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Food / drink 🍗 Root beer

hilldweller

hilldweller

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Ginger ale and root beer are like the ying and yang of retro soft drinks, so I figured we couldn't have a thread devoted to one and not the other. My personal favorite is Stewart's, which is an upstate NY ice cream/convenience store chain. Ocassionally I'll see it in New England, but it is tough to find outside of NY. Anybody remember the old A & W's? When did root beer's popularity peak, 1970 or so?
 
The ideal way to drink root beer is to get it from a drive-in root beer stand like a Dog-n-Suds or A&W kinda place.

I guess I like the 'specialty' soft drinks like Stewarts, IBC, Sioux City, or Jones root beer best, but have a soft spot for the traditional root beers from my youth like Hires, Dad's, and A&W. I drank Faygo last night.
 
Faygo root beer used to be my favorite soft drink (followed by Dad's (if I could find it) and Hires), these days most brands of root bee just do not taste as good to me anymore. Maybe it's just a case of tastes evolving as I get older. Every great once in a while I will buy one somewhere though. I like it served cold, but adding ice to it seems to water it down quicker than other beverages so if I buy some, I will put a mug in the freezer and let it get cold and drink the root beer out of that rather than putting ice into a cup with the root beer. If I am at a bar or brewpub and they have a locally brewed root beer on tap, I'll usually give that a try as well.
 
My prefs are A&W from the tap and IBC in the bottle. Way back in the day, root beer was made using sassafras roots but supposedly it had some potentially carcinogenic ingredients in it so they switched to an artificial flavoring. Worst decision since they took the cocaine out of Coke.
 
hilldweller said:
My personal favorite is Stewart's, which is an upstate NY ice cream/convenience store chain. Ocassionally I'll see it in New England, but it is tough to find outside of NY.
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Actually, hilldweller, Stewart's Root Beer is NOT made by Stewart's the ice cream/convenience store chain... although I used to think so myself. Yes, Stewart's Root Beer is excellent. :)

I remember A&W drive-through stands. If I remember correctly, we used to get hot dogs and root beer there when I was a kid.

Brewpubs often have their own root beer. Brown's Brewing Co. in Troy, NY has really good root beer.

I like root beer candies, too. Mmmm. :p

Oooh, a fun root beer site: RootBeerWorld
 
There is one of those old, open only in summer, root beer stands just a couple miles away. I make a trip once or twice each year. Good, but I don't like to drink sugary sodas.
 
The best way to have root beer in in a brown cow (rootbeer float). One of my grandpas and I used to make them when he would come over.
 
This Bear likes A & W Root Beer. Good stuff! Back in the 1960s my neighbor owned the A & W Drive-In that was located on Summit Street in the Toledo lakeside neighborhood of Point Place.

Bear
 
I bet I haven't had a real root beer since about 1973 or so, when Mom decreed the only soda I could have was Tab, or possibly it was Fresca :victory: (maybe I was a bit on the chubby side...). I know I tried diet root beers a couple times over the years, but they just didn't taste good. We had A&W when I was a kid.
 
I never developed a taste for root beer. I guess fundamentally I'm a cola man. Except for during those childhood upset stomachs.
I just remembered when we lived in Seattle there was a drive-in root beer stand a couple of blocks from our house. My father and sister loved to go there. It was called XXX root beer. I imagine it would attract a different sort of clientele now with that name.
 
Virgil's rootbeer is my favorite, and the kids know to leave it alone if there's some in the refrigerator. I also like Dad's rootbeer, but bottling it in plastic seemd to affect rootbeer.

ZG, I love Tab, but can only find it in a couple of stores here, so I stock up when I find it.

And, to the rest of you, I love craft pop.
 
I was never a big fan of root beer. Sure, I will drink it if I have too, but it's not something I choose. My girls seems to like it.
 
kms said:
Virgil's rootbeer is my favorite, and the kids know to leave it alone if there's some in the refrigerator. I also like Dad's rootbeer, but bottling it in plastic seemd to affect rootbeer.
...
And, to the rest of you, I love craft pop.
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Virgil's is great! I recently discovered their cream soda. I've never had better cream soda. I had some last night in fact.
 
Maister said:
Virgil's is great! I recently discovered their cream soda. I've never had better cream soda. I had some last night in fact.
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We have a store in San Luis that is called rocket fizz.. It has a lot of the old time sodas that have been mentioned here such as dad's / rc cola/ hell I saw big red soda the other day I was there.

http://www.rocketfizz.com/products

I am a big fan of a&w and it they have the combo a&w and KFC out here so you can still get the jug of root beer but it is not the same as going to the a&w drive
 
If I buy it, I get the newfangled specialty stuff or A & W

When I go see my Mom in Syracuse we hit up Heid's for their homemade birch beer which rocks
 
I like IBC or any of the micro brands usually. Otherwise A&W works. And yes, rocketfizz is an awesome store.
 
I don't always drink root beer but when I do, I like root beer in a frosted mug. Frost Top (do they still have Frost Top's?) and A&W from the tap are my go-to's.

Barq's is good from the can.
 
Root beer is the only soft drink I like (aside from orange pop, I suppose).
Natural Brew is my favourite.
 
Fat Cat

I prefer A & W. I even use it in cooking. when using a slow cooker or grilling, it adds a flavor that is really good. I have had a lot of guests tell me they really like the taste when I tell then what I am using they will use it them selves.
 
The last really interesting soft drink I tried was this Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer:

1686144764397.png


Anyone else ever had it?
 
Maister said:
The last really interesting soft drink I tried was this Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer:

View attachment 60278

Anyone else ever had it?
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Family vacation to the east (from the midwest) and at the hotel we were staying at in PA had Pennsylvania Draft Birch Beer in the vending machine but was just labeled Root Beer on the machine. As a 7-year kid kid in 1978(?) I thought the machine gave us beer. I have the two cans we bought in my beer can collection. One aluminum and one straight steel.
 
kms said:
I have. I prefer root beer.
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I would say I prefer root beer over birch beer too, but it was interesting and different. And there's something to be said for that.
 
I like 1919 Root Beer, not sure if it regional or national. Comes in tallboys.

Culver's (Midwest burger/frozen custard chain) recently switched from Pepsi products to Coke. Thankfully, they kept the Culver's Root Beer, which is quite good as well.
 
estromberg said:
Thankfully, they kept the Culver's Root Beer, which is quite good as well.
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Agreed, Culver's root beer is marginally better than the Pepsi and Coke brand equivalents found at every other restaurant.
 
estromberg said:
I like 1919 Root Beer, not sure if it regional or national. Comes in tallboys.

Culver's (Midwest burger/frozen custard chain) recently switched from Pepsi products to Coke. Thankfully, they kept the Culver's Root Beer, which is quite good as well.
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1919 is from Ameson Distribution in Sleepy Eye, MN, and manufactured by August Schell Brewery in New Ulm, MN. I used to live by Schell's in the early 1980s.

Availablity map:
1686160683042.png
 
I remember A and W when I was a kid. I also would have a Barq's occasional as an adult but that's it. I also remember having a home made black cow with one of my grandpas.
 
Whose Yur Planner said:
I remember A and W when I was a kid. I also would have a Barq's occasional as an adult but that's it. I also remember having a home made black cow with one of my grandpas.
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A black cow is another name for a root beer float, right? I know a purple cow is vanilla ice cream with grape pop.
 
I was always a Barq's guy. In the can. Hires otherwise.

There's a local place here and the best thing in the world is a float made with their root beer and maple creemee (soft-serve for those of you outside my Fair State).
 
MD Planner said:
*Side note and perhaps an unpopular opinion but soft serve ice cream is beyond gross.
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Eh, I can see the point of view. The good soft-serve stuff where I am is made from a 10% butterfat mix and is a far cry from gas station fare. Despite the two famous ice cream makers in my state, it's not really all that great a place for hard ice cream. (Maine, Seacoast NH, RI and especially Cape Cod all offer far better hard ice cream).
 
As a kid we'd beg dad to take us to A&W and get root beer - car hop tray hanging on the window. Never had anything else but root beer. Sometimes he'd bring home a gallon jug.
 
I love root beer. Virgil's is my favorite. I've also had Dang! Brand butterscotch root beer. Good stuff.

I like to drink root beer after a bike ride on a hot day.

I prefer soft serve ice cream in a cone.
 
Anyone else try that Flying Cauldron butterbeer? It's incredibly tasty!

1686169816775.png
 
One of the local brewpubs makes their own root beer. It's quite tasty.

Soft-serve ice cream is fine for what it is, but it can never compete with the real stuff. I'm big-time jonesing for some Teaberry flavored ice cream from a little dairy in NE Penna.
 
It is hard to find real ginger ale or root beer these days. Now they are mostly just flavored soda.

My middle son loves the taste of root beer and thinks is is all cool when he orders a root BEER when we are at a sports bar/restaurant.
 
[Bump] The local root beer stand opened last week. There's snow on the ground and they're open! But be that as it may, this is the time of the year they usually open.

1772128848691.png

I admire their tenacity and pluck. I'm sure there are some intrepid customers that frequent the Root Beer Stand in the winter, but in my mind this place is more of a quintessential summer destination.
 
Love the business name.

Simple, direct and easily understood.

Might need to stop in next time I'm through your burg on 94.

Back to root beer. I love a nice frosty chilled root beer with a burger and fries or good pizza slice.
 
mendelman said:
Love the business name.

Simple, direct and easily understood.
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Ah, but don't let the straightforward name deceive you. You will be ASTOUNDED to learn they not only serve root beer but also hot dogs and popcorn!
Fresh Off The Boat Mind Blown GIF
 
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