The Root Beer Brouhaha

Remember Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? The pyramid mapping out the basic needs of every individual, that works upward to higher functions as the basics are fulfilled? I guess I agree with most of it, but after some reflection (and copious consumption of root beer) since the last entry, I would insert the following level to the hierarchy:

Seriously. I would have stuck Henry's at a lower level, but friends and family would have raised a stink.

Since I just rewrote a fundamentally accepted psychological principle, let me make an unsolicited and unsubstantiated suggestion to psychologists: Give up. You will never be accepted as a "hard" science.

Anyway. A month or so back, BiL Ben made a borderline blasphemous statement:

Josh, I think I found a root beer that is equivalent to -- maybe better than -- Henry's: Bulldog Root Beer.

This was the root beer world equivalent to Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door. Keep in mind, this is the same Ben who would -- before it was illegal to carry liquids onto planes -- buy a 12-case of Henry's every year in WA state and use it as his carry-on when flying back east. He would hoard it the entire year until his next chance to go back west; so for him to make such a statement was either the undeliberated delirium of someone experiencing severe withdrawal, or this new root beer had to be considered as a true contender.

So, unlike the BCS, I decided to allow head-to-head competition make the decision. DJA agreed to participate. We would stick five contenders into a de facto Royal Rumble of root beers. The three others ("Natural Brew," "Dominion," and an Australian import "Bundaberg") were really peripheral to the headliner: Bulldog v. Henry Weinhard's. This was the Ali-Frazier of Root Beer Face-offs. Proper preparation was essential.

We took turns doing a blind taste-test -- one would pour and track which root beer was in which glass, while the other mentally prepared himself for sampling. The line-up:



And then we sampled. And took notes. And assessed:



Not to brag, but I went 5 for 5 on identifying the correct root beer.

As for the Henry's-Bulldog Face-off, the jury is still out. This one is close, folks.