Interesting Ideas: Root beer

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A note on procedures

Four panels of tasters were each composed of seven to nine testers. There was some overlap among the panels, though membership varied. Logistics precluded testing fountain root beers. Diet flavors and homemade efforts were excluded to keep the sample size manageable.

Root beers were obtained in bottles when possible. In tests one, two and four they were poured in another room, then tasters were served each round in paper cups, with oyster crackers to clear the palate between servings. Hygienic considerations required that samples be swallowed.

In panel three, the Tribune test kitchen tasting, containers were covered in plain paper bags and then poured by the testers themselves, which avoided the problem of diminishing fizz.

The Tribune test applied a rating of 1 to 10 to each root beer. Partly for that reason, results are not presented cumulatively. In the other panels, the scale went to five. Several samples were retasted after the first round but before identifications were made.

The 2008 test was conducted with 13 tasters, generally skewing younger in age that the 1995 groups. Once again, the root beers were deliver blind in cups, and the tasters rated them on a scale of 1 to 5, applying their ratings before discussion was allowed.
Commentary screen
Taste test results

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