When asked what he wanted for his birthday, my husband responded with "a membership to the Root Beer of the Month club." To which I laughed in his face. An online soda club costs about $300 so I thought maybe I would pick up a few different flavors some day and call it good.
Last night was the "day."
At the store I saw one flavor then another and decided to surprise him with a blind taste test and it turned out to be quite entertaining and started all kinds of conversation.
If you are in the mood to repeat...here's how it goes.
At QFC, I bought 7 different kinds of regular root beer and added them to the can of Barq's I had in my own fridge. 8 varieties for a total of $8.31. No coupons used. :)
I showed Rob all the flavors and then excused him from the room. I poured a little in each glass and then covered the bottles with empty boxes or bags, whatever I had.
I cut out slips of paper with a name of a root beer on it and as he tasted, sniffed and swirled each one, he chose which root beer he thought it was and placed that slip of paper in front of the glass.
One by one, I revealed the results and let me tell you, we were shocked. I have to say, it was not at all what we expected. The off brands were actually quite good and the more expensive stuff was almost undrinkable. We poured a couple straight down the drain.
Rob mixed them up, poured new glasses and I went through the same process. What I found most interesting was that we both chose our favorite by taste alone and it turned out to be the same brand once revealed. We did not anticipate that.
And our favorite was...
Drum roll please.....................
Teddy's!!!
One of the cheapest at 99¢ for 1 liter and yet had the best flavor. Hints of vanilla and solid root beer flavor.
As for the rest...here are our results.
DAD'S.
was.
awful.
We both looked startled when we sipped this one and I went as far as gagging. It was bitter and hovered on the edge of medicinal.
oops
In second to last place was Thomas Kemper. One of the pricier ones, it was very strong in the ginger flavor and NOT GOOD.
same fate unfortunately
Glorious Teddy dear.
Knocked our socks off.
He's a keeper!
Henry Weinhard has a lot of bark but not so much bite.
It kept it's foam but the flavor was just okay.
But, if foam floats your ice cream boat, more power to ya.
The Rivals.
A&W was more mild than Mug and to be honest...they both were different but on an equal playing field.
Die hards out there will probably sacrifice me for that comment but I have made up my mind.
They are both worthy of my root beer cravings.
Barq's is supposed to have bite and boy does it.
And the bite is painful. Very sweet in a non-sugar way.
It was a tad bitter and the aftertaste will kill you.
Watch out for this one...it has caffeine too.
This one surprised me the most.
This is Kroger Brand Root Beer and I thought for sure it would be cheap tasting. But....
It was really really good.
Nothing bad to say. Worth every penny of the 69¢!
You have to try this. We are hooked and plan to try orange sodas, diet soda comparisons and lemon lime.
This was a great release to a stressful day!
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