A Canadian bear went on an hour and a half soda binge last week, opening and drinking 69 cans of soda left overnight in a food truck owner’s vehicle. As reported here, the bear downed large amounts of orange soda, cola, and root beer. The bear stopped short of consuming cans of diet soda, confirming that diet sodas are not worth consuming, even for a ravenous, soda-addicted animal.
As summer comes to an end, there is at least one more festivity to look forward to. This Saturday, August 26, 2017, Sprecher is sponsoring the first annual Root Beer Bash and Root Beer 
Olympics. The fun will take place in Sprecher’s home town of Glendale, Wisconsin; the Athens, Greece of root beer competition.
Root Beer Olympians will compete in one of three age groups and/or in as a team. Olympic events will include the Root Beer Chug, Keg Roll, Hold the Glass, Keg Toss, Root Beer Wagon Pull, Root Beer Obstacle Run, and Root Beer Relay. All proceeds from the Root Beer Olympics will be donated to St. Francis Children’s Center, supporting children with special needs.
All root beer athletes can sign up for the competition here.
The 2017 U.S. Open Beer Championship winners 
were announced on July 10, 2017. In 2016, the winners in the non alcoholic root beer category were as follows: 
Gold – Sprecher Root Beer – Sprecher Brewing – Wisconsin
Silver – Saranac Root Beer – F.X. Matt Brewing – New York
Bronze – Red Hare Root Beer – Red Hare Brewing – Georgia
Those results were somewhat confusing, seeing that Sprecher Root Beer garnered a modest score of 6 on this site, while Saranac Root Beer earned an impressive 9, cementing itself as an elite brew, and 
one of the best root beers reviewed on this site. Apparently recognizing the absurdity of their 2016 results, the U.S Open Beer Championship changed course in 2017 issuing the following medals:
Gold – Saranac Root Beer – Saranac Brewing – New York
Silver – Sprecher Root Beer – Sprecher Brewing – Wisconsin
Bronze – Bear Wizz Root Beer – Adirondack Brewery – New York
Congratulations to all three root beers. I look forward to reviewing 
Bear Wizz Root Beer in the future, but I can attest that Saranac Root Beer is worthy of its gold medal. All of the 2017 U.S. Open Beer Championship results can be found here.
In 2016, the US Postal Service is releasing a series of stamps commemorating soda fountain favorites. The set includes stamps of a double-scoop ice cream cone, an egg cream (a chocolate beverage devoid of both egg and cream that I have never before heard of), a banana split, a hot fudge sundae, and, of course, a root beer float. What a tasty way to send a letter.
More information about the new soda fountain stamps can be found here.
Root beer has been at the center of two recent legal matters. First, in Alberta, Canada, a man carrying a bottle of root beer was approached by officers in an unmarked police van. The man was suspected of drinking liquor in a public place, in violation of Canada’s Liquor and Gaming Act. Police allege the man would not comp
ly with demands to hand over the bottle or to give his name. They further claim the man “aggressively resisted arrest,” which led to his being tackled to the ground, choked, pepper sprayed, and handcuffed.
The not so happy root beer drinker asserted that he told officers he was merely drinking root beer, and even handed it over to police for inspection. Last week, he was once again less than cheerful when the officers involved in the incident were found not guilty of assault. This man has had a rough time, someone should offer him a frothy root beer. Just make sure he drinks it indoors. His full story can be read here and here.
Meanwhile, back in the United States, an Indiana couple was no match from the crime fighting skills of root beer. While a female customer at a Dollar General Store was paying for a two-liter container of root beer, her husband walked by the doughnut display. After the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man moved behind the clerk’s counter, announced “This is a robbery…,” and began grabbing cash from the register. The couple made off with $40, but left their root beer behind. The thieves were identified by fingerprints taken from the root beer container. As of January 8, 2016, the couple remained at large. Root beer vows not to rest until both individuals are apprehended. That news story can be read in more detail here.
We all know that root beer is delicious. You know it, I know it, and the Ku Klux Klan knows it. Now the KKK is trying to use root beer to its benef
it. As reported here, the KKK has begun a recruiting campaign in Gresham, Oregon. The KKK is leaving residents invitations to join the KKK with a piece of paper detailing “the 10 present goals of the United Northern & Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.” As an added enticement to join, each invitation is accompanied by a bag of root beer jelly beans. We have already established that root beer is delicious. The same goes for root beer jelly beans. However, the KKK is not all happiness and jelly beans. Gresham, Oregon residents, and anyone else who will listen, I promise you it is not worth joining no matter how many jelly beans you are promised.
How to Make Everything is a YouTube channel dedicated to showing a step by step demonstration of what it takes to make products by scratch. Past products made by 
scratch in the How to Make Everything web-series include a suit a sandwich, and a glass bottle. In its most recent project, maple syrup was collected from a tree, sassafras root and wintergreen leaves were harvested, a goat was milked, and yeast was cultivated for carbonation, all to make a delicious root beer float made from scratch. The very thoughtful eight video series can be found at the How to Make Everything YouTube channel here. It makes me want to make some homemade root beer.
Few things are more enjoyable than baseball or root beer. When the two come together, it is noteworthy. A recent lobbying effort has begun to get baseball slugger Harmon Killebrew on a U.S. stamp. Not only is he deserving as one of the greatest home run hitters of all time, and by 
all accounts a very generous and quality human being, but by partipating in the lobbying effort, you could win a year’s supply of Killebrew Root Beer. Those of you who sign the online petition found here, are eligible to win a year’s supply of the root beer named after the hall-of-famer who, at th e time he finished his playing career in 1975, had the fifth most home runs all-time, and who now sits at number 11. He hit all of those home runs without taking steroids, so let’s get him a stamp, and get one of you some free root beer.
The 2015 U.S. Open Beer Championship winners were recently announced. Not 
surprisingly, the U.S. Open Beer Championship focuses on alcoholic beverages. Of the 90 drink classes represented in the championship, only two are non-alcoholic, root beer and non-alcoholic beer. Although not the main focus of the competition, we at Root Beer Respect are concerned only with the results from the root beer category. Who took the root beer honors this year?
First place went to Island Root Beer from Maui Brewing out of Hawaii. 
Canadian root beer Babbling Brooke’s Root Beer form Nickel Brook Brewing took second place.
Finally, Point Premium Root Beer from Stevens Point Brewery out of Wisconsin took the bronze.
Unfortunately, I have not yet had any of these root beer award winners, although Point Premium is in my queue. It looks like Island Root Beer is only available in cans, but I will be looking to get my hands, and lips, on each of these championship root beers. All of the 2015 U.S. Open Beer Championship results can be found here .
PepsiCo recently announced that it will be releasing a new line of craft sodas called Stubbor
n Soda. The new line will include the following flavors: black cherry with tarragon, root beer, lemon berry acai, agave vanilla cream, orange hibiscus and pineapple cream. Stubborn Soda, following the gourmet soda trend, will be made with cane sugar.
Pepsi will add Stubborn Soda Root Beer to its beverage line which has included Mug Root Beer since 1986.
Together with the release of Stubborn Soda, Pepsi has created a new 
soda fountain delivery system which includes a “tap-like pouring ritual.” The new fountains will be appearing during the summer of 2015. There is mixed information regarding whether Stubborn Soda may be available in glass bottles or cans. Beveragedaily.com reports that PepsiCo has not commented “on if or when Stubborn Soda will be available in bottles or cans in retail.” However, CNN Money reports that the drinks will not be available in bottles or cans. Here’s to hopping Stubborn Soda Root Beer tastes great, and that it is released in glass bottles.
Root Beer Respect 