I’m convinced that on a hot summer afternoon, A&W Drive Ins could sell their root beers for $20 bucks an ice cold, frosty mug and people would snap them up without a second thought.
When I was a kid, my grandfather made root beer. I’ve never found one to compare. I wish I had gotten the recipe. Of course, it required the sweetest well water ever, and it aged in the well house, that was 20º cooler than the outside air in the summer. Maybe it wasn’t the root beer after all.
Sorry, for the highjack.
I like Maine Root which I get on draft at the local grocery store 
It kinda depends on what you like. If you like spicy (IBC is mild spicy), there are a lot of interesting beers out there. I tend to prefer a more classic taste – A&W style – but not quite as sweet and with just a touch of spice. Hanks (I’ve only seen it in a Hanks hardware store), Stewarts, and Sprechers are all favorites.
Sioux City Sassparilla is a good one that’s more spicy.
If you like sweet with other flavors: Tommyknocker’s basic beer has a maple flavor to it that I like (it’s kind of like a maple nut ice cream root beer float). Hansen’s basic root beer has a vanilla flavor to it I like.
We had a blind taste text a few years back. The winner (but not by much) was the Target brand. :smack: 
It tasted the most like what folks expected of root beer.
The best root beer I’ve ever had is called Big Shot, which is a relatively cheap brand (sold in plastic two-liter bottles, not “gourmet” at all), only available in New Orleans and perhaps elsewhere in Louisiana. They make several other sodas, but that root beer is so rich and creamy, it’s almost like a blend of root beer and vanilla cream soda. There is hardly any information about Big Shot online, but I have contacted the company, essentially begging to buy some and have it shipped, and they said they don’t do that. I love root beer, and I’d do just about anything to get more of it.
My top 4:
- Blue Sky
- Virgil’s
- Hansen’s
- Sioux City
As for the cheap stuff I prefer Barq’s over Mug or A&W (the latter of which I find to have barely any taste.)
Pfffft! “Root beer”… hehehehe
ahem
You wacky Americans. As you were. Don’t mind me.
Oh yeah. Like we’re going to feel dissed by somebody who probably had kangaroo and vegemite for lunch.
I heartily second this: but it’s pretty much a West coast-ish item only. (They say it doesn’t ship well, although you can find on-line retailers willing to ship it to you anywhere.)
<< Cat fur is a condiment. >>
Root beer does seem to be a distinctively north american phenomenon, other seems to equare it with cough syrup. Has anyone tried the brew kits? I’ve brewed beer and it’s even simpler, the lack of buzz notwithstanding, but I’ve never tried it.
(buzzhungry)
I keep seeing that on this board, and it’s not true. Root beer is popular in Thailand. There’s only A&W and Mirinda, but they’re everywhere. A&W is sharper, Mirinda is sweeter.
There’s even a few A&W outlets, with frostie mugs of root-beer floats.
Root beer is my drink of choice, and as such, I’ve tried everything I can get my hands on. My favourite, still, is Southern Ontario Barqs. Other regional Barqs haven’t been as good, and the premium ones I’ve had throughout the US and Canada, though nice, haven’t tickled my buds in quite the same way.
We regularly stock A&W Diet Root Beer in the fridge. But my go-to root beer is still Barq’s. I like it better than most of the micros, and it’s lightyears cheaper.
I like just about all rootbeers in can/bottle with exception of Mug, which seems a little too syrupy to me. When I drink Mug, I feel thirstier afterwards. Every rootbeer tastes a little different, but I would not say that the more expensive brands taste better. Store brands seem to be consistently sweeter. The ultimate to me is going to A&W and sitting there and drinking mug after mug. To me it has a fuller and more licoricy/warm kinda taste when it comes from the tap.
I concur on Virgil’s. Has anybody else tried their Nutmeg Root Beer? It’s more expensive ($5.00 a bottle) so I only get it now and then when I’m feeling like splurging, but it’s quite good.
Hanks is good but the flavor takes getting used to. There’s a local brand called Dang That’s Good! which is quite nice and they make a pretty tasty butterscotch root beer.
I tried ordering a variety case at one of the online pop sites but ended up cancelling it because several brands weren’t currently available. 
I should try again.
This really surprises me… I’ve spent some time there (mainly in Isaan) and can’t ever recall seeing root beer in the stores, though admittedly I wasn’t looking for it. My wife and in-laws, who are Japanese, can’t stand the smell of the stuff, let alone the taste, but I guess that’s just a family trait. Licorice is another western treat that makes them retch.
How long ago was that? Mirinda’s been here since at least the 1980s. I believe A&W in a can was introduced about 10 or 11 years ago, but A&W shop outlets in Bangkok were here even way before that. (The shop outlets I’ve only seen in Bangkok.) I don’t recall much advertising for Mirinda until A&W appeared on the shelves, resulting in competition. Mirinda advertises a lot of all of its products now. A&W not very much; mainly sponsorships rather than actual ads.
Spent several weeks in Khon Kaen this past August; shopped a lot at a TOPS supermarket there. I was mainly looking for Coca-cola, so I must have been blind to the A&W/Mirinda root beer.
Tops definitely carries it. Look for it next time, and I’ll bet it jumps right out at you.
Root beer Allosaurs.