Root Beer Rankings

As almost nowhere is a fan of root beer outside of North America, I can put my search for the best root beer to bed with this summary listing of all root beers I have tried thus far. Apparently root beer scent is used in other countries for cleaning products and sometimes toothpaste, so it's not a preferred drink. Perhaps when I return from abroad, I will find some more to try (or some brewers will send complimentary bottles my way for my endorsement/review wink wink).

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Dr. Brown's
⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Drunken Uncle (6% ABV), Yacht Club, Rookies
⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ A&W, Aviator
⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Gale's, Abita, Pump House
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆ Mug, Thunder Beast, Appalachian, 365 Whole Foods, Hillbilly Bob's
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆ Boylan Bottling Co., Frostop, Stubborn
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆ Barq's, Sycamore
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆ Stewart's, Olde Brooklyn, Terminal Brewhouse
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆ Uncle Scott's, Virgil's, Tower
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Bundaberg
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Dominion
Bold brands above are my "big three" which were my starting point for evaluations of other brands on the trip.
If the root beer got a 7+ rating, consider it earnestly recommended.

THE CHAMP

Congratulations Old Dominion Brewing Co. in Dover, Delaware, for producing my favorite root beer in the world.

Sought during my road trip, but visited the brewery outside of open hours or couldn't find it:
Maine Root (Portland, ME)
Holy City Brewing (Charleston, SC)
Service Brewing Company (Savannah, GA)
Red Hare Brewing (Atlanta, GA)

Did not review but probably should due to ubiquity:
Jones Soda
Trader Joe's Vintage
IBC

I've had IBC and I think Jones but can't remember what I thought of them. If I try these or any other root beers in the future, I will update this post.

UPDATE: See my post on 8/31/18 for the review of 34 new root beers, mostly thanks to my brother. I was able to take off IBC from this list, but I'm still looking for the others.

167-Foot Falls

American Falls, then the tiny Bridal Veil Falls, then the grand Horseshoe Falls

If you ever get a trivia question in some dumb board game about the height of Niagara Falls, now you know the answer.

It is not known for its height, but rather its current, volumetric flow, and panoramic beauty. Niagara Falls doesn't even make a list of tallest waterfalls, as many reach thousands of feet in height. But the waters can flow up to 40 miles per hour and output 5.5 billion gallons of water per hour.

Niagara

All of Horseshoe Falls and a tourist boat getting as close as possible.

On my initial pass of the falls in my car, you can bet I muttered "wow" aloud. There's a whole tourist city around Niagara, making it a good destination for multiple days. But I merely drove through the city, heading straight for waterfront parking. You'll need your windshield wipers, rain or shine, because the splash + wind at the falls is powerful enough to reach the street. And get there early! As it is a vacation spot, and not just a off-the-beaten-path wonder, people get there early and it gets more crowded as the day progresses.

Turbulent flow above Horseshoe Falls

I don't know what I can say about this place that pictures can't, so have a look. It's beautiful and in my opinion a destination you must get to at least once. As people had told me before my visit, there is no doubt the view and experience are better from the Canadian side. Check my three videos for evidence of the flow rate above Horseshoe Falls, for a view of the whole thing with a zoom onto the rocks at American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, and to spectate two strangers doing the zipline (I'm not brave enough).

Some of you were keen enough to notice I added my first assailment to the tally without an explanation. Well, I was assailed in Niagara... by a seagull! I wasn't protective enough of my energy bar and it was snatched right out of my hand. Chinese tourists unabashedly laughed at my misfortune of feeding a seagull. I would have thought my Jersey shore upbringing taught me better to be wary of those sky-rats; I guess I've been removed from the beach for too long.

Phase two of three complete. Prepare for the final stage: Europe.

My last major destination by car!

Albany

A castle of a capitol!

In a real hurry to catch my friend's show in NYC, I took my photo of the New York State Capitol in five minutes and kept moving. Which is a shame because I think I would have liked to spend some time inside this one. I arrived after-hours anyway, regardless of whatever rush I was in. Maybe should have spent an hour less in Niagara. I'd go back to Albany sometime.

Trenton

The one decent view of the NJ State House is when it's mostly obscured by trees and a war memorial.

After spending a night in New York City again, I had one last capitol to hit: my own. It's... lame. Most disappointingly, this was the first capitol I entered with mandatory tours! You can't do anything self-guided except stand in the rotunda. If I were at all in a rush, I would have left instead of waiting for a tour I had to share with a class field trip. But I wasn't, so I decided to brave the company of school chads.

Anywhere but Trenton wouldn't stand for boarded up windows in a capitol.

The one and only self-guided room, ever since 9/11 security ramped up

NJ General Assembly

NJ Senate

How many NJ state-thingies can you find?

Wrap Up

Trenton is ugly, which I knew already. But now I know the capitol isn't worth a second look either. Unless they remove the requirement for guided tours.

Albany isn't great either, as far as I could tell from my speedy drive. But I would go back for a better look at their capitol.

Niagara was the star of this portion of my trip (obviously). I could relax there all day and do some of the attractions, like the boats, platforms under the falls, and maybe the zipline with some encouragement. And although clearly inferior, time on the US side of the falls may be worth doing once. Park on one side, walk into the other country.

Europe, here I come. Still need a haircut.

Stubborn

Root Beer

Stubborn (Riviera Beach, FL) - Like Yacht Club, this one noticeably suffers from being a demi-diet soda. However they got something right, tasting significantly better. Still doesn't best most of the root beers I have tried, but flavourful honey notes save the otherwise lite-beer taste. 5/10

On Repeat

Album: Bleachers - Gone Now

This is the not-yet-released album from Bleachers, which I remind you is due out June 2. RCA Records has trickled out four songs, which I keep finding myself playing over and over and over again. I'm up to 76 plays on Don't Take the Money. The newest tease is I Miss Those Days, which came with quite a charming music video. See how much you take away from a motionless, large paper mâché portrait of our boy, Jack.

Song: Dishwalla - Counting Blue Cars

When not fawning over Bleachers, I have still been stuck in the 90's. See if you remember this slightly controversial song from 1995. The one-hit wonder song title won't ring any bells, but I bet nostalgia kicks in if you let it get to the chorus.

An Obama cookie! This version pictures Trudeau.
Obama famously purchased this from a bakery in Ottawa, as I did.

L'Est du Canada

I'm at the one with the lights, the one with the lights.

Le Canada était un voyage amusant! Beaucoup plus de l'est du Canada parle français que je croyais. Je ne connais pas Halifax, mais tout le reste de Moncton à Toronto m'a fait pratiquer mon français. Spécialement Québec. Ils sont le français stéréotypé. Je me souviens beaucoup! Outre le Québec, l'anglais suffit.

If you've kept up on my previous posts, you know that I am interested in population statistics, because I believe, mostly without controversy, they give a reliable hint as to the denizens' life outlooks. Well here are Canada's statistics in a nutshell:

Canada has 10% of the total US population. 75% of those live within one hundred miles of the US border. Eight Canadian cities have significantly more population than all others. From east to west, these are Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton (only one of these far from the US), Calgary, and Vancouver. These are one-to-one with Canada's NHL teams, excepting Quebec City.

Toronto's Rogers Centre and CN Tower

By fortunate happenstance, I was in Canada over Victoria Day weekend, a national holiday celebrating Queen Victoria's birthday. So everywhere in Canada was a big party for the extended weekend. Add on top that Canada turns 150 the following month, the country was set up for more fun than I would have had most other weeks, I'm sure. Festivities galore.

New Brunswick

Downtown Moncton

Moncton nature walks

The single biggest recommendation I got for all of Canada was to see the tidal bore in Moncton, New Brunswick. Moncton is also the biggest city in the province, so why not. A tidal bore is one manifestation of a soliton, something I did a little bit of research on back in grad school, which I thought would be cool to see in nature. In laymen's terms, a soliton is a wave which gains energy at the same rate as it loses the energy, thereby never crashing and dying. In practice, a tidal bore is the precursor to a rise in tides. The Bay of Fundy's tides sends a "wave" up the river against the current for literal miles. The information booth is able to predict the arrival of the bore down to the minute! The tidal bore isn't a particularly flashy phenomenon, but it's a mind-boggling freak of nature nonetheless. See the video.

Before getting to Quebec, I passed a city called New Maryland. A friend, I forget who, brought this up with me before in regards to the "News" of America: New Jersey, New Mexico, etc. How pretentious of us, he thought! I dismissed his concern. But now that I saw a New Maryland, I understood. What jerks, those Canadians! Who are they to say they have a new, implicitly improved, version of our state? Food for thought.

The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

I stopped in Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, to see my first Canadian parliament building. Found some easy parking and snapped a couple photos. Also pictured is the New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor's mansion. Not much else in the city. 

Government House of New Brunswick

Quebec

A view of downtown from the park Plaines d'Abraham (many more skyscrapers off to the left)

Now for the first major Canadian city - all that New Brunswick stuff is small time. And now I dive neck deep into French Canada. Moncton had some French, Montreal will have more French, Ottawa will have a little less, and Toronto almost none. But Quebec City dwellers give you dirty looks if you don't speak French. Fine by me! Practice for Europe.

Quebec's Parliament Building

Looking down on Old Quebec

At the time, I was thinking Quebec is the city for me. But after getting to Ottawa and Toronto, and revisiting Montreal, I realize now each of the major Canadian cities have something to offer. As far as Quebec goes, I especially enjoyed walking through Old Quebec (included strolling right by an Antifa gathering, which gathered a decent police following). Quebec is the oldest continually inhabited city in Canada and one of the oldest in all of the Americas. I did not enjoy getting a parking ticket though - it's entirely in French and all that French legalese is difficult to decipher.

Le Chȃteau Frontenac

Inside La Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec
Undergoing major construction, you can see the front is actually covered by a mural on a drape.

Rue Saint-Jean

An active Canadian military base

Atop what I termed the Great Wall of Quebec

Montreal... I was here about 10 years ago and I remembered very little of it. Couldn't find any free cheese this time, but still a fun and livable city. I was very disappointed to find out that my favorite casino got rid of their electronic poker tables. Electronic poker tables as in real poker against real people at your table, with a screen in front of each player and no human dealer. That was great. Still probably my favorite casino, but no longer a must-go. Had a delicious crepe here though.

Downtown Montreal, with the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

Ontario

Ottawa's downtown, viewed from Parliament Hill

Ottawa doesn't have nearly as much as DC, but it is less stuffy. Fewer suits. Parliament Hill dominates the main part of the city, with an expansive outdoor market through the old part. Lacks parks but the manual locks along the canal were especially cool. I regret not spending time going through the city's museums.

The canal's locks - takes 1.5 hours to pass through all eight

The National Gallery of Canada featuring all Canadian art on the left,
and the Notre-Dame Cathedral on the right.

Some weird spider sculpture in front of Ottawa's Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica.

The market in the old part of town

Below are a series of photos of Ottawa's government buildings on Parliament Hill (their version of the National Mall).

Toronto's version of Times Square

Toronto truly felt like New York City. It's Canada's most populous city. Parks, skyscrapers, islands, subways.... none of that is too unusual, but there's a je ne sais quoi to the city that really makes it feel New Yorkish, without the frozen demeanors. I walked miles of Toronto after midnight, often on backstreets, and never had to look over my shoulder. The CN Tower, as seen in a couple photos, was the tallest building in the world for decades until the Burj Khalifa's completion.

Architecturally interesting skyscrapers besides the CN Tower 

Rogers Centre, home of the Blue Jays

Queen's Park featuring the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Up close with the Legislative Assembly

"Old" Toronto doesn't look very old.
Old City Hall's clock tower in the distance.

Casa Loma 

Wrap Up

Bottom line is I had a great time each of the four major eastern cities. Judging by the population dynamics, the four western cities would probably be just as fun. I'm not ready for the fabled move-to-Canada, but now I know I could easily fit in there. The cities rank very closely to each other. If I had to choose now: Toronto > Quebec City > Montreal > Ottawa.

There's a Boston Pizza chain restaurant in Canada. I have no idea what that means. What's a Boston-style pizza?

Up Next
Niagara, Albany, Trenton
Trying to flip these posts out quickly now. Only five days until I'm in Sweden!

Pump House

Root Beer
Pump House (Moncton, NB) - This is a slightly watered down Mug. I don't think root beer is very popular in Canada, despite a lot of A&W restaurants. The positive was the bartender served me a large but charged for a small. 3 stars.

On Repeat
I had my musicals binge and my 80's binge. Time for the 90's binge, featuring bands like Third Eye Blind, Sister Hazel, and Barenaked Ladies, but none more than...
Album: Collective Soul - Dosage
I can never pick my favorite album from Collective Soul, but this one had the most plays on this portion of my trip. They have nine studio albums and only about half a dozen songs I don't like. They are my longest running favorite band that I finally outgrew five years ago. They preceded Bleachers, and followed...
Song: Goo Goo Dolls - Over and Over
Dizzy Up the Girl was one of the first CDs I owned. Five albums later they produced this gem of a song, released a year ago. Over and Over sounds like Goo wanted to produce a new pump up song for their concerts. It includes the lyric "Turn it up!" multiple times. You can be sure I was fist pumping in my car to the dozens of plays of this song.

Berczy Park fountain dogs staring at a golden bone

Most of Maine

North Bubble Peak, with Bubble Lake on the left. So characteristic of Maine.

I'm back in Jersey! Now waiting for my June 1 flight to Sweden and taking care of some last things over Memorial Day Weekend. Gotta buy some train tickets, pay a couple debts, get a haircut, write these posts, etc...

I've gone from Sarah's in Vermont, across NH with an attempt to camp (story below), up through Maine, and all the way through eastern Canada, coming back through Niagara. Pit stop in New York and now home. I will post about these in smaller chunks, easier for you to digest, over the next few days. First, the journey up into Canada:

The White Mountains

Near the peak of Mt. Hancock, before snow became an impasse.

This camping endeavor was remarkable only in that it failed. The park ranger at the visitor center wasn't very helpful in finding me a good 1-day hike and camp. He was set on a 3-day circuit around Mt. Bond (and did you know this is prime skiing season around Mt. Washington?). Admittedly, it's an appealing trip, but I didn't have 3 days. So instead I went off to a trail up to Mt. Hancock. The ranger noted there might be a few makeshift campsites around the river. 

Had to cross this river 4 times up to the peak. Not deep, but very strong and lacking obvious footholds.

I saw those, but wanted to make it further up to the peak before I settled for the night. I climbed and climbed - the trail became more enshrouded in brush with no openings to make camp. Icy snow canvassed the ground under my feet, and my shoes are NOT suited for snow, as I lamented in my last post. I saw increasing amounts of snow ahead of me and conceded defeat. Even knowing much of my hike back to my car would be long after sunfall, I wasn't in the mood to set up camp and instead braved the darkness.

Ah, and I almost lost my water bottle again, without ever realizing I had dropped it. I hopped over a muddy area, and the bottle fell out into the mud. The mud dampened the sound of the drop and I never even realized until far up the mountain when I stopped for a snack break. I figured I most likely dropped the bottle during one of my river crossings, and the bottle floated a long way down the river never to be seen again. But I did of course find the bottle in the mud on my return.

The walk of shame back to the car, about an hour of it in darkness like this.
Whyyy did I need to start thinking about the Blair Witch?

As I drove off, I spotted a moose from behind, in the periphery of my headlights. I had never seen a moose before. A moose is not just a big deer. This thing is gigantic. And getting a view straight into its rear, its outline looked something like a Slenderman demonic figure. Took a moment to compute that what I had spotted was actually just a moose. That's what I get for thinking about Blair Witch.

And the last tale of my time in the Whites was that I stopped to change my sweaty underwear at a scenic overlook beside the mountain road. It's long after sunset at this point. No car had driven past me for many minutes. I stand outside my car, changing my clothes, and right as I'm butt-naked, of course a car not only drives by on the road but pulls into the same scenic overlook. Their headlights shine right on me. IT'S PITCH BLACK WHY IS ANYBODY PULLING INTO A SCENIC OVERLOOK. I hurry into my fresh boxers and scamper into my car to finish changing.

Augusta

Downtown

I learned from my family in CT that I should try sleeping in a Walmart parking lot, as that is apparently the resting place of choice for RV campers across the country. They were right, I did feel much more comfortable in Walmart as opposed to a hospital parking lot.

Out front of the Maine State House

Major fish of Maine, including the great American Lobster

Nothing special about this capitol. The state house didn't have much to it, just a very tall dome. But the state congress was in session! I saw both the Maine House and Senate members in action, and I read about some of their bills being discussed, like allowing hedgehogs as pets without applying for a license. I also spent a little time in their state history museum. In 95° weather, the hottest of my trip, I got some lobster and left to Acadia National Park.

Maine Senate chamber

Maine House chamber from above

Congress taking a break. Typical congress!

Acadia

Panorama atop Cadillac Mountain

I was disappointed to learn that Acadia has no backcountry camping. I debated even visiting at all given the 20-some dollar park entrance fee since it would only be for a few hours after I spent the morning in Augusta. But it's such a legendary park and who knows when I'll be back in northern Maine that I didn't think this was something I could wisely pass on.

The creatively-named Sand Beach

The narrow, precarious path to Beehive Summit

Atop Beehive Summit, a very quick, steep, and fun climb.
#1 recommendation from my experienced Maine-native friend, Alex.

"The Bowl" behind Beehive Summit

I wandered Sand Beach a bit, did two short but stunning hikes (Beehive Summit then North and South Bubble Peaks), and then drove to the highest peak, Cadillac Mountain. That peak is the first place in all of America in the winter months (October 7 to March 6) to see sunlight each morning. I wasn't there for a sunrise but did hold tight to catch a sunset on my way out. 

The Bubble Rock, miraculously balanced over the ledge

Bubble Lake from South Bubble Peak

The hikes and drive up to Cadillac Mountain were fantastic, especially considering my time limit. I somehow lost the trail markers on my way up to Bubble Peak and had to sashay off-trail for a while up to the peak. My agenda was as good as I could do in the afternoon I had. But all things considered, I think I was a wee bit disappointed in the park. Maybe the cost got to me - the standard entrance fee is good for seven days but it's steep if you only have an afternoon. Even irrespective to the cost, the park was probably built up too much for me; I'm not even sure if this is a "must visit once in your life" park. On the other hand, I only did a couple hikes and some driving. There is an entire half of the park I didn't touch.

A group of islands beyond the Bar Harbor town (not part of the park), as seen from Cadillac Mountain

The last couple minutes of sun on Cadillac Mountain - a little cloudy unfortunately.

Up Next

Canada! Moncton, Fredericton, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara. Then Albany, NYC, Trenton, and home.

The only significant piece of Maine I missed was Portland, but I've been there before, however briefly. There are great outdoorsy things in the state but it truly is mostly empty. Mountains and lakes abound.

For the third time in my life, out of three total times, border patrol really gave me a tough time as I crossed the border along Route 1. They searched every pocket of my car, holding me there for about a half hour. Maybe they just had a lot of time given that not a single other car crossed the border while I was there around 0100, but I figured I would have an easier time as a respectable clean citizen, no longer a 19 year old teen travelling with a car full of friends. I learned that the trick to hiding drugs is to store them in a jar of protein powder, because they don't bother looking at stuff that always looks like drugs anyway.

No root beers in this part of the drive. I heard Maine Root from Portland is supposed to be a good one, but I couldn't find it in neither the Walmart nor the Whole Foods I entered and then gave up.

On Repeat

Album: Børns - Dopamine

Much more chill than most stuff I listen to, but I love this guy's debut album. Saw him put on a great set at a festival once.

Song: My Chemical Romance - Teenagers

One more from MCR. Really got a lot of plays from me in a short time.

Ah and a correction if anybody is counting on me for accurate album release dates. Haim's comes out July 7, not June 7 like I claimed before. Bleachers is still on track for next Friday! Very excited. All four tracks they have teased are amazing.

Maine loves their sardines as much as I do!