The Best Root Beer: A HuffPost Deathmatch

Whether in a float or going solo, we really love root beer.

Root beer's ingredient list can be a little dizzying. We are frequently amazed that anyone thought to combine that many roots, barks and spices for one, single beverage -- but we're sure glad they did.

Everyone has a favorite root beer, usually dating back to childhood preferences. But as you know from prior Deathmatches, choosing favorites can get a little tricky. Good luck, sarsaparilla lovers! It's time for the Root Beer Deathmatch.

Here's how the Root Beer Deathmatch voting will go down:

• Round One voting opens today (October 2nd) -- vote right now!


• Wednesday, October 3rd at 12:00am Eastern, Round Two begins.


• Thursday, October 4th at 12:00am Eastern, you'll be able to vote in Round Three.


• Friday morning, October 5th, we'll announce which root beer you think is the best of all.

*This is one of those times that we wished we could have more than eight bracket spots. If we missed your favorite root beer, don't forget to let us (and everyone else) know in the comments!

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• #1: A&W

  <b>Comments:</b> "Solid. The Tom Petty of root beers." "Classic, creamy and smooth. I'd drink a lot of this." "Nice and light, with a slight hint of root beer." <b>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup (<em>yikes!</em>), caramel color, sodium benzoate (preservative), natural and artificial flavors, quillaia extract.

• #2: Boylan's

  <b>Comments:</b> "Rich! What a nice experience." "I'm tasting a lot of cherry." "Reminds me strangely of a sticky bun -- cinnamon and raisins." "This is light and refreshing. Tastes like bubblegum but in a good way." <b>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, cane sugar, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, natural yucca extract, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preserves freshness).

• #3: Stewart's

  <b>Comments:</b> "Light, boring and inoffensive. I could probably drink a lot of it without noticing." "Classic root beer flavor. Would be good for a float." "Leathery." "A little on the sweet side." <b>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, natural and artificial flavor, sodium benzoate (a preservative), citric acid, quillaia extract, gum acacia, yucca extract.

• #4: Trader Joe's

  <b>Comments:</b> "Solid." "Very classic root beer taste." "Boring, cream soda-like flavor." "Not much to say about this one." <B>Ingredients:</b> Triple filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, wintergreen, birch, anise, sassafras, Tahitian vanilla extract and citric acid.

• #5: 365 Everyday Value Root Beer

  <b>Comments:</b> "Tastes like a decent cheap root beer." "Classic flavor, but not enough carbonation." "Comforting and sweet, but I wish it had a little more carbonation." "This is what I remember drinking as a kid." <b>Ingredients:</b> Filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, natural root beer flavor, citric acid, caramel color (from cane sugar).

• #6: Johnnie Ryan

  <b>Comments:</b> "Smooth. Too smooth?" "Nice, clean and different." "Bland but nice." "A little boring but a good, solid root beer." <b>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, cane sugar, citric acid, sodium benzoate (used as a preservative), natural and artificial flavor, caramel colour.

• #7: Jones

  <B>Comments:</b> "Are there cloves in this? (Yes.)" "Is this cola?" "Too sweet." "Good carbonation and spice." "Just the right balance of flavor with not too much sweetness." <b>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, inverted cane sugar, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbet (as preservatives), calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor).

• #8: Barq's

  <b>Comments:</b> "Fruity! Exotic! Too frightening to give it a high score though." "Too sharp for me." "Traditional." "Weird citrus undertones." "Makes my mouth tingle." "Very flavorful, but in an artificial way." <b>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, sodium benzoate (to protect taste), citric acid, caffeine, artificial and natural flavors, acacia.

• #9: Hansen's

  <b>Comments:</b> "Robust. I'd like more." "Strong wintergreen notes in this -- tastes like chewing gum." "Piney." "A distinctive vegetal, bark-like element." "That is disgusting." "Warm, French-toasty flavor." <b>Ingredients:</b> Pure triple filtered carbonated water, sugar, caramel color, natural spices of wintergreen, birch, anise, sassafras, Tahitian vanilla extract, citric acid.

• #10: Mug

  <b>Comments:</b> "Did someone put bubblegum in this?" "Too cola-y." "Just sweet." "Tastes like cold medicine." <b>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, sodium benzoate (preserves freshness), citric acid, natural and artificial flavor, modified food starch, calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor, quillaia extract.

• #11: Dad's

  <b>Comments:</b> "Too ambitious. Calm down and bring me some root beer." "Medicinal." "Weird anise taste." "Frothy, tasty." "Beautiful dark color and tiny bubbles like Guinness. A nice vanilla hint but a tad too sweet." <B>Ingredients: </b>Water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, natural and artificial flavor, sodium benzoate (as a preservative).

• #12: Virgil's

  <b>Comments:</b> "This tastes like a Good & Plenty. That's the worst thing I can say about food." "Anise!!!" "Awful. Tastes like cough syrup." "Distinctively licorice-y. Unusual, but okay." "Very nice hint of licorice." <B>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, unbleached cane syrup, anise, licorice, vanilla (bourbon), cinnamon, clove, wintergreen, sweet birch, molasses nutmeg, pimento berry oil, balsam oil and oil of cassia.

• #13: Best Health's

  <b>Comments:</b> "I'm having mixed emotions." "Tastes like medicine, but also like root beer." "Oddly acidic." "Flat and tasteless." <b>Ingredients:</b> Triple filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors, vanilla extract, caramel color, citric acid and sodium benzoate (to preserve freshness)

• #14: Dr. Brown's

  <b>Comments:</b> "Too much licorice." "Not a strong enough root flavor." "Not right." "Strong peppermint flavor." "Bad. Lemony." <b>Ingredients:</b> Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, natural and artificial flavors, sodium benzoate (preservative), gum acacia, citric acid.

• #15: Natural Brew

  <b>Comments:</b> "Tastes like raisins and cough syrup." "Tastes clean and sweet, but not like root beer." "Tastes like diet." "Strong aftertaste." "Minty and medicinal." "Light flavor, with a hint of honey." "Like a yucky cherry-flavored ginger ale." <b>Ingredients:</b> Sparkling filtered water, evaporated cane juice, natural flavors, bourbon vanilla extract, anise, sarsaparilla, licorice root, birch oil, wintergreen oil, caramel color, phosphoric acid

• #16: Gus

  <b>Comments:</b> "Mad frothy ... but terrible!" "This is not root beer." "Weird ginger flavor." "Foul." "What a disappointment." <b>Ingredients:</b> Purified sparkling water, cane sugar, birch oil and other natural flavors, caramel color (from sugar), citric acid.

• WATCH: How To Make Root Beer

  Root beer is a delicious and refreshing treat. Make this tasty beverage at home with a few ingredients and a little patience.

Comments

[FulmerQDuckworth]

10:01 AM on 11/16/2012

Wow! A battle between the big corporate root beer brands---from the Huffington Post. I'm astonished! And who cares? All of these root beers are third tier at best. Gosh are you-all out of touch.

[evanhegwood]

03:37 PM on 10/10/2012

If you are from the upper midwest, 1919 root beer wins my vote 100% of the time.

[FulmerQDuckworth]

10:06 AM on 11/16/2012

Hear, hear!

[EmilyTralee]

11:22 AM on 10/04/2012

Natural Brew wins every time, hands down. We had our own Root Beer Deathmatch, and it was the obvious winner.

[Wadayatink]

06:44 PM on 10/03/2012

How Sprecher is not even considered in this is beyond comprehension... It is by far the best there is ... even Virgils is missing which I am not a fan of (although the special Bavarian brew is quite good) but has its own following.

Why not list all possible products as the first round and then start with the top 8 for the second round.... or is this just some marketing piece?

[Rebecca Orchant]

10:15 AM on 10/04/2012

That's a great question! Here's the answer: our bracket-making tool only allows us eight options right now. We're lobbying hard for the capability to include more competitors, but for now, we're technically limited to eight.

We LOVE Sprecher and Virgil's, but since they are pretty regional, they didn't make the cut. By including things that everyone has access to, we make sure that everyone can have a say! Since the voting is 100% up to readers, we want to make sure that we're appealing to everyone, not just those in the Northeast, Midwest, etc.

Thanks for asking!

[Goethenow]

07:05 AM on 10/03/2012

It's a shame I didn't see this before. Boylan's is teh equal to IBC and infinitely better than Barq's corn-syrup paste concoction.

[Kristin Krumpe]

01:20 AM on 10/03/2012

BOGUS! This contest is just rigged for big brands, like Barq's (owned by Coca-Cola) to do well. Down with HFCS! You need to do a contest limited to regional Root Beers made with pure cane sugar only. They're just that much better and it would certainly level the playing field.

[AnthonyRootbeer]

08:32 PM on 10/02/2012

that is about the worst selection of root beers ever assembled. wow. i review root beers and those all are about middle of the pack and below, sadly. i suggest a second battle with better sodas.

[FulmerQDuckworth]

10:09 AM on 11/16/2012

Listen up, because Anthony's knows! My vote for best goes hands-down to SPARKY'S.

[RedRat]

06:53 PM on 10/02/2012

As a kid, many years ago, I liked Dad's but have not seen it around much today. A&W is not a bad substitute. If I see Dad's I will have to try it. I imagine they might have changed the formulation.

[jhnnxn]

06:48 PM on 10/02/2012

Sprecher's is the best.

[Barrie Cohn]

04:51 PM on 10/02/2012

Stewart's, Virgil's, Boylan's and IBC are all great... but in my opinion the best root beer is oddly enough, brewed by a beer company, and not even on the list. Saranac!

http://www.saranac.com/age-check.php?target=/page/root-beer

It may only be available in the Northeast though.

[Jarrod38]

03:53 PM on 10/02/2012

If anyone has the chance you should try Frostop. In my opinion the best root beer around.

[yappnmutt]

02:35 PM on 10/02/2012

barq's put caffeine in their root beer so even though it tastes good it won't get my vote.

the best rootbeer is my own. i haven't made it in a while but this article will inspire another batch. nothiing beats the natural fermentation.

[Hannah F]

02:15 PM on 10/02/2012

Barq's, Mug and A&W tied, Frostie (which is actually pretty good).

[surfingbuckeye]

10:10 AM on 10/02/2012

My favorite is Frost Top Roootbeer. It is actually brewed and put into a keg like beer, it is YUMMY !!!!!!

[beverlyamy1]

09:41 AM on 10/04/2012

sure is,they used to have frostop rootbeer stands here in ohio,they closed but you can still get the rootbeer at stores.

[Amber Bel]

10:10 AM on 10/02/2012

No Abita? Abita's the best--not too sweet but really rich.

[Gumby60]

06:15 PM on 10/02/2012

Yup. Everybody else should go home and die of shame.