Okay, so this past month I went on a root beer quest. I seached C’ville far and wide for the best bottled root beer. Probably because I’m a homer (d’oh!), I liked Dominion best.

So, here’s my list of root beers available in C’ville, in order of how much I liked them. I highly recommend the top three. If anyone knows of any other root beer available in the area, I’d love to hear about it.

Dominion Root Beer (Ashburn, VA)
Taste: Excellent mix of sweet flavors, with a strong (Virginia) honey taste. (A-)
Available: Foods of All Nations, Giant Supermarkets, Monticello

Natural Brew Root Beer (Chico, CA)
Taste: My favorite non-fructose root beer. A very full combination of flavors. (B+)
Available: Harris Teeter, Whole Foods

Gale’s Root Beer (Chicago, IL)
Taste: Very strong cinammon flavoring, almost overpowering. Unique! (B+)
Available: Foods of All Nations (single bottle only)

IBC Root Beer (Dallas, TX)
Taste: A solid old-school root beer. No gimmacks. There’s a reason why this is such a popular root beer. (B)
Available: Wal-Mart, Kroger, Foods of All Nations

Sprecher (Glendale, WI)
Taste: Good not-too-sweet flavor, but with an unpleasant bitter aftertaste. (C+)
Available: From Scratch Bakery (single bottle only)

Boylan’s (Moonachie, NJ)
Taste: Low carbination makes it taste like it’s been open for a few days. (C-)
Available: Whole Foods, World Market

Virgil’s Root Beer (Los Angeles, CA)
Taste: Too many flavors thrown in, especially the licorice. (C-)
Available: World Market (small keg available)

Stewart’s Root Beer (Rye Brook, NY)
Taste: Imagine a root beer candy floating in a mud puddle. (D+)
Available: Foods of All Nations (single bottle), Kroger

Extra Credit:
Cally’s Homemade Root Beer (Harrisonburg, VA)
Taste: Brain-bogglingly vanilla sweet with low carbination. (C+)
Available: Cally’s Restaurant and Brewing in downtown Harrisonburg.

Popularity: 33% [?]