At the Shore Line Trolley Museum, operator of the Branford Electric Rwy. Ass'n., the preferred soda of the laborers when there are many to choose from, is Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer, with Diet Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer next in consumption. Coke and Diet Coke are slightly ahead of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, respectively.

As far as Moxie goes, I'd rather eat the rear end out of a dead moose than drink it.

As for good hooch, try Appalachian Brewing Co out of Harrisburg, PA. It's really good and they've got Rockville Bridge on the label. It's most likely what we'll be serving in the first class cars on our excursion next summer. That and a yet to be named local wine.

Russ

Okay, let's leave this to the pros. My qualifications:

http://beerinbaltimore.blogspot.com

12 oz aluminum can, which has been sitting back in the back of my refrigerator for YEARS now. So it isn't fresh, but that hardly matters with sodas. Poured into a 12-oz. stemmed tulip glass from Unibroue of Quebec......

Pours with brisk effervescent head, which collapses instantly--no head retention like root beer or regular beer. color is bright [non-cloudy] deep maroon-brown of typical colas. Nose is sweet and distinctly cola-like, with notes of sassafras, wild cherry, sarsaparilla, sour cherry, and nutmeg. Initial flavor very cola-reminiscent, cloyingly sweet, with mid-palate notes of birch and root beer, tannic tea, even a vague hint of peat (it doesn't help that I had a sample of a Danish imperial stout aged in a heavily-peated Irish whisky barrel earlier tonight....). Finish is dry and tannic, with a lingering earthiness akin to chewing on a well-used cinnamon stick after several rounds of mulling apple cider.

Oddly, this is reminding me very much of the flavor of a relatively new spirit I had occasion to sample a while back: Root, a spirit with a flavor based on the sassafras, sarsaparilla, and wintergreen of traditional root beer recipes.

And the thought occurs to me that if this stuff were fermented in a malted-barley base rather than mellowing sweetly in whatever sugar base it's in, this would make a decent beer........

"Hey, Buster, you guys got any more of these up in the shop fridge?"

Having spent (miss-spent?) a wonderful afternoon and evening with ADM visiting brew pubs and beer tastings from Baltimore to DC, then back to College Park... I can attest to his extensive knowledge on the subject... We also visited the Baltimore Trolley Museum.

Your allways friendly moderator... Randy

Randy,

"Baltimore STREETCAR Museum."

Hey, I can't help it of Baltimorons have a different lexicon. Must be something in the crabs.

OK, Hon.

ADM, I owe ya a couple Mawx-ees.

Howard P.

It probably will be knowing some of my coworkers, haha, but I prefer Dr. Pepper over anything.

On the evening that I spent with ADM hitting the local "watering holes", we ended up at an Irish Pub that was the regional headquarters of the IRA

That is/was not the IRA itself, but Irish NORAID, the supposed philanthropic charity that was routinely derided as "Buy a Bullet for the IRA." They're supposedly no longer meeting there, as much for the reasons of the fall of Marxism as for the loss of the IRA's major "sponsors"--Colombian FARC rebels, Libya, Cuba, and Venezuela.

Anyhow, back to railroad drinking........

As one who has made a hobby of enjoying regional soft drinks and become something of an expert (if I may say so myself), I can say that the three best are:

1) Ale-8-One, the Official Soft Drink of Kentucky. Affectionately called "swamp water," this ginger-based soda is the best soft drink in the country. Tastes best when washing down a helping of Skyline Chili. Most short line railroads in and around Kentucky have a cooler of Ale-8 in the cab.

2) Cheerwine -- hands down, the best cherry cola ever made. Good news is that it is now available nationally at Cracker Barrel. Jim Wrinn turned me on to Cheerwine at Spencer several years ago.

3) Moxie. Definitely an acquired taste. Each year on a trip to Maine I'd try it and maybe get through a half bottle. Somehow, last year everything clicked and now I can drink three or four bottles a day when I'm up north.

I'm heading for Summerail in Cincinnati this weekend, and stocking up on Ale-8 will be a priority.

As a Kentucky native, I can certainly attest to the superior quality of Ale-8-One. It is pronounced locally the same way "A late one" would be said. It should be pointed out that for years, the drink was hard to find outside of Eastern Kentucky. I think they now bottle it in Elizabethtown, so it's easy to find state wide. I'm finding my way back home to lovely Nelson County, Kentucky this weekend, and will certainly pick up a case or two at the Kroger.