Last summer I was on about Orange Crush, & while I'm certainly not off of the Crush, I haven' been quite as soda-oriented lately. That said, I just had a fantastic root beer (a Frostop w/ dinner & thought I'd mention it. Jason will tell you A&W is the best, & as for frosted mugs w/ on-tap root beer he's absolutely right. I'm gonna focus on the bottled stuff though. Obviously, claiming to have had ever brand would be ridiculous, but I have tried a lot over the years. Here they are, rated on a scale of 1-5, in reverse alphabetical order (if you can think of others that I've tried, or others you've tried & would like to rate, be sure to leave the old comments):Wild Bill's *****
A nice creamy body w/ a sweat, full finish. It's really good.
Virgil's ***
A bit pretentious, but better than their ginger ale
Stewart's ***
A basic, rootbeer w/o many bells or whistle, but it's fine
Sioux City ****
To quote The Stranger, "That's a good one." It is the grand daddy, after all.
Natural Brew **
A decent body, but the finish is a bit thin and uninteresting
Mug *
Fine in a pinch, but certainly nothing to write home about
Jones***
Considering how popular this is, I would have thought it'd be better, but it's tolerable
IBC ****
The 1st micro-brewed root beer I ever had. You've all had it and it's pretty damn good.
Hires **
Better than most of the major label brews.
Hansen's **
Similar to Natural Brew. It opens well, but the finish is thin and tinny. Hints of marzipan and dried cherries.
Goose Island ***
Like their beer, it's good, but not great. It's certainly better than some though
Frostop *****
Creamy and full bodied. This is a quality brew. They sell it @ Washtenaw Liqueur... try it! Nothing tops it, but the foam... or so they say.. & i think they might be right.
Frostie ***
I imagine it was a lot better before they changed the recpe adding the high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweetners & dropping the cane sugar. It's nothing special now.
Faygo ***
Much better than one would expect. A nice full flavor & the finish has a little bite
Dad's ****
I remember liking this a lot, but it's been a long time. I don't recall much about it
Boylan ***
Another tolerable brew.
Blue Sky ***
There's something about the labels sold in the natural Foods Stores that misses the mark. It's like Natural brew and Hansen's... decent, but thin and forgettable
Barq's *
Stay away from this stuff... it's BAD!
A&W ***
Probably the best of the main stream brews. The plastic bottes doon't do it justice though. Do like Jason & get a frosty mug.
