Fountain drinks always seem to be preferred over their bottled/canned counterparts, possibly because the syrup concentration used takes into account the fact that it will be served over ice?
Hires was THE root beer in my youth (back when sarsaparilla root was legal). I don't see Hires available at stores around me. My go to is now A&W diet. In my long and storied root beer drinking I've also had Ted's, Cott's, Ramblin', Barrelhead, Mug, Dad's Barq's, IBC, Stewart's, Polar, Waistwatchers, Captain Eli's and a half dozen generic store brands. I've also drank the Wyler's Root Beer flavored powdered drink mix.
Surprised Boylan's didn't make the cut. Usually wins out in every taste test it's a part of. It is also the one I hand to people who usually don't like root beer. They end up liking it and wanting more.
@dubl59zy Their Birch Beer is good ! Probably the first beverage of their I drank. My mom, however, loves their roots Beer, and she normally can't stand Root Beer.
Buy A&W in the restaurants - they make it fresh in store with real cane sugar and no preservatives. The bottle and can product uses high fructose corn syrup and needs to have a preservative added. Quite different if you ever have the chance to have them side by side. Also, when in an A&W restaurant, always ask for yours to be served in a chilled glass mug (sometimes the counter person will just hand you a paper cup).
The best root beer, which I found recently in Publix Supermarket in Florida, is a Abita root beer, produced by the Abita brewing Company in Louisiana. Its ingredients list Louisiana cane sugar, spring water, root beer flavor, caramel color, and phosphoric acid. It is more of a wintergreen and licorice/anise flavor, although I am sure vanilla is in the mix. It has body and bite, good carbonation, and comes in glass bottles with non-screw off caps.
@@swhite7111 Producing their root beers and several other sodas doesn't stop Abita from producing their wondrous beers, which I've never tried. I drink a beer every a few months whether I need it or not.
I still drink Root Beer from time to time and when I do crave it, both A&W and Barq's are my absolute favorites. Especially A&W, which I have had a lot when I was younger. 😋🍻🍺
I should have diabetes with the amount of root beer I used to drink hahahahaha!!! I can't believe it now looking back what I was consuming every day as a kid! 😯 I say that now as I sip a glass of Barq's root beer 😂
I can rememerb back in the late 60s buying A&W by the quart at the A&W drive in. They had paper milk carton containers they filled straight from the tap.
The best I’ve ever had is Hire’s Root Beer. Unfortunately the same company that has the rights to A&W also has Hire’s and it’s not being made anymore. It lost out to better advertising campaigns. Also Dog & Suds root beer was pretty good, but again you can’t get it anymore.
Barq's started in Biloxi, Mississippi. My favorite root beer not mentioned in this post, is Frostop root beer, from a Frostop hamburger stand, with a Lot-o-burger hamburger!
@@rickymcginnis7300 My local grocery store carries it. (Phoenix, AZ) It is a nationwide product. I have even found it in some liquor stores that carry soda.
Growing up Hire's Rootbeer was THE BEST, it wasn't dead sweet it had a nice peppery kick and fantastic carbonation. I really miss it and rarely drink root beer anymore because it is just to sweet with no character.
I wasn't expecting A+W to be #1. I like it, but find Virgils a lot more interesting. But everyone has different tastes. Kudos to A+W, it's easily found everywhere and not expensive.
Here in Wisconsin Sprecher is easy to find. The brewery is literally less than 15 minutes from here. I'd sooner take the cream soda, but preferences vary. The cherry cola is good now and then. Opinions on beers vary even more so. Black Bavarian isn't super popular, but it's a decent black lager.
I’ve been drinking root beer since I was a kid and now drink from bottles only. I have collected and have on display in my rec room over 50 brands now of just root beer bottles that I’ve tried. It’s a great way to rank brands for me. Was raised on Hires and A&W. Remember going to A&W car hop where they would bring out the root beer in heavy frosted mugs with onion rings. The servers were on roller skates. A great drink is a root beer float with chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. Better than root beer is birch beer. Hard to find nowadays. It has a distinct woody flavor-more than root beer but once you’re hooked, you’re hooked on it.
Of the two styles of Zevia, I prefer the Ginger Root Beer over the Creamy Root Beer. Switching to another brand of diet root beer is not the same as the stevia used in Zevia is much better for my gut than aspertame or sucralose or whatever other artificial sweetener is used in the major brands.
When I was just a little kid in the early fifties, my mom and dad would gather up my two brothers and I on a Saturday night and take us to the A&W Root Beer Stand. Many times we were wearing our footy pajamas and sitting in the backseat. That was back before seat belts and car seats were required. It may not be as safe as today but it was a lot Freer. I was only about four or five years old, and it was a high point of the weekend, what with the neon lights around the root beer stand, and all the people. I thought the tray that they hung from the driver's window with all of the mugs root beer on it, all cold and Frosty was just something special. I remember being so small that wrestling with a full-size mug was difficult so I really liked it when I could get mine in the small kids size mug. I'm 76 now, would you believe I bought some A&W root beer mugs online, including the small kids size, just for the sheer Nostalgia of owning them. When I feel the mood, I'll stick the mug in the freezer until it gets nice and cold, then pull it out and fill it up from a can or a bottle and have that Frosty mug of A&W root beer that I remember so much when I was a small child. Life can be good sometimes.
@@tokenblack7983 I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's funny how when you get older the memories from 70 years ago are clearer to you than the memories from last week. A&W Root Beer always had a special place in my heart because of those memories.
The absolute best root beer is very local to southern MN, from Schell's Brewery in New Ulm. It's called 1919 (for the year they started making it due to Prohibition) and it's best from a keg. People will get kegs of it for graduation parties and wedding receptions, it's so good.
In the 50's my Mom worked in the office of the local Hires root beer bottler and brought home cases of the drink. My chums loved to come over to our place and have root beer floats. To my mind, Hires was still the best. The company also had the Crush franchise so we had Orange Crush in the iconic bottles as well as Grape Crush and Cream Soda...
I personally am a fan of IBC rootbeer and Henry Weinhards rootbeer! With an honorable mention to A&W back when you got it at the A&W by a girl on rollerskates and good old fashioned Mug root beer!
I think I'd probably have given the top slot to Henry Weinhard's with IBC a close second, though A&W is definitely a solid choice and Barq's is ... acceptable in an "if you can't get anything better" kind of way. A&W from actual A&W restaurants was the bomb; I'd put it just over IBC and just below Henry Weinhard's. "If you're desperate for root beer that has zero sugars and zero calories" ... just go out and gnaw on a birch root, it'll taste better than any artificially sweetened abomination anyway. I can't fathom how messed up Mashed's taste buds must be to rate ANY non-diet root beer, even Mug, below any diet root beer. That said ... does anybody remember Barrelhead? Truly abysmal root beer from the 1970s. MAYBE even worse than Zevia, though I doubt it.
Hires root beer ice cream floats were served in the local ice cream shops back in the 60's & 70's. Can't remember what root beer was served at the Howard Johnson restaurants that used to be just off the interstate highway.
Senior year in high school I managed an A&W at night. Always made the root beer a little smoother by adding more of the root beer syrup than was ordered on the A&W corporate recipe. A little less sugar too. It came out velvety every time. Made sure mugs were icy and carbonation just a tad less. Sold many gallons of A&W root beer. The off the shelf A&W root beer is good, but not that "velvety" quench you got with my special enhanced root beer formula.
Barq's, A&W, and 1919 are the ones I usually drink if I come across them. In my travels around the states, I have run across some tiny mom and pop restaurants that make their own and they have been seriously amazing.
@@Sean-wp7st agreed!.......I was quite surprised when I came across a place in Bali. in later trips, I always made a point of getting a frosty mug of root beer there
If you want a root beer that tastes like A & W root beer, try the Meijer’s grocery stores brand of root beer. I picked up some of their root beer in the smaller bottles sold by the cash register. It tastes like A & W when it comes out perfectly. After this I picked up a 2 liter bottle and chilled it and poured some for my mom. At first she was skeptical, because I asked her to try it and didn’t tell her what it was. She thought it was A & W root beer also.
I completely disagree with this whole list. The best root beer ever made in my opinion is 1919 a very small regional brand to the Midwest and the state of Minnesota
Frostop is hands down the best. Very complex flavor. Used to be a drive in, but most closed. Still a few around like one in Louisiana, one in Utah, one in Idaho and maybe others that I’m unaware of. The root beer is still available though online and I get it at the local Ace Hardware. A&W is definitely good also, as is Hires.
OMG... the Wards Brothers took that Frostop recipe (as they were managers at the Hattiesburg MS location) and made a variation and opened up Ward's Restaurants... they still serve it in a frozen mug if you request at one of their franchise restaurants...love me some of their root beer and a Big One...best damned chili burger there is
Thanks for the video on Root Beer brands. I have tasted many of the brands shown. I live in Philadelphia so I grew up,enjoying Hires Root Beer . As you mentioned several local breweries make soft drinks as well as beer. In my area the FX Matt brewery of Utica New York makes a great root beer. I can get it at one of my larger beer distributers. They also make other craft soda flavors but their root beer is a good old fashion full flavored soda.
After trying every root beer that I could find locally and ones I ordered too, I also came down to Barq’s and A&W. I only drink diet though. If I am in the mood for something that has a good burn and isn’t too sweet, even as diet, it’s Barq’s. Barq’s diet has NO CAFFEINE. I didn’t realize that the regular one has caffeine., not good as root beer is known as a non-caffeinated beverage. If I want something a little sweeter, A&W. Barq’s has the most carbonation.
As a Californian, a true Californian, there is nothing better than going to an A&W burger stand to get a frosted mug of rootbeer, unfortunately, all of them are closed down. I found the last one in the Los Angeles Area finally closed. Been trying to find a reason to go to Duarte or some city near it, but when I checked, it's no longer there. California Pizza Kitchen use to serve IBC in frosted mugs, but they ran out of room for them, because beer took priority.
Yes! Yes! Yes! YES! A&W is the best! Okay, so I'm prejudiced; I've always thought that, but thanks for the review of these major brands. You've acquainted me & others, I'm sure, with the variety of root beers available. I just wish the less-easier-to-find brands weren't so expensive. I'm going to have to try them someday.
I drink A&W diet root beer almost exclusively, it's creamy with the right vanilla flavor. I was not surprised A&W was number 1 but completely flabbergasted by the high ranking of Barqs, to me it tastes like battery acid, not that I've ever tasted battery acid.
1919 is my new favorite, but I also like Boylan’s, and Millstream out of the Amana colonies. Sioux City is great, but I’m more partial towards their Sarsaparilla and especially their Birch Beer.
Root beer is my favorite beverage of all time, I'm not from North America so they don't sell it in my country (now I live in Canada and I drink it everyday) and the first time I tried it it was a MUG and I felt in love with it. And until this day and after trying most brands you mentioned, MUG is still my favorite.
Loved root beer since I was a kid...I'm 65 and tried many...A&W is still pretty good but while living out west began drinking Henry Weinhart....terrific!.. as is their cream soda...but being born in the Midwest i still dig the old Dog n Suds throwback root beer...
I love A&W. Granted I haven't tried most of the other brands so there might be a better one out there but Mug, Barq's and A&W are the only brands I've really ever tried so just going off those three A&W is my go to
You should try IBC in the glass bottles too, it's usually at most stores :) I like it cuz it still uses real cane sugar instead of the corn syrup in most sodas now. I wish the other root beers had at least an alternative version with cane sugar.
I have about 8 different kinds of root beer in my house. Frostie is really good. Hanks is good too. Theres a restaurant near here that makes it and you can buy it in half gallon jugs, and its sooo good. I also wish they would start making the "aunt wicks" root beer mix again.
My nephews and I tried at least twenty different root beers when Rocket Fizz opened in my town, and we all agree that Hanks is the best. Followed by Fireman's Brew.
One that wasn't on the list that I like is Henry Weinhard's Root beer. It has a nice vanilla note. To me a root beer should have a fine carbonation. Barqs has too much carbonation, in my opinion. But it still has a good flavor.
@@rickymcginnis7300 I think Henry Weinhard's was made in Seattle (or someplace in the northwest). Like Sprecher's, Henry Weinhard's was produced by a regular beer brewery. I don't know if it is available in many parts of the country - I remember having it a few times when I lived in Denver.
A&W is the best ice cold in a mug at the restaurant! Can't beat it!!! Sprecher is good and I have heard Hank's is very good as well! A&W is the best though!
1. A&W (The Ultimate Root Beer) 2. Barq's (Ideal for When You Need your Caffeine Kick and Available in Coca-Cola Machines) 3. IBC (My First Ever Root Beer)
No way Barqs and A&W are above Sprecher, Virgil's, and Sioux City. They're both good though. Around here we have Abita and Swamp Pop, both of which are good.
I have been to the original A&W in California and I can assure that your evaluation is correct although when it is canned or bottled it loses a bit of flavor. But it’s still good
A&W is good but i've always preferred Barq's. I also sometimes make my concoction known as chocolate root beer. Add a decent amount of chocolate syrup and stir it up well.
You forgot to mention henry weinhard's... that one takes the cake. It's one of the few brands that has withstood the test of time and has remained unchanged. A&W was good until they started adding megatons of caffeine and corn syrup. And I would love to try Spretchers and Sioux city... beer brewery style root beer is typically the best
I'll agree that A&W and Barq's are great, I will also argue that Stewart's is still great and deserves to be a bit higher. Edit: Almost forgot to say. Sioux City Sarsaparilla is amazing. One of the best.
With an A&W drive in about a mile from my house, loved going there and getting it by the gallon. Also Hires and Mother's Root Beer were always good ... I recommend Fitz's Root Beer from St. louis too, very good ...
I have a hard time seeing Mug as dead last, especially with Zevia in the mix. When I was a kid it was hard to beat a cold 16oz bottle of Mug rootbeer on a hot day.
Here in Southern California we have a grocery chain called Stater Brothers. For a while they had their own soda, including their own Root Beer. All of their other flavers were pretty decent but their Root Beer was awful, it truly tasted like toothpaste, must have been way too much wintergreen. It was always so hilarious watching someone try it for the first time.
A&W is my favorite and I do like the in restaurant version better than the can/bottle, but I also like Mug and Dads. If you don't like sweetness in your soda - drink water.
I remember when IBC (Independent Brewers Company) was St Louis made and sold in real beer bottles when prohibition almost destroyed the beer industry. It had no rivals. Now, as a minor brand of a conglomerate, it's become mediocre. The bottles are also crappy looking.
Faygo Root Beer from Detroit has been aged in batches on Gratiot Avenue since 1909. and is foamy, rich and tasty! Now let me tell you about their ginger beer...
I'm from the UK. I can get A&W rootbeer cans quite easily, also bunaberg rootbeer but my fav has to be virgils...omg it's so smooth and nice but so hard to find.
Yes, A&W is always a favorite. However, I'm a Frostie fan too. Grandpa switched from Coke as a night time bev to Frostie when my uncles showed him Coke could eat the rust off a bolt. What about Frostop? Like A&W, Dog N Suds there were FROSTOP drive ins when I was a lad in IL.
Uncle Scott's, which was in the picture next to the Virgil's, is really good. It's made in NC. Maine Root is good, too. But personally, I would have put Bundaberg higher on the list.
A lot of the diet root beers from the major brands contain the ingredient aspartame with some people like to avoid for health reasons. Very rarely is a diet root beer brand made Splenda she's also an artificial sweetener that some people have issues with.
Which root beer brand is your favorite?
Out of the brands listed Mug is my favorite followed by Dad's.
A&W diet root beer is the favorite of mine and my whole family
Teddy's. I grew up spoiled by A&W draft in frozen mugs & Teddy's seems to take me closest to those old memories.
1919 Root Beer
Weinhard's Root Beer and Cream sodas.
A&W in a can is really tasty but doesn't compare to their Root Beer that was served in a nice frosty mug at their restaurants.
Fountain drinks always seem to be preferred over their bottled/canned counterparts, possibly because the syrup concentration used takes into account the fact that it will be served over ice?
I would agree. Prefer the restaurant version over the canned version.
💯
That, and an order of corn dog nuggets is a great combo I remember quite well.
Soft drinks companies will not admit it but high fructose corn syrup does not compare to cane sugar in flavor.
No way Mug should be at the bottom of the list while Henry W didn't even make the list.
Sorry sweetheart, Mug is dogwater.
@@wingsoftwitchbots5613 I totally disagree
@@tyannaist I agree it’s drinkable but it’s bottom tier for sure.
Howd bro rank zevia over mug💀
Mug is trash
Hires was THE root beer in my youth (back when sarsaparilla root was legal). I don't see Hires available at stores around me. My go to is now A&W diet. In my long and storied root beer drinking I've also had Ted's, Cott's, Ramblin', Barrelhead, Mug, Dad's Barq's, IBC, Stewart's, Polar, Waistwatchers, Captain Eli's and a half dozen generic store brands. I've also drank the Wyler's Root Beer flavored powdered drink mix.
Hires was the best in my opinion also ! But I can't find it in stores around here in Eastern Ohio. anymore ?
I remember wylers and it sucked. Same story with FIZZIES the. ALKASELTZER of soda pops
@@rickymcginnis7300 I believe Walmart still stock Hires, They also sell Hires syrup to make your own rootbeer
@@fannybuster Thank you. Thank you.
I remember Wyler's Root Beer Mix. That's something I hadn't had in decades.
Surprised Boylan's didn't make the cut. Usually wins out in every taste test it's a part of. It is also the one I hand to people who usually don't like root beer. They end up liking it and wanting more.
hmmm it was available for purchase at one time here in S FL but sales figures rule and that just didn't cut it
Boylan is in my top 3. Killebrew, Boylan, and Virgils are my favorites.
Boylan’s Birch Beer is the best. As a diabetic I never drink non diet beverages, but I occasionally make an exception for Boylan’s.
@dubl59zy Their Birch Beer is good ! Probably the first beverage of their I drank. My mom, however, loves their roots Beer, and she normally can't stand Root Beer.
Well be careful!@@dubl59zy
Buy A&W in the restaurants - they make it fresh in store with real cane sugar and no preservatives. The bottle and can product uses high fructose corn syrup and needs to have a preservative added. Quite different if you ever have the chance to have them side by side. Also, when in an A&W restaurant, always ask for yours to be served in a chilled glass mug (sometimes the counter person will just hand you a paper cup).
A&W with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla for the best root beer float ever.
And one of those delicious bacon cheeseburgers they make to go with it.
Damn right.
Dang it! Now I've got to go make myself a Float...Geez. Thanks Jan:-)
No, mug is
Berqs is the worst root beer
The best root beer, which I found recently in Publix Supermarket in Florida, is a Abita root beer, produced by the Abita brewing Company in Louisiana. Its ingredients list Louisiana cane sugar, spring water, root beer flavor, caramel color, and phosphoric acid. It is more of a wintergreen and licorice/anise flavor, although I am sure vanilla is in the mix. It has body and bite, good carbonation, and comes in glass bottles with non-screw off caps.
That what she said 🤡
@@effdonahue6595 Is that her form of birth control?
@@fredbloggs6080 😆
yes...not bad, but Abita is best left to produce their wondrous beers
@@swhite7111 Producing their root beers and several other sodas doesn't stop Abita from producing their wondrous beers, which I've never tried. I drink a beer every a few months whether I need it or not.
I still drink Root Beer from time to time and when I do crave it, both A&W and Barq's are my absolute favorites. Especially A&W, which I have had a lot when I was younger. 😋🍻🍺
I should have diabetes with the amount of root beer I used to drink hahahahaha!!! I can't believe it now looking back what I was consuming every day as a kid! 😯 I say that now as I sip a glass of Barq's root beer 😂
Mug ranking last is a certifiable Mug Moment.
I can rememerb back in the late 60s buying A&W by the quart at the A&W drive in. They had paper milk carton containers they filled straight from the tap.
The best I’ve ever had is Hire’s Root Beer. Unfortunately the same company that has the rights to A&W also has Hire’s and it’s not being made anymore. It lost out to better advertising campaigns. Also Dog & Suds root beer was pretty good, but again you can’t get it anymore.
Not sure on your Dog & Suds comment as I recently read an article that it is still available at their existing franchise restaurants
Ah, that explains it. I'm going to go back and delete my post asking "Why no mention of Hire's?" now...
I have seen Dog & Suds at Blain's Farm and Fleet stores in my area,
Barq's started in Biloxi, Mississippi. My favorite root beer not mentioned in this post, is Frostop root beer, from a Frostop hamburger stand, with a Lot-o-burger hamburger!
Idk how popular this is but my vote would be Henry Weinhard’s:)
I agree. The best I have found.
But I have never heard of it ,even though several responses have held it in high regards ! Can you tell me where it's manufactured and or sold ?
@@rickymcginnis7300 My local grocery store carries it. (Phoenix, AZ) It is a nationwide product. I have even found it in some liquor stores that carry soda.
Make sure that it is icy cold. The cream soda is also delish!
@@rickymcginnis7300 It came out of Portland, OR. I think Coors owns it now, but not sure. It still taste really amazing.
Growing up Hire's Rootbeer was THE BEST, it wasn't dead sweet it had a nice peppery kick and fantastic carbonation. I really miss it and rarely drink root beer anymore because it is just to sweet with no character.
Try Barqs
I wasn't expecting A+W to be #1. I like it, but find Virgils a lot more interesting. But everyone has different tastes. Kudos to A+W, it's easily found everywhere and not expensive.
Virgils totally changed their formula years ago. Its total crap now
How did those mass produced root beers get in the top 2?
Honestly, I like Mug just fine.
Me too 😭
This is a certified mug moment
I never liked root beer until I tried Henry Weinhard's Root Beer. I really like that one. So good.
I agree
It's the best damn rootbeer in the world and it's asinine not to have it on this list.
By far the best, but very expensive. I usually drink Barq's when I don't want to splurge on Henry Weinhard.
Sprecher is amazing! I would have placed it above A&W. I would agree with the rest of the order.
Same but I like IBC
YESSSS
Here in Wisconsin Sprecher is easy to find. The brewery is literally less than 15 minutes from here. I'd sooner take the cream soda, but preferences vary. The cherry cola is good now and then. Opinions on beers vary even more so. Black Bavarian isn't super popular, but it's a decent black lager.
@@Euripides_Panz I agree; Sprecher Root Beer is very good, but their Cream Soda is next level delicious!
I’ve been drinking root beer since I was a kid and now drink from bottles only. I have collected and have on display in my rec room over 50 brands now of just root beer bottles that I’ve tried. It’s a great way to rank brands for me.
Was raised on Hires and A&W. Remember going to A&W car hop where they would bring out the root beer in heavy frosted mugs with onion rings. The servers were on roller skates.
A great drink is a root beer float with chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla.
Better than root beer is birch beer. Hard to find nowadays. It has a distinct woody flavor-more than root beer but once you’re hooked, you’re hooked on it.
Of the two styles of Zevia, I prefer the Ginger Root Beer over the Creamy Root Beer. Switching to another brand of diet root beer is not the same as the stevia used in Zevia is much better for my gut than aspertame or sucralose or whatever other artificial sweetener is used in the major brands.
Big fan of Virgil's and would have ranked it ahead of Barq's. A&W is definitely a crowd pleaser though and can't deny it deserves #1.
Daddy’s all day long
@@MrSuperG- No Way. A&W is supreme!
I liked Barqs and IBC. A&W at the actual fast food restaurant fresh out the fountain was good.
Virgils better than the more mainstream brands.
When I was just a little kid in the early fifties, my mom and dad would gather up my two brothers and I on a Saturday night and take us to the A&W Root Beer Stand. Many times we were wearing our footy pajamas and sitting in the backseat. That was back before seat belts and car seats were required. It may not be as safe as today but it was a lot Freer. I was only about four or five years old, and it was a high point of the weekend, what with the neon lights around the root beer stand, and all the people. I thought the tray that they hung from the driver's window with all of the mugs root beer on it, all cold and Frosty was just something special. I remember being so small that wrestling with a full-size mug was difficult so I really liked it when I could get mine in the small kids size mug. I'm 76 now, would you believe I bought some A&W root beer mugs online, including the small kids size, just for the sheer Nostalgia of owning them. When I feel the mood, I'll stick the mug in the freezer until it gets nice and cold, then pull it out and fill it up from a can or a bottle and have that Frosty mug of A&W root beer that I remember so much when I was a small child. Life can be good sometimes.
That’s a nice story bro thanks for sharing
@@tokenblack7983 I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's funny how when you get older the memories from 70 years ago are clearer to you than the memories from last week. A&W Root Beer always had a special place in my heart because of those memories.
The absolute best root beer is very local to southern MN, from Schell's Brewery in New Ulm. It's called 1919 (for the year they started making it due to Prohibition) and it's best from a keg. People will get kegs of it for graduation parties and wedding receptions, it's so good.
In the 50's my Mom worked in the office of the local Hires root beer bottler and brought home cases of the drink. My chums loved to come over to our place and have root beer floats. To my mind, Hires was still the best. The company also had the Crush franchise so we had Orange Crush in the iconic bottles as well as Grape Crush and Cream Soda...
Hires is definitely my favorite
👍@@ericsneary5430
Hires should have at least received an honorable mention because it was the first brand to really gain large commercial success.
I personally am a fan of IBC rootbeer and Henry Weinhards rootbeer! With an honorable mention to A&W back when you got it at the A&W by a girl on rollerskates and good old fashioned Mug root beer!
I think I'd probably have given the top slot to Henry Weinhard's with IBC a close second, though A&W is definitely a solid choice and Barq's is ... acceptable in an "if you can't get anything better" kind of way. A&W from actual A&W restaurants was the bomb; I'd put it just over IBC and just below Henry Weinhard's. "If you're desperate for root beer that has zero sugars and zero calories" ... just go out and gnaw on a birch root, it'll taste better than any artificially sweetened abomination anyway. I can't fathom how messed up Mashed's taste buds must be to rate ANY non-diet root beer, even Mug, below any diet root beer. That said ... does anybody remember Barrelhead? Truly abysmal root beer from the 1970s. MAYBE even worse than Zevia, though I doubt it.
Hires root beer over shaved ice was always the best in my opinion. Too bad it is almost impossible to find in the local stores anymore...
Hires isn't too bad.
Hires root beer ice cream floats were served in the local ice cream shops back in the 60's & 70's. Can't remember what root beer was served at the Howard Johnson restaurants that used to be just off the interstate highway.
Senior year in high school I managed an A&W at night. Always made the root beer a little smoother by adding more of the root beer syrup than was ordered on the A&W corporate recipe. A little less sugar too. It came out velvety every time. Made sure mugs were icy and carbonation just a tad less. Sold many gallons of A&W root beer. The off the shelf A&W root beer is good, but not that "velvety" quench you got with my special enhanced root beer formula.
Barq's, A&W, and 1919 are the ones I usually drink if I come across them. In my travels around the states, I have run across some tiny mom and pop restaurants that make their own and they have been seriously amazing.
Frostie is my favorite. A&W next. I absolutely love root beer dads, mugs, Stewart’s, IBC even Barques all good
My ave is Faygo Root Beer. It is brewed, unlike many others and has a bite A&W does not have. Barq is also good.
I have had A&W, MUG, and Stewart’s and they are ok for me but Barq’s is my go to!
US or Canada? Different things.
I remember the ads for MUG where the Keystones Kops would run around blowing the foam off the tops of their mugs
overseas, A&W is still served in the frosty mug, you order at the counter, the server brings it to the table
Back in the day A&W in a frosted mug at the drive-in was the SHIT!
@@Sean-wp7st agreed!.......I was quite surprised when I came across a place in Bali. in later trips, I always made a point of getting a frosty mug of root beer there
If you want a root beer that tastes like A & W root beer, try the Meijer’s grocery stores brand of root beer. I picked up some of their root beer in the smaller bottles sold by the cash register. It tastes like A & W when it comes out perfectly. After this I picked up a 2 liter bottle and chilled it and poured some for my mom. At first she was skeptical, because I asked her to try it and didn’t tell her what it was. She thought it was A & W root beer also.
I completely disagree with this whole list. The best root beer ever made in my opinion is 1919 a very small regional brand to the Midwest and the state of Minnesota
I think “very small regional brand” pretty much knocks out it off the running.
I have to agree though. 1919 is outstanding.
Frostop is hands down the best. Very complex flavor. Used to be a drive in, but most closed. Still a few around like one in Louisiana, one in Utah, one in Idaho and maybe others that I’m unaware of. The root beer is still available though online and I get it at the local Ace Hardware. A&W is definitely good also, as is Hires.
I remember that we had Frostop where I grew-up in Illinois. Also, we had Dog-N-Suds that made their own root beer at each location.
Daddy’s is the best
That is the BEST root beer. I got some birch beer at the farm store and it is a 10/10 and it last like a week in moderation because its a whole pint
OMG... the Wards Brothers took that Frostop recipe (as they were managers at the Hattiesburg MS location) and made a variation and opened up Ward's Restaurants... they still serve it in a frozen mug if you request at one of their franchise restaurants...love me some of their root beer and a Big One...best damned chili burger there is
The best Frostop is their Vanilla Caramel Cream Soda. Uber sweet, which is right up my alley.
Thanks for the video on Root Beer brands. I have tasted many of the brands shown. I live in Philadelphia so I grew up,enjoying Hires Root Beer . As you mentioned several local breweries make soft drinks as well as beer. In my area the FX Matt brewery of Utica New York makes a great root beer. I can get it at one of my larger beer distributers. They also make other craft soda flavors but their root beer is a good old fashion full flavored soda.
After trying every root beer that I could find locally and ones I ordered too, I also came down to Barq’s and A&W. I only drink diet though. If I am in the mood for something that has a good burn and isn’t too sweet, even as diet, it’s Barq’s. Barq’s diet has NO CAFFEINE. I didn’t realize that the regular one has caffeine., not good as root beer is known as a non-caffeinated beverage. If I want something a little sweeter, A&W. Barq’s has the most carbonation.
As a Californian, a true Californian, there is nothing better than going to an A&W burger stand to get a frosted mug of rootbeer, unfortunately, all of them are closed down. I found the last one in the Los Angeles Area finally closed. Been trying to find a reason to go to Duarte or some city near it, but when I checked, it's no longer there.
California Pizza Kitchen use to serve IBC in frosted mugs, but they ran out of room for them, because beer took priority.
There are still A&W's here in California. We have one up here in Capitola.
They have at least one in San Diego too. The root beer is on tap with the old school keg and glasses.
Yes! Yes! Yes! YES! A&W is the best! Okay, so I'm prejudiced; I've always thought that, but thanks for the review of these major brands. You've acquainted me & others, I'm sure, with the variety of root beers available. I just wish the less-easier-to-find brands weren't so expensive. I'm going to have to try them someday.
I drink A&W diet root beer almost exclusively, it's creamy with the right vanilla flavor. I was not surprised A&W was number 1 but completely flabbergasted by the high ranking of Barqs, to me it tastes like battery acid, not that I've ever tasted battery acid.
Try to get in 8 glasses of water per day king.
It has a bite you are correct. Still hard to find, and Hires, impossible these days.
Sioux City root beer and sarsaparilla are amazing. But 1919 root beer and spring grove soda root beer are my top two.
Spring Grove rocks I like that and frosty's vanilla root beer a 1919 I think those three are the best
I live in Minnesota. I like 1919 Root Beer, Spring Grove, and Lift Bridge.
1919 is my new favorite, but I also like Boylan’s, and Millstream out of the Amana colonies. Sioux City is great, but I’m more partial towards their Sarsaparilla and especially their Birch Beer.
No Henry Weinhart's?
I find A&W far, far, FAR sweeter than ANY other root beer, including Mug.
Root beer is my favorite beverage of all time, I'm not from North America so they don't sell it in my country (now I live in Canada and I drink it everyday) and the first time I tried it it was a MUG and I felt in love with it. And until this day and after trying most brands you mentioned, MUG is still my favorite.
Agreed MUG is amazing, lady is crazy or had the worst batch when she tried it
Frostie root beer does not have Santa Claus on the bottle… it’s Jack Frost. Get it?
Glad you pointed that out. The kids who made this video probably don't know about Jack Frost.
Loved root beer since I was a kid...I'm 65 and tried many...A&W is still pretty good but while living out west began drinking Henry Weinhart....terrific!.. as is their cream soda...but being born in the Midwest i still dig the old Dog n Suds throwback root beer...
I love A&W. Granted I haven't tried most of the other brands so there might be a better one out there but Mug, Barq's and A&W are the only brands I've really ever tried so just going off those three A&W is my go to
A&W is the only one I’ve seen outside of the USA, you can find it in the world foods aisle of most big supermarkets.
Plus damn fine burgers of hormone and antibiotic free beef!
You should try IBC in the glass bottles too, it's usually at most stores :) I like it cuz it still uses real cane sugar instead of the corn syrup in most sodas now. I wish the other root beers had at least an alternative version with cane sugar.
I have about 8 different kinds of root beer in my house. Frostie is really good. Hanks is good too. Theres a restaurant near here that makes it and you can buy it in half gallon jugs, and its sooo good. I also wish they would start making the "aunt wicks" root beer mix again.
My nephews and I tried at least twenty different root beers when Rocket Fizz opened in my town, and we all agree that Hanks is the best. Followed by Fireman's Brew.
A&W is hard to beat, but I had forgotten about Hires that someone on here chimed about,... and that was a good one too.
Did a blind taste test involving 8 root beers. My top 3 were:
1. Dad’s
2. Frostop
3. A&W
One that wasn't on the list that I like is Henry Weinhard's Root beer. It has a nice vanilla note. To me a root beer should have a fine carbonation. Barqs has too much carbonation, in my opinion. But it still has a good flavor.
I totally agree 💯. Henry's is the absolute best root beer to me and yes Barqs is too strong while A&W is way too watered down.
Where was this Henry Weinhards manufactured and sold ? I have never heard of it before but it must have been very popular ?
@@rickymcginnis7300 I think Henry Weinhard's was made in Seattle (or someplace in the northwest). Like Sprecher's, Henry Weinhard's was produced by
a regular beer brewery. I don't know if it is available in many parts of the country - I remember having it a few times when I lived in Denver.
I like it strong 😉@@tyannaist
@@HiNRGboy I like it sweet and smooth but stronger than A&W.
Barq’s has caffeine which tastes better (imo) unlike A&W but I like A&W cream soda.
Cream soda is good stuff
A&W is the best ice cold in a mug at the restaurant! Can't beat it!!! Sprecher is good and I have heard Hank's is very good as well! A&W is the best though!
is root beer and beer the same?
1. A&W (The Ultimate Root Beer)
2. Barq's (Ideal for When You Need your Caffeine Kick and Available in Coca-Cola Machines)
3. IBC (My First Ever Root Beer)
No way Barqs and A&W are above Sprecher, Virgil's, and Sioux City. They're both good though. Around here we have Abita and Swamp Pop, both of which are good.
I have been to the original A&W in California and I can assure that your evaluation is correct although when it is canned or bottled it loses a bit of flavor.
But it’s still good
I remember in the 70s McDonald's used to sell Root Beer in the United Kingdom. I loved it. Then it was withdrawn few years later.
The best for me is root beer in a frosted mug at the A&W Drive-in in Okinawa, Japan.
All of the brands of root beer is amazing for me, as long as its frothiness is always on top.
But if im picking the best one its going to be A&W 👍
A&W is my go to Root Beer with Barqs as close second.
The original A&W stand is still operating. It’s in Lodi, along California Hwy 99.
A&W is good but i've always preferred Barq's. I also sometimes make my concoction known as chocolate root beer. Add a decent amount of chocolate syrup and stir it up well.
A&w taste like toothpaste and pepto bismol
@@slogmo indeed
Detroit Fago Root Beer is the best right next to A&W...
You forgot to mention henry weinhard's... that one takes the cake. It's one of the few brands that has withstood the test of time and has remained unchanged. A&W was good until they started adding megatons of caffeine and corn syrup. And I would love to try Spretchers and Sioux city... beer brewery style root beer is typically the best
I disagree about mug because I don't think it's the worst root beer!
Yes, Mug is top 3 Root beer to me.
@@tyannaist thanks at least some one agrees with me!!!!
I don’t think so either
MUG is great root beer!
It's a solid pick, enjoying one right now
Whoah. John Goodman in an 80s A&W commercial. I remember the ad, never knew until now it was him.
Dad's is best
A&W is just as sweet as MUG if not worse.
Why isn't 1919 root beer on this list?
For drinking barqs is my favorite for root beer floats a&w
Maybe Dad's has a different formula in canada, but I find it the best, just hard to find
I'll agree that A&W and Barq's are great, I will also argue that Stewart's is still great and deserves to be a bit higher.
Edit: Almost forgot to say. Sioux City Sarsaparilla is amazing. One of the best.
1: Barq’s
2: A&W
My favorite two
2 02-2 53 Dad's also sells root beer barrel candy. MY FAVOURITE soda! Followed by IBC.
Barqs is number 1 on my list
With an A&W drive in about a mile from my house, loved going there and getting it by the gallon.
Also Hires and Mother's Root Beer were always good ...
I recommend Fitz's Root Beer from St. louis too, very good ...
IBC is perfect for me, but it’s usually harder to find. If I’m at a gas station they usually have A&W, Mug, and Barq’s, and I always go for A&W
I have a hard time seeing Mug as dead last, especially with Zevia in the mix. When I was a kid it was hard to beat a cold 16oz bottle of Mug rootbeer on a hot day.
Barqs, Haagen Dazz Vanilla Float.
Here in Southern California we have a grocery chain called Stater Brothers. For a while they had their own soda, including their own Root Beer. All of their other flavers were pretty decent but their Root Beer was awful, it truly tasted like toothpaste, must have been way too much wintergreen. It was always so hilarious watching someone try it for the first time.
A&W is my favorite and I do like the in restaurant version better than the can/bottle, but I also like Mug and Dads. If you don't like sweetness in your soda - drink water.
A&W root beer at a real A&W stand is awesome. The commercial brans is good too.
Henry Weinhard's Root Beer out of Portland, OR
So then,West Coast is the only place to buy Weinhards?
@@rickymcginnis7300 That I don't know. I just looked it up on Amazon though.
I remember when IBC (Independent Brewers Company) was St Louis made and sold in real beer bottles when prohibition almost destroyed the beer industry. It had no rivals. Now, as a minor brand of a conglomerate, it's become mediocre. The bottles are also crappy looking.
Hires is easily the best tasting root beer. A and W needs to start mass marketing it again.
Faygo Root Beer from Detroit has been aged in batches on Gratiot Avenue since 1909. and is foamy, rich and tasty! Now let me tell you about their ginger beer...
Virgil’s is excellent. So is Barqs. A&W is still excellent.
I'm from the UK. I can get A&W rootbeer cans quite easily, also bunaberg rootbeer but my fav has to be virgils...omg it's so smooth and nice but so hard to find.
😂Awwww Man ! I was hooked when I was little, and now I can't stop drinking A&W 🍺😂😂
Yes, A&W is always a favorite. However, I'm a Frostie fan too. Grandpa switched from Coke as a night time bev to Frostie when my uncles showed him Coke could eat the rust off a bolt. What about Frostop? Like A&W, Dog N Suds there were FROSTOP drive ins when I was a lad in IL.
We're lucky...there's still an A&W drive-in near our house in Redlands, CA
I have loved Frosty rootbeer since the 60's😋
I think they just hate root beer
Mug should have been at number 1. Have none of you had a Mug Moment before?
Uncle Scott's, which was in the picture next to the Virgil's, is really good. It's made in NC. Maine Root is good, too. But personally, I would have put Bundaberg higher on the list.
A lot of the diet root beers from the major brands contain the ingredient aspartame with some people like to avoid for health reasons. Very rarely is a diet root beer brand made Splenda she's also an artificial sweetener that some people have issues with.
Brownie & Boylan are my favorites so far.
Brownies is underated very good tho
Is Hires still Available?