And so we have come to the end of our scientific jaunt into the deepest realms of the ice cream soda float universe…or something like that. We have come to the final round, the root beer round! And once I reveal the final results of the best root beer soda to pair with vanilla ice cream, I will also share our final tally of the winner in each category.

I’d like to start by thanking Amelia, my lovely co-scientist in this endeavor, for making this process much more fun than it would have been solo. She and I decided to save root beer until the end because we knew it was going to be the ultimate pairing, the one we all know and love, and we weren’t wrong. None of these sodas truly failed us, and all were delicious in their own way, but there can only be one winner…oh wait, I’m wrong, we had a TIE!

Let’s get to business. The sodas include were Stewart’s Root Beer, A&W, Barqs, Maine Root, and Frostie. We opted to skip Mug because we already had two “commercial” brands and we’re trying not to get diabetes, but I’ll go out on a limb and say I’ll bet they’re;’ pretty good too.

Before I get to the results, let me once again give you a quick recap of how we’re doing this challenge.

We use one brand of ice cream for a control: Stewart’s Vanilla, a local favorite.

As for the sodas, we chose six categories: Cola, Cherry, Root Beer, Cream, Fruit, and Dr. Pepper flavors. Each round gets a night, spaced apart by a couple of weeks to give our bodies a break. We decided to rate each float based on the five metric categories below. We used a “1 through 5” rating system for each category, hoping that would keep our feelings from skewing the results too far out of proportion. This creates a max of 10 points per category when we each combine our scores. We then add up all categories for a max combined score of 50.

Flavor: A 5 might be that right balance of sweet, rich, creamy, and bubbly. A 1 would be when the flavor is muted or when either the soda or ice cream overpowers the other in a way that feels unsatisfying.

Sweetness: A 5 would be something noticeably and deliciously sweet. A 1 would be not sweet at all or OVERKILL sweetness.

Carbonation: A 5 would be when it retains some bubble and bite even after it melts the ice cream. A 1 would be when it falls totally flat.

Texture/Cohesion: This one is the most subjective, but we decided a 5 means it has a nice blend of creamy melting ice cream in the middle, a foamy head, and some soda holding out on the bottom. A 1 might be when it doesn’t mix much or the mix just seems…weird. See? Subjective. Science is hard, gang.

Visual Appeal: A 5 would be the visual equivalent of what we used in Texture/Cohesion, showing a nice balance and an appealing color. A 1 might be something that looks like we’re drinking sour milk or soda with a scoop of cottage cheese on top. No thanks.

And since we did this right before Halloween, we skipped out tradition of watching Harry Potter movies and instead watched Addams Family Values (so good!) and The Adventure’s of Pete & Pete “Halloweenie” episode, a favorite.

Round Six: Root Beer

The rankings, in order…

Barqs: Torn between adding either Barqs or Mug, we went with the first one we could find…and we had to go to Chipotle to get it (hence the weird photoshop above!). Every gas station and supermarket had A&W in small bottles, but not these two? (No way were we buying a whole 3 liter.) So, Barqs, and it had varied results. Barqs claims to have “bite,” and while I noticed that, it didn’t help in the flavor department. Amelia, however, thought it was a bit watery. Maybe getting it out of a soda fountain affected the results? No excuse there, since we did the same with Pibb Xtra and that soda won its round, so this one fell short on its own accord.

Flavor: 5/10

Sweetness: 6/10

Carbonation: 6/10

Texture: 5/10

Appeal: 7/10

Total: 29/50

Maine Root: This one had a very distinct flavor that I couldn’t quite place at first. Caramel? Buttery? Then it hit me: this soda tastes exactly what those little root beer hard candies taste like. And at first I really liked that, but it slowly grew to be too much, too “artificial” and “candy-like” and I couldn’t finish it. But some people might like that, so if that’s your thing than disregard us and go get that candy drink! But Amelia agreed, and in the long run this candy-sweet soda failed to go the distance. It’s a fine choice, but the flavor was just not quite right for us.

Flavor: 6/10

Sweetness: 6/10

Carbonation: 6/10

Texture: 6/10

Appeal: 6/10

Total: 30/50

Frostie Root Beer: I had never heard of this one but I saw it in a novelty shop and decided to give it a go. Of all the sodas, this one had the most “middle of the road” taste. It was root beer, alright, but nothing unique or remarkable, nothing to set it apart. Again, maybe that’s what you want, no gimmick, no strong flavor that overpowers everything else. But for us, we wanted more, and this was a sweet and flavorful choice that faded into the background when faced with bolder competition. But a great option if you can find it.

Flavor: 6/10

Sweetness: 6/10

Carbonation: 7/10

Texture: 7/10

Appeal: 6/10

Total: 32/50

A&W Root Beer: I love A&W and have fond memories of going to an A&W burger joint up in Lake George, NY in the summer as a kid, and it didn’t fail us here. We both really liked it. At first it was like Frostie, a solid option of great taste that was right down the middle, exactly what you’d expect, but as it melded with the vanilla ice cream, it took on a bolder, richer taste. It grows on you and just hits all the right notes. For that, we gave it high marks, and I gave it a little extra for the sweetness, which felt like the perfect amount.

Flavor: 8/10

Sweetness: 8/10

Carbonation: 7/10

Texture: 7/10

Appeal: 8/10

Total: 38/50

Stewart’s Root Beer: Oddly enough, the other Stewart’s flavors didn’t do so well in our competition, always coming across as slightly artificial and oversweet, but this one was delicious, and have a very unique flavor tone. Right away we both noted that strong caramel taste, and it was very sweet without becoming overwhelming. I had a slight preference for A&W because I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy the up-front caramel and vanilla flavors over the course of a full float, but Amelia loved this one and gave it a top mark in flavor, and thus…we ended up with a tie.

Flavor: 9/10

Sweetness: 7/10

Carbonation: 7/10

Texture: 7/10

Appeal: 8/10

Total: 38/50

WINNER: A TIE between A&W and Stewart’s Root Beer!

Post-decision notes: It was close and we couldn’t decide which one got to advance, so they both did! But where does that leave root beer overall? I’m glad you asked…

THE FINAL RESULTS

Instead of a final round, which we just can’t do because we’re both tired of soda floats by this point, we will list the winner of each category below along with its original score, with a three medals going to the top winners. I hope you’ll try these out and let us know what you think!

6th Place: Pibb Xtra (37/50) – Who says you need a degree, Dr. Pepper! Mr. Pibb took this one and ran with it, surprising us all. I know you’re going to stick to your Pepper Floats, but seriously, give this one a shot. It was delicious.

5th Place: Flathead Lake Huckleberry Soda (37/50) – It feels wrong to rank it as low as fifth, because this was outstanding. Everyone loves the creamsicle flavor of orange and vanilla, but trust us Huckleberry is going to blow your mind.

4th Place: A&W and Stewart’s (38/50) – Look, we know root beer is the people’s champion, and we know you’re going to go back to this delicious well again and again, but what we’re saying is, try these others too. You don’t know what you’re missing! But if you want traditional root beer floats, go with these. They’re amazing.

Bronze Medal: Mexican Coke (39/50) – It must the be sugar cane instead of the fructose corn syrup, or maybe it’s the little glass bottles, but whatever it is, Mexican Coke absolutely put regular coke and all other colas to shame. It’s SO GOOD with vanilla ice cream.

Silver Medal: Virgil’s Cream Soda (41/50) – I had no idea cream soda was going to be this delicious when mixed with vanilla ice cream. It was rich an light and creamy and sweet and we simply couldn’t put it down.

Gold Medal: Cheerwine (43/50) – Wow, this was out of this world delicious. The pairing of a sweet, flavorful cherry soda with vanilla ice cream was unstoppable and it handily won this entire competition. When we started out we thought so many others would walk into the top spot, maybe Dr. Pepper, or maybe Big Red (my early pick) or most likely a root beer, the old standby, but no, the winner is Cheerwine by a mile. Go find it, go drink it, and thank us when you see us.

(Cover Image: “Root Beer Float” by Sharon Drummond.)