Sure, it's kind of an oldhead soda. In these days of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew, drinking something like root beer is oddly old-fashioned -- only a step or two removed from those celery sodas Dr.

Skidmore professor Christopher Mann and his children, Clara and Tim, evaluate samples of root beer to rank against other makers of the popular soft drink on Friday at their home in Saratoga Springs.

When I was growing up, my grandmother would pick my brother and me up from school on Fridays and take us straight to a diner where she and my grandfather had gone on some of their first dates. Our ...