99 Bottles of Root Beer

Reviews for 34 new root beers. Some great, some awful. Does Delaware's Dominion stay at the top?

Bank of America was able to send me the information on my closed account for my travel-abroad credit card. I started tallying up where my costs were, placing charges into columns of "transportation", "food", "museums", "currency exchange fees", "hostels", etc., but then I realized it was pointless because I covered Phil many times and he covered me many times. Any sub-totals wouldn't be very accurate. We tracked who owed each other what back then, but unfortunately the detailed records have been lost to the ages. Since I can only give a grand total (knowing the sum of what I spent and how much Phil paid me back at the end), I'll make this a root beer post instead. First though, here's that grand total. I spent a whopping...

$5329

That includes my flight from America, back to America, and everything in between. From Stockholm to Kyoto. I didn't feel like I spent this much, and I was a little surprised to see the total. But all things considered, for nine weeks in Europe having the best time of my life, I'll take it. I don't regret a dime. Still wish I spent more time in Santorini though! Dang I miss that place.

Compare this number to the $5147 I gave in my previous post for my four months travelling America. I don't know what to make of these numbers. Did I do well overall, spending a total

$10,476?

My knee jerk reaction is this number is high. I was trying to be very conservative with my spending, as a challenge to myself. But to have spent that over half a year, incorporating tens of thousands of miles of travel and sight-seeing and enjoying life? Maybe it's not so bad. I could live on a $30k salary! Yeah, yeah, I know I slept in my car for many nights. But hey when I finish paying off my school loans, it gets easier.

It will only take me about half a year to get through these root beers.

OK, so, root beer. For Christmas my wonderful brother got me a billion more root beers to try, and I picked up a few others since then. It was a very thoughtful gift. My whole family joined in on the fun for some of these root beers, back around Christmas time. We agreed on many, and yelled about others. I shipped what we couldn't finish (the vast majority of them) to Louisville with me, and I just got done tasting them last month. One of my friends out here, David, is also a root beer connoisseur, so we shared many.

There were so many root beers to try. Honestly most of them are very similar so as to be a safe and agreeable flavour. Root beers follow a right-skewed distribution. My bottom-heavy ratings reveal as much.

AJ Stephan's (Orange, MA): tasted like nothing, 1 star

Baumeister (Green Bay, WI): very full and hearty, but not a spectacular flavor - it was so hearty that I seriously feel you could get stuffed on this drink, 5 stars

Berghoff (Chicago, IL): a little light on the flavor, but the flavor it has is very good, 7 stars

Blumers (Monroe, WI): not much flavor except for lemon, kinda like a lemon Pepsi, 3 stars

Brownie Caramel Cream (Mukilteo, WA): true to its name, extremely caramel-flavoured - you'll like it if you like caramel but to me it is hardly root beer, 2 stars

Buckin (Jackson Hole, WY): pure sasparilla, minty and repulsive, 1 star

Capone (Chicago, IL): sharpest ever! bonus stars for that, flavor is decent, 8 stars

Capt'n Eli's (Portland, ME): very average, "almost sharp and almost vanilla", 4 stars

Caruso's Legacy Robusto (Redwood, CA): tastes appley, like apples! interesting and decent, just not the path I want root beer to follow, 6 stars

Dang! That's Good (Milwaukee, WI): doesn't taste like much, just carbonated simple syrup, almost coke-flavoured, 1 star

Dog n Suds (Chicago, IL): hokey, it's just Mug, 4 stars

Earp's Sarsaparilla (Mukilteo, WA): did you know sarsaparilla is the correct spelling of sasparilla? quite the root beer reviewer I am, can't even spell the root correctly - this root beer taught me that, but that's all this sugar-water is good for, 2 stars

Fitz (St. Louis, MO): pretty bland but my dad loved it, made for a good float, 3 stars

Foxon Park (East Haven, CT): best tasting low-cal root beer, 9 stars, can only imagine if it were full-cal

Frostie (Detroit, MI): = Barq's minus bite plus flavor, 7 stars

Gray's (Janesville, WI): grape-vanilla flavor, pretty interesting, 6 stars

Hank's (Philadelphia, PA): decent but nothing noteworthy, 6 stars

Hansen's (Tustin, CA): comes in a can, tickles the throat, not much taste, 4 stars

Henry Weinhard's (Colfax, CA): a honey-laden juicy drink with full-bodied taste, 9 stars

IBC (Plano, TX): not much there, clearly tries to be agreeable to the masses, no wonder it is widely marketed, 3 stars

Kutztown (Kutztown, PA): very plain, inoffensive, like a Mug but a little lighter, 4 stars

Margo's Dark (Los Angeles, CA): strong smell, smells "dark" like a Guinness beer, but doesn't taste that way, just a bit stronger version of a Barq's, 7 stars

Olde Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA): utterly unremarkable, 4 stars

Old Red Eye (Mukilteo, WA): earthy, heavy on the sarsaparilla, spicy, probably my favorite that went for a strong sarsaparilla taste, 5 stars

Ozark Mountain (Brandon, MO): light, very refreshing with a candy taste, like one of those classic root beer barrel candies, 9 stars

Rocket Fizz (Camarillo, CA): surprisingly really good from Rocket Fizz, fruity, sweetened, slight licorice, sharp - checks a lot of boxes, 8 stars

Sioux City (Whitestone, NY): woodsy, heavy sarsaparilla, pretty unique, 4 stars

Squamscot (Newfields, NH): very swishable, light but creamy flavor, 7 stars

Sunshine (San Luis Obispo, CA): very plain, 3 stars

Swamp Pop (Lafayette, LA): doesn't taste much like a root beer but a Dr. Pepper, calls itself a "filé root beer", 0 stars

Tower (Boston, MA): sharp and aromatic, fresh taste, 7 stars

Waialua (Waialua, HI): floral, sharp, but not so flavorful, 5 stars

WBC (Chicago, IL): slight mint flavor but otherwise bland, 3 stars

Zuberfizz (Durango, CO): goofy tasting as would be expected from something named Zuberfizz, but not a good goofy, candy-ish, 3 stars

As you can see, a few of these did earn 9 stars but nothing could top the reigning champ Dominion. I found Dominion for sale at the Rocket Fizz in Nashville so I had the chance to try it again and refresh my memory. It's good to know that my favorite root beer can be purchased only 2.5 hours from home. Gonna have to stock up on Dominion and the 9's next time I roll through Nashville, if they are in stock.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (2) Dr. Brown's, Swamp Pop
⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (6) Drunken Uncle, Yacht Club, Rookies, AJ Stephan's, Buckin, Dang! That's Good
⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (4) A&W, Aviator, Brownie Caramel Cream, Earp's Sarsaparilla
⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (9) Gale's, Abita, Pump House, Blumers, Fitz, IBC, Sunshine, WBC, Zuberfizz
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆ (11) Mug, Thunder Beast, Appalachian, 365 Whole Foods, Hillbilly Bob's, Capt'n Eli's, Dog n Suds, Hansen's, Kutztown, Olde Philadelphia, Sioux City
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆ (6) Boylan Bottling Co., Frostop, Stubborn, Baumeister, Old Red Eye, Waialua
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆ (5) Barq's, Sycamore, Caruso's Legacy Robusto, Gray's, Hank's
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆ (8) Stewart's, Olde Brooklyn, Terminal Brewhouse, Berghoff, Frostie, Margo's Dark, Squamscot, Tower
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (5) Uncle Scott's, Virgil's, Tower, Capone, Rocket Fizz
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4) Bundaberg, Foxon Park, Henry Weinhard's, Ozark Mountain
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (1) 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.

Still looking to try the following, either due to ubiquity or being closed when I passed by on my tour of America:
Maine Root (Portland, ME)
Holy City Brewing (Charleston, SC)
Service Brewing Company (Savannah, GA)
Red Hare Brewing (Atlanta, GA)
Jones Soda
Trader Joe's Vintage

I was in Atlanta last weekend for Reagan's bachelor party and my birthday, but we did not have a moment free to stop at Red Hare Brewing. Maybe next time.

Indy's Liquid Hustle dances with Ray.