Seven Days of Root Beer – The Sprecher Challenge

by James Adams

Twenty four bottles of sweet, root-y goodness, fresh from America’s dairyland.

This is the first installment of What’s Happening Wednesday, where you find out what XY Unlimited is doing right now – or at least right now-ish.

Isn’t it thrilling to get a care package in the mail? If you’ve ever been to summer camp, attended college, or attracted a stalker, you’ve probably felt those butterflies of anticipation as you open the cardboard packaging and set eyes on the delicious/much needed/hopefully-at-least-harmless contents within.

Some diehard friends of ours from Waukesha County Technical College in WI recently sent us just such a package. When we played a show at their campus this past August they not only spoiled us with love and tacos while we were there, but they also shipped us a hefty mystery box a few weeks later. Though we interrogated and charmed them with every technique in our extensive arsenal, they let slip not a word about its contents.

Happy Sprecher-crow wants you to enjoy a frosty mug!

Upon its arrival at XY headquarters, we eviscerated the shipping tape, tore open the cardboard flaps and peered inside. There before us, carefully packaged into Styrofoam compartments, awaited twenty-four amber bottles of Sprecher Fire-Brewed Gourmet Soda. Two of XYs greatest allies in the Midwest had shipped us their love in the frosty, clinky form of twelve glass-bottled root beers, four cherry sodas, four orange sodas, and four cream sodas.

This is no ordinary soda, mind you: The New York Times voted Sprecher’s the number one root beer in America. And Michael, at least, takes his root beer very seriously. In fact, he asks for it every time we get on a Southwest flight – despite the fact that they never have and still do not carry the beverage. He hopes that his incessant requests will encourage them to reconsider their choice, and Zack finds the pattern so hilarious that he has offered Michael $1 for every time Michael asks a new stewardess for root beer.

So you can understand how sweet and thoughtful this gift was. And we wanted to be thoughtful right back, to show our friends in Wisconsin our appreciation. After taking copious pictures and dancing for joy, we came up with a plan for thoughtfulness: over about a week, we would sample and write short reviews for each flavor of soda we received. We’ll release the reviews on our facebook page starting tomorrow morning, and continue them until next Wednesday. This feat shall henceforth be known as the Sprecher Challenge, and the scribes shall engrave our deeds in the annals of civilization. Or at least someone might share it on Facebook.

Have you ever enjoyed a Sprechers root beer or other soda? Any thoughts or reviews of your own? Think there’s a better root beer out there? Leave a comment and let us know!