Dear America - those fancy pantsy Root Beers aren't too great, are they?

Sprecher is great, if it's available in your area. I LOVED a frosty mug of A&W. The bottled stuff wasn't as good as getting it on tap at the drive-in.

R1 = front left

It depends on what you like in root beer, to be honest. A&W is VERY sweet, but I like it quite a lot (it pairs beautifully with vanilla ice cream). Some people prefer a less sweet root beer with more of a licorice note in it, though.

Such as, R3?

Virgil's has a very strong licorice flavor in it I personally don't like, r4.

Sorry: I meant to identify myself as r3, not as OP (I'm not OP).

Sorry, OP.

R2 I don't get it. Please explain...

I like A&W and Barq’s the most. Mug seems a little flat to me. Root Beer is best served freezing cold in a nice frosty mug. I know people in the U.K. have an adversion to cold drinks. I haven’t run across any designer brands that are worth a damn.

'teas my favourite as well, OP.

How is root beer different from sarsparilla? Which alcohol pairs well with it?

I bought a one liter plastic bottle of Dad's root beer recently. I thought it wasn't made anymore since I haven't seen it anywhere for many years. I'd rate it as a good choice as it seems like it tasted how I remembered it.

Is Hires still around? I liked that brand too along with A&W and Barq's.

R10. Sarsaparilla is really, really, bitter.

Mug tastes like piss. A&W is okay. Frostie really is the gold standard for root beer, and I’ve never had any other brands that surpass it.

My grandmother always had birch beer and root beer in the refrigerator, which was in an enclosed porch-like structure off the kitchen. But not the pantry. My great aunt had the same thing - a fridge and a huge chest freezer in a little porch like room off the kitchen. Connecticut. What was that all about? I can't remember the bottlers.

Hartford Club, Averys, Castle were some brands.

~There are a lotta brands, my God!

A lot these things are regional, aren't they?

So many possibilities...

When growing up, I had a neighbor whose brother made his own root beer, and he'd bring a couple cases when he came to visit - very little resemblance to store bought, but that shit was good! Stronger, vaguely medicinal, and not as carbonated. Ahh, would love to have a bottle of that.

[quote] vaguely medicinal

Pepto Bismol-ish?

[quote] While no standard recipe exists, the primary ingredients in modern root beer are filtered water, sugar, and artificial sassafras flavoring, which complements other flavors. Common flavorings are vanilla, wintergreen, black cherry bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, nutmeg, acacia, anise, molasses, cinnamon, sweet birch, and honey. Soybean protein is sometimes used to create a foamy quality, and caramel coloring is used to make the beverage brown.

[quote] Ingredients in early and traditional root beers include allspice, birch bark, coriander, juniper, ginger, wintergreen, hops, burdock root, dandelion root, spikenard, pipsissewa, guaiacum chips, sarsaparilla, spicewood, wild cherry bark, yellow dock, prickly ash bark, sassafras root, vanilla beans, dog grass, molasses and licorice. Many of these ingredients are still used in traditional and commercially produced root beer today, which is often thickened, foamed or carbonated. Although most mainstream brands are caffeine-free, Barq's does contain caffeine.

Faygo root beer is very good.

R18 - cherry cough syrup....

I went to a burger place in Houston a decade ago which was advertised as one of the very best in town. The drinks fridge was stacked with about 8 or 9 kinds of root beer. It was a sight.

When I was very young I remember an old man who went around door to door selling sassafras bark. I love sassafras tea.

REAL root beer was made with sarsaparilla, which was banned because it causes cancer

r24 Sassafras root and extract as well. The offending compound is safrole. Used to buy bottles of sassafras extract, or maybe it was a syrup. Made great tea.

"Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer" is quite tasty. I like the color, brown with a reddish tinge.

Hires Root Beer Extract is still available. so you could make your own root beer at home. "Glen and Friends Cooking" over on YouTube has a very involved recipe for homemade root beer, probably 20 ingredients.