been a while (I've been favoring Moxie a lot lately when I'm in there. Not root beer, but very unique).

 

[Tsukasa Kadoya]

does birch beer count for this thread too?
i wish we actually got brands other than A&W

I love birch beer, so why not?

 

[Summer of George]

I heard Sprecher's is pretty good. The best root beer I ever had was when I was too young to remember but it was probably a glass of Mug or Barques.

It's good, but only if you like it super-sweet. Sprecher has a full line of soft drinks and they're all like this. It's like shooting yourself up with a needle of pure cane sugar.

My favorite way to drink root beer is to have a Dr. Pepper instead
to sit down inside an A&W restaurant and get a frosty mug on the spot. Even their diet root beer tastes pretty incredible that way. It's unfortunate that the stuff sold in cans is kind of dogshit.

 

[Uncle Sid]

Sipping any rootbeer in a tall, brown bottle while driving is a great way to get pulled over by cops and then make them look like fools when they ask what you're drinking.

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

I've been favoring Moxie a lot lately when I'm in there.

I fucking love Moxie but can never find it. I paid way too much to have some shipped awhile back.

In unrelated news, I still don't think I know the difference between root beer, birch beer and sasparilla.

 

[Tablet County]

The best stuff that comes in cans is Barq's (the one with bite). Mug is gateway rootbeer and A&W is shite (unless you get it direct from the fast food joint, obviously).
Pretty much all the glass bottle rootbeer is in a league of its own.

 

[BullfrogBill]

Sprecher's is my currently in my top spot for best root beer, although I haven't had all that many brands since I usually stick to my favorites, Barq's and Sprecher. But I do really enjoy trying new root beers so I'm genuinely pretty pumped about this thread. I'm super interested in trying this fabled 1919 brew I've seen mentioned so I'm definitely gonna look into that and fingers crossed it's not impossible to get my hands on. I think Dad's Old Fashioned is gonna be the next brew I try and I have high hopes.

I love birch beer, so why not?

Any recommendations? I've been really interested in trying birch beer and for months I've been searching and can't find a single store that carries any, I figure i'm gonna have to order some online.

 

[1Tonka_Truck]

In unrelated news, I still don't think I know the difference between root beer, birch beer and sasparilla.

Root beer is flavored with sassafras root bark. Sarsaparilla is favored with Sarsparillia roots. Birch beer is flavored with fermented birch sap.

I've been searching and can't find a single store that carries any

I get the impression it's a very regional thing. I only know about it because I know somebody that grew up in Vermont.

 

[Merchmongler]

Ah, root beer, I haven‘t got a taste of that mysterious brew, you mutts enjoy.

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

Root beer is flavored with sassafras root bark. Sarsaparilla is favored with Sarsparillia roots. Birch beer is flavored with fermented birch sap.

I meant they all taste very similar to me. I'm not confident in how well I would do in a blind taste test.

 

[Dagoth AMOGUS]

YOU NEED A LITTLE REVIIIIIIIIVE!!!!

 

[BullfrogBill]

Lucky for the US that sassafras is almost impossible to mistake and grows everywhere. Learn to identify. I've got acres of it. You can even chew the leaves as a root beer tasting breath freshener. Make your own root beer brothers. Free yourself. You dump a bunch of different roots in a big pot of water with some molasses and boil it. Put it in a carbouy with some yeast if you wanna make it boozy. Bottle it. Wait a few weeks.
Homemade root beer and ginger beer will change a man. They taste and feel like DeadEye cowboy potions.

Moving this discussion over here to the proper thread.

Is there any merit at all to warnings about not drinking too much home made root beer? I'm not talking about the safrole but rather the other supposed medicinal qualities the sassafras roots have that can apparently have side effects.

 

[PandaChai]

I wish there was good root beer here in Bongistan that didn't cost an arm and a leg, most stuff gets double taxed (import + sugar) and the ""root beer"" we don't ship in from the US is pretty insipid. And I'd sell my left nut if somewhere over here sold birch beer at a decent price.