(Upcoming) What is the Best Root Beer?
Today I’m proud to introduce Project Root. In the continued effort within the Clouty Skies Research Institute to determine the best soda within a given flavor profile, we have moved on to root beer as our next study candidate. This phase evaluates 24 root beer products using the same standardized framework applied in Project Cream: an equal-weight, eight-metric scoring matrix with a maximum of 5 points per metric.
The evaluated metrics are Creaminess, Overall Taste, Smoothness, Design, Opening Experience, Ingredients, Price, and Availability.
The brands surveyed in Project Root, based strictly on the collected data, are A&W, A&W Sundae, Great Value, Signature Select, Sprecher’s, Jones, Poppi, Shasta, Nixie, Zevia, IBC, Teddy’s, Cove, Olipop, Elixir, River City, Virgil’s, Harvey’s, Abita, Daytrip, Live, Root Beer Wrath, Mug, and Barq’s.
Overall Rankings: This bar chart visualizes the total composite score for each root beer, calculated as the sum of all eight equally weighted evaluation metrics. Higher bars indicate stronger overall performance within the dataset.
Full Metric Breakdown: This table presents the complete scoring matrix for all evaluated products, showing individual metric scores and final totals. Values are displayed on a standardized 0–5 scale for direct comparison across brands.
Conclusion
Project Root demonstrates clear performance separation within the root beer category, with a small number of products consistently outperforming peers across the full eight-metric matrix while others show strength in isolated areas but weaker overall balance. These results reinforce the value of standardized, equal-weight evaluation when comparing consumer products within a single flavor profile.
For a full breakdown of the methodology, tasting process, and additional context behind the scores, watch the accompanying YouTube video. Future studies and expanded datasets will be published through the Clouty Skies Research Institute, with ongoing updates and new category analyses to follow.
