Who is Root Beer?*
I just introduced J-Dub to 15 Midwesterners he'll never meet. The setting was a cavern-like dining room in the basement of a German restaurant or perhaps the restaurant was the basement. Either way, we were below ground and surrounded by mounted trout and large-mouth bass. The impetus was a waiter listing the evening's liquid refreshment. He'd just finished a list of beers by the bottle and on tap, when he casually added "And we serve root beer."

"Who makes your root beer?" I asked in what would turn out to be the beginning of a string of server encounters that may not get the blog time they so richly deserve.

"Sprecher's" he replied.

"Ah," I said with a smile. "I'll have a root beer."

The woman to my right turned to me and asked, "They make good root beer?"

I then began to expound, "In college I had a friend from Wisconsin who would bring Sprecher's to the dorm from his home and share a taste with those of us lucky enough to be in his favor. I remember the first time I was one of the lucky ones. He had promised the finest of root beers from his home. He was as proud of the root beer as he was of his own roots. He sat me down in his sparsely furnished room and reached down into his mini-fridge. Then with the distinct lack of flourish that comes from good Midwestern upbringing, he pulled a bottle of Sprecher's out. He popped the top and handed me the chilled root beer that he had bragged of. I brought the bottle to my lips and took a slow swig. The root beer slid down my throat coating my insides with a passion for both root and beer. 'Thank you, J-Dub. That was delicious,' I cried. He smiled the triumphant smile of a man that knew quality. I returned to my life in progress awaiting my next taste. My home then, like my home now, does not serve Sprecher's. I'll drink this in his honor and in celebration of splendid root beer."


*The title of this post was stolen from a wonderful children's story that my parents read to me. It had talking bugs. I don't think it was a true story. This post may therefore share characteristics with that fine story.