Roll out the barrels

Continuing on the root beer theme established in the last post, Barq's is apparently test-marketing a soda product with the same name as the frozen confection. Barq's Floatz will be the Vanilla Coke of root beers, with an infusion of vanilla flavor designed to simulate the taste of having your root beer with a scoop of vanilla ice cream dropped into it. While the frozen variety may have been too expensive to justify its existence, this sounds pretty damn good. Unfortunately, it's only selling in Louisiana, Mississippi, and maybe a couple other southern states at the moment. Let's hope it proves popular; I'm cutting back on pop in my diet but I still can't resist taste-testing a new variety.

In other root beer news, I had some Diet A&W at my aunt's house on Tuesday. Maybe it's just that I'm getting more used to diet soda because it's pretty much all Alma ever has on hand, but I thought it tasted just like regular root beer. Not a bad alternative if I get tired of water (and oh, do I get tired of water).

In one last note, Drew has quasi-inspired me to perform a root beer taste test. I plan to acquire bottles or cans of Barq's, Mug, A&W, and one or two other, slightly lesser-known brands (I've never seen Hires in this region, but Dad's is a possibility), and then compare them in a side-by-side pop extravaganza. Yes, I'm a total dork. But stay tuned for that.