Milwaukee will always be Brew City, and now it's also "Root Beer City" as The New York Times (NYT.com) hails Milwaukee's own (Glendale, if you want to be picky) Sprecher Root Beer as the best in the county.

In a story and taste test called "Sodas of the Times: A Drink in Search of a Frosty Mug," chief wine critic Eric Asimov and Times dining section staffers Florence Fabricant, Julia Moskin and Kim Severson tasted 25 different root beers. Sprecher took the title.

"Our No. 1 root beer, from Sprecher in Wisconsin, a wonderfully balanced and complex brew, uses a combination of corn syrup and honey, while our No. 2, the restrained and flavorful IBC, uses only corn syrup. So, even with the importance of the sweetener, something more is at play with root beers," wrote Asimov.

IBC, out of Texas, also rated highly.