I LOVE ROOT BEER!

Let me make this clear, I love root beer.  I used to live in Spokane, WA where I discovered a couple small local soda shops that sold hundreds of options of soda.  Between them we were able to try around 20 different root beers.

One of my friends, Nick, suggested that we do a blind Root Beer Taste Test.  So about 8 years ago, we did a blind taste test with 11 root beer brands.  To ensure unbiased testing, each beverage was chilled for at least 24 hours, we used plastic cups, and we had chips in between tests to clear our pallet.  The results were varied, but the four of us had the same top 3 (though 2 and 3 flip flopped on some lists). Mine were:

1) Henry Weinharts
2) Bulldog
3) Stewarts

Shockingly, everyone had their first canned root beer as their 4th highest ranked drink (though each of us had a different canned root beer).  Since then, my love for Root Beer has only grown.

Two years ago, I bought a house and invited friends over for my house warming.  Of course, my house warming had to be different, so I made it into a Root Beet Taste Test.  I brought in 12 bottled Root Beers and had them try them out using the same rules as before.  Some of the best finds that year were:

1) Sprecher
2) Barrel Brothers

Oddly, we had one taster who was on a strange diet during this test and could not partake in soda at that time.  Instead, he used his nose and only his nose to determine his thoughts on each drink.  His final ranking of the root beers was almost identical to the majority of the feedback at the end.  Quite crazy.

My guests loved the house warming.  The goal quickly became to make it a yearly adventure with year two being canned root beer, and year three being a hybrid of the best of canned and bottled with a couple duds and a couple new brews.  Unfortunately, life happened, and we haven't been able to finish this project at this time.  But the plan is still in place and we may continue it soon.

I now live in Bellevue, WA where we have The Root Beer Store with over 100 brands of Root Beer.  The purpose of this blog is to record thoughts gained from various blind Root Beer Tastings and experiments in home brewed Root Beer.