I like root beer, and birch beer, but the mass market varieties are usually too sweet for me. There are some local places here, usually hot dog joints, that make their own root beer and birch beer, and they are far superior to A&W or Barqs. Stewarts also makes great root beer. Funny side story- when my daughter was young and we would go hiking, I showed her how to pull a small branch off of a birch tree, strip the bark and suck/chew on it while we were hiking, and it tastes great- like good birch beer. It blew her mind back then. Now she is 20, and if she goes hiking with friends she shows them the same trick, and it blows their minds as well.
I keep Boylan Root Beer in the fridge during summer months. Man, it's delicious sitting in the shade after a hot day of work or play. I keep meaning to try some others that aren't Bargs or A&W, but I always just grab the Boylan. An A&W root beer cream slush from the restaurant is one of the most delicious shakes I've ever had. There used to be one near where I berthed a sailboat in Maryland.
*Barqs. I knew I spelled that wrong. I'm also a huge fan of Ginger Beer... but man the sugar content is insane. Best root beer I had was in a craft brewpub, and they had RB in a keg... it was like normal RB levelled all the way up. It was almost impossible to compare the two, they were just so not in the same class.
Here’s one: sarsaparilla. Any takers? I’ve never tried it. Although I feel if drinking it I should be wearing a sweaty white suit w/ matching fedora in some Tangiers cafe.
Sarsaparilla used to be the goto drink for kids when Dad took us down to the Pub while he had a beer (or two). Mind you that was over 50 odd years ago, things may have changed since then.
My uncle loved Moxie. LOVED it. Several years ago my wife and I were traveling and she said "we should get your uncle some different types of local root beers. He really likes root beer." I thought it was kinda nice that she knew something about my uncle that I did not. So we did. Spent several months picking up boutique local root beers and assembling a collection. Ended up with probably $75 worth, like 15 small batch root beers from half a dozen states. Turns out she thought Moxie was a kind of root beer. My uncle does not, in fact, like root beer. But he thought the story was hilarious and it's now family lore.
In Canada we have The Pop Shoppe which is the best possible “speciality soda” company you could ask for. They have every kind, sold in classic glass bottles… except for some reason the “regular cola” is the least-produced flavour.
We saw Moxie up in Maine last summer, in bottles with throwback labels. My daughter still has a bottle on her desk in her room.