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@@MrMrLoganism Pausing the video during the zoomed in shot is hard. Barq's Crafted Soda Root Beer Made with 100% natural flavors With cane sugar 355 mL Looks like made since 1898 and 150 Calories per bottle. So, no, it was Root Beer.
I wonder what chicory root would do to your root beer recipe? I know chicory is used as a coffee substitute, and was wondering if that would make a good root beer.
The first google search would tell you "The 23 flavors are cola, cherry, licorice, amaretto (almond, vanilla, blackberry, apricot, blackberry, caramel, pepper, anise, sarsaparilla, ginger, molasses, lemon, plum, orange, nutmeg, cardamon, all spice, coriander juniper, birch and prickly ash."
You left out my favorite root beer, IBC. I’m also a Barq’s Root Beer fan, the fountain version is much better than the other forms. It’s taste may be closer to what root beer was meant to be, not excessively sweet as are most modern root beers. “Barq’s has bite.”
Barq's is pretty much as close to Sarsaparilla as you get with Root Beer in terms of the bite, so it's my favorite in that group. The best SMOOTH root beer for my money is "Dang!" Butterscotch Root Beer. It is FANTASTIC.
I'd love to see you take a stab at Dr. Pepper, they changed the recipe here in the UK a while back and haven't drank it since! Less sugar and more sweetener ruined it I believe.
ROOT BEER ON POINT BRUH. KEEP EM COMING GLEN U CRAZY FOR THIS ONE THO. GLEN GANG IN THIS B. WE OUT HERE IN 2019 AND BEYOND. SHOUTOUTS TO THE ALGORITHM PLAYA.
Love this channel! I don’t drink root beer much anymore, but Mug was always what we drank when I was a kid. I especially like Mug for root beer floats. Once we had a big gathering at our house and my mom made root beer in a *new* garbage can. We carbonated it with chunks of dry ice, which I thought was pretty mad scientist.
I’m actually a root beer fanatic, I love rootbeer with a passion. If you go to Cracker Barrel they have a nice collection of rootbeers and other sodas. I loved both rootbeer episodes and will definitely be making some rootbeer using your recipe! 😋
I recently discovered Sprecher root beer. The only place I've seen it sold is at Menard's. I love root beer, so I thought I would give it a try. My first reaction was, "now that's exactly what root beer should taste like." It puts every other brand I've tried to shame. Since then I've tried thier Ginger Ale (it's perfect by the way), their cherry cola (taste like it was made in a soda shop, not mass produced), and I picked up the Cream Soda today to try. If you happen to find Sprecher anywhere, give it a try.
I love Hank's so much. I'm a Philly native and whenever I have a hoagie or cheese steak I got to have a Hank's with it. If you want to try another local to Pennsylvania soda I suggest"Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer". It's probably my favorite soda ever.
Yep, Barq's when it comes to over the counter root beers, so to speak. I'm surprised they didn't do Mug. To me Mug and A&W are the more generic root beers most people seem to be into.
The sassafras really makes a difference - I have holiday dinners with some people who forage; we usually have sumac tea, fiddle heads, prickly pear cactus fruits, wild asparagus, puff ball mushrooms, and a drink made from wild sassafras that has such a wonderful root beer flavor!
Funny this video popped up because I have been on a Root Beer kick the last few days trying all I can find and I find my favorite as of now is a brand called Big 8 Root beer. It isn't over powering trying to do too much it's just a good mild root beer. .
I remember as a kid (12-13 years old) we went camping up in PA. There was this small town 10 minutes away from the camp site. There was a small general store that had a small snack/soda bar. They had A&W Root Beer in wooden kegs. It was the best flavor.
I am going to have to make your recipe. I lament the loss of old time strong sarsaparilla flavor in all the modern root beers. I crave it and it is so hard to come by these days. Thanks for the inspiration.
Not really a thing here is it? Yet, I hope... only one I can think of is Bundaberg (fat yellow labeled bottles), which is quite nice. Fentiman's makes a lovely dandelion and burdock sparkling drink.
So rare in the UK that I end up importing Virgils usually. I’ve just tried making the recipe and it’s currently cooling in the kitchen. Hopefully it tastes good!
Point and Sprecher's are some of the best. Dang! (Butterscotch Rootbeer) and Fest (Bourbon Cream Soda) are my favorites now though because they're both unique and delicious, but for the longest time, Sprecher's held that crown for me. Can't go wrong with any of them.
I just posted this same thing before I saw your comment. After having Sprecher root beer, plus the ginger ale and cherry cola (all I've had so far, but cream soda is in the ice box getting cold now), I will never want any other brand ever again.
Barq’s is my favorite because “it’s the one with bite” lol I believe that’s caffeine in it, but it’s basically the only dark soda I drink. Sprite and cream soda is good too.
@@dinonuggie23 do you mind me asking where you live? Is it outside the USA? I’ve been all over the U.S and I’m 37 years old and have never ran across Barq’s without caffeine. I’d be curious to try it and taste the difference. I feel like without the caffeine, it won’t have that normal “bite” it’s known for. That’s pretty interesting
Wow, that was interesting. I wonder if it's the glass bottle or maybe a USA vs Canada thing but every time I try A&W or Mug I've always found they've had less of a Root Beer taste than Barq's (especially Mug, that stuff tastes like Root Beer flavored corn syrup). I would love to try yours tho, so I might just have to make it.
Glen, is Henry Weinhard root beer available where you are? It's one of my favorites. Great body, flavor, and a great thick creamy head! Available on Amazon.
My favorites as a kid were Mason's and Frostie. I think A&W took over the market. We have a local drive-in that makes home brewed root beer. It's great.
Of the root beers that I remember growing up, IBC root beer was the one that was superior to A&W. It's one of the old school root beers. I may try making my own one day by following along with the recipe on the video... Thanks for sharing your recipe!!!
I find that Virgils is a lot like barqs but virgils taste more drafty. Both dont really have the Original rootbeer taste even tho Barqs has survived longer then most RB companies but it has changed hands so many times, from brother to brother to stepbrother to half brother, each brother changed the formula trying to up eachother.
Root Beer is somewhat unique in that it gives a totally different flavor uncarbonated or flat, which can be just as good. The sweetness probably is amplified but so are the other flavors. The A&W in my home town served it up uncarbonated and ice cold, nothing better. You can get that with the bottled A&W as well, just open it and let it sit in the fridge all day. Same thing can be done with Shasta Root Beer. I don't know if I could id between the two.
I banished Jones years ago. I am a total root beer snob. Its my drink of choice everywhere. An iced cold A&W in a styrofoam cup just hits different. My kids tease me because the sounds I make after the first drink.
Just north of Seattle we have the Orca bottling company. They make sugar sweetened sodas in glass bottles. They have a few pretty good root beers I wish you could've tried, like Dad's, Bulldog, Bedford's, Red Arrow, and Earp's Sarsaparilla.
+Bethany Dawn It's hard to find. Schweppes was distributed to supermarkets by Pepsi, and when Schweppes sold off their soft drinks to Snapple, Pepsi replaced Hires with their own Mug-brand root beer (which is disgusting). They still make Hires, but without the shelf-space Pepsi gave them, almost no one carries it any more.
One can buy Hires root beer extract and make their own naturally carbonated root beer at home with it: www.amazon.com/Hires-Big-Root-Beer-Extract/dp/B00JMJZWI0?th=1
I grew up with A&W and it's always been my favorite. They had a stand in my home town of Lewiston, Me which they sold to a small operator, becoming Val's Root Beer in the late 50's. The only remaining stand that I know of is right across the border from Calais, Maine in St. Stephen, NB.
For any Mainers interested in visiting, turn right immediately after crossing border, take first left after passing Tim Horton's on the right and Ganong Choc. Museum (worth visit St. Stephen alone in itself) on the left.
I understand you didn't go out of your way to find different brands, but have you tried IBC root beer? It is quite good. IBC also makes an amazing cream soda.
My favorite root beer right now is made by this brand called Sprecher. Based out of Wisconsin all their sodas are sweetened with raw honey. However, recently they branched out and made a root beer sweetened with pure maple syrup. It's great stuff and is my favorite. I can only find it at my local menards.
There are 2 other root beers you could try. They are made by a craft brewery in Milwaukee Wisconsin called Sprecher and are fire brewed. They have a lot of different types of sodas (along with beers). And like you I absolutely loved going to the A&W Root Beer drive ups back when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. I remember they used to give out the glass mugs your root beer came in!
2 other fantastics root beers: 1) Virgil's and 2) Sprecher. Super curious how your recipe compares to these. Watched these with my family, and they want to try making it, so I'll report back when we get around to it. Great root beer videos! Thank you for making them and showing it isn't nearly as complicated as it seems.
I would also recommend Sprecher's from Wisconsin. Sprecher's sodas are all sweetened with honey which gives all their sodas (especially their cream soda) a very smooth finish. I also recommend IBC as well, though that might be harder to come by up north.
Yes, Hanks diet root beer was yesterday's treat to myself. I found it a close comparison to A&W diet root beer ....yummy. Hank's, if you read this, I am waiting for a diet birch beer....childhood favorite.
I always like Virgil's Rootbeer. It had all the flavors of the root extracts, a mild vanilla, and was modestly sweet. Really good one. The Nutmeg version is different but both versions they make are really flavorful Rootbeers.
Wait is the glass bottles A&W the same as IBC? I remember seeing that IBC was owned by A&W so I'm guessing it's the same. Live in the US and haven't seen A&W in the glass bottles here
Lots of fun to watch; not just for the tasting, but also seeing how different the labels are from the US versions of the same product. And the can of US Barqs's on my desk argues that A&W root beer is way too sweet to count as a proper root beer.
Root Beer has always been my pop of choice. A&W and Hires were the two brands I grew up having available at vending machines and corner stores. Another brand I enjoyed, which was never readily available was Dad's Root beer, but that seemed to be available at select grocery stores. Barq's eventually came into the market and that seemed to have become the most dominant root beer in the market (at least where I grew up). All vending machines had Barq's, all corner stores had Barq's as well, while Hires and A&W were seemingly discontinued and if you wanted those brands you had to buy them from a grocery store in the big box, but never available in vending machines or corner stores. I think what I like about Barq's is that it has a ginger bite. These days I don't drink much pop, but I drink Zevia root beer, just cause I'm trying to cut down on sugar but it gives me that satisfaction. I never liked Jones, most of their pop flavors seemed off.
I did a similar taste test for myself a few years ago. Of those in the video, I liked Hank's the best and Stewart's second. But, I would drink either. Only one of the root beers in the video that I hadn't tried. I also compared ingredients and learned that phosphoric acid is one ingredient to be avoided for health reasons.
It was so weird when I first found you. I was looking up a recipe to make because college food makes me sick. I clicked on you and you only had 2k subs and like 200 views. The production was insane for your vids and I was like "damn that's strange the quality is so good". Now seeing you with 100+k subs and thousands of views I'm so happy you got the recognition you deserve keep it up man
As a kid I grew up to love root beer. Mug and Barg's were my first but in high school my mind became set on A&W. Nothing has ever matched its taste then and nothing has even gotten close now. As an adult I keep finding other brands to try that I never found before and with each new one my mind just keeps going back to A&W. It will remain my favorite till the day it stops being made which I pray is never.
Hola Glen, I don't know if you are familiar to mexican "Piloncillo", which are these hard chunks made from sugar in its more raw and natural state. They have a more strong caramelized flavor than any brown sugar an maybe its flavor in the rootbeer would surprise you. We use it on baked Ham. Hope you can give it a try. You can find piloncillo on any market with a mexican food section. Saludos!
Thanks for the tasting video. I have a penchant for Barq's from my childhood and my least fav is A&W. I wanted to try your recipe but now I'm not sure how to proceed to make something I would enjoy.
That creaminess on the Boyland is from the cane sugar. Any drink with cane\palm sugar has a more creamy flavour to it. I'd be interested to see if your homemade version got that if you used cane sugar.
Hires root beer was my family’s go to growing up. (Imagine that). We drink a lot of A&W as well as Barq’s now that you can’t find Hires now. Agree with you on the Jones Soda.
Sprecher's is very good; thicker and creamier than most. It also comes in 16 oz. bottles rather than 12. I consider it a "winter" root beer. Virgil's is the best; every batch tastes a little different, but a real dark horse (especially if you like 'spicy', less-sweet brews) is an Australian brand called Bundaberg.
Hank's is probably one of my favorites. If you're ever in the New York area, see if you can get your hands on Saranac Root Beer. Amazing flavor profile on that one.
I dig what you’re doing here, and I’m pleased to see A&W rate so highly; however, shouldn’t you use something between brands to cleanse palettes ? Root Beer is such a bold favor and often with lots of after note for the next thing to contend with.
While in college we would occasionally go to the A&W 'drive-in'. Would order a root-beer and a bowl of chili. The root beer they brought it out in tall frosted mugs...Delicious IMHO. As was the chili. (In Texas they served the chili with a paper cup of hot pepper flakes.....Made you sweat and your nose run...But oh so good......BTW our local Krogers has bottles of Sarsaparilla......Very good actually...….
I tried a Jones root beer for the first time today and I quite agree with you. It was overly sweet, but a very weak flavor. The best root beer I have found is IBC, a Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up brand. I have pleasant childhood memories of A&W as draft in the frosted mugs. But there is a world of difference between draft A&W and any bottled brand. A few years back we had Dog & Suds drive-ins here and their draft Root Beer, served in frosted mugs was also very good. For a while we had a local micro-brewery that had an in-house made root beer that was excellent, but their business went toes-up after just a year or so. It seems that root beer is almost an afterthought in the soda business, just there to fill out the lines of products.
Anybody who rates A&W Root Beer highly pretty much knows what they're talking about... to me... It's the standard for me, so your recipe sounds like a must try