Which Gourmet Root Beer is Best?

Let’s get the truth out there – this gourmet root beer taste test all started as a way for my wife to attempt to prove my father wrong.  My family loves Henry Weinhard’s Draught Style root beer. Sadly, they haven’t been able to purchase this root beer at their local stores. So whenever they visit, they always buy a bunch (possible understatement of the year) of bottles.  

My father always claims how it’s the best root beer EVER.  To be clear, my wife has nothing against Henry Weinhard’s root beer. She would much prefer a Henry Weinhard’s over Mug or Barg’s or A&W.  But one day at the grocery store she noticed there was a huge selection of gourmet root beers and wanted to see if Henry Weinhard’s would actually rein supreme.  And if he could tell which root beer was Henry Weinhard’s in a blind taste test.

The last time my family visited, we hosted a little taste test of gourmet root beers. Henry Weinhard’s was of course included, to see if my dad would find a new favorite root beer.  And of course to find out which gourmet root beer is the best! (Don’t worry, we had more people than just my father, in order to keep him from biasing the showdown.)

Gourmet Root Beer Taste Test Contestants:

• Maine Root
• Virgil’s
• Henry Weinhard’s
• Bundaberg
• Zuberfizz
• Rocky Mountain Root Beer

Ironically, Henry Weinhard’s was the cheapest option from these brands.  The root beers were all poured into Dixie cups, so that branding, labels, and/or bottle shapes couldn’t influence anyone’s judgement. (To see how we keep tests fair and unbiased, click here.)

A couple of observations that struck everyone was just how different the brands were.  They all billed themselves as gourmet and had similar wording on the label, but they were so different.  Some bubbled a lot and had a huge head, while others barely at all. And the color was so drastically different.  They were all in brown bottles, but once poured out, the colors ranged from light amber, to almost black. You couldn’t even see through the darkest root beer.

There was even one brand, Bundaberg, that had such an odd bottle, we had to watch a video to learn how to open it, as apparently, if you open it wrong that can affect the flavor… which is just too involved for a soft drink.

So which won?

After tasting, two separated themselves from the pack: Zuberfizz and Henry Weinhard’s.  There was a large point gap between these two and the rest of the root beers. (The rest almost all tied for last.) And much to my wife’s chagrin, Henry Weinhard’s root beer came in first. 

It had a healthy lead over the Zuberfizz too! (Ironically Zuberfizz was the 2nd cheapest. Which just goes to show that more expensive doesn’t always mean best.)

Nearly every single person ranked Henry Weinhard’s in first place. DOMINATION!

As to whether or not my father can tell the difference, he did rank it first, and was 95% sure he had picked the brand correctly. But he did say Zuberfizz gave it a run for its money.  Sorry Jill, my father won this one.