Root Beer and The Law

A lot of people don't realize how much root beer is out there, nor how fanatic some of us can be, and with a much more commonplace bottled brethren known as beer, it has led to some misunderstandings of the legal sorts.

On quite a few occasions, I've been asked to show my ID as I nonchalantly placed my six-pack of frothy delight next to the register. I can count at least 6 times I've embarrassed cashiers who bashfully apologized when I point out the "Root" on the label. It's a fun little chuckle for myself as a frequent root beer buyer, but I'm really waiting for when I get pulled over for presenting the silhouette of a dark bottle to my lips as I drive unashamedly past Texas's finest on the highway. It's an inevitability given how often I drink root beer, yet I'm disappointed it hasn't happened yet. Though, I'll have to brace myself to keep my smart-ass comments to myself when it happens, else I might not have as humorous of an experience as I day-dreamed.

Despite not being pulled over, I have had one conversation with an officer over the nature of the beverage I was publicly indulging in. Now for the cop's sake, I have to spare the details of my location. Fry Street is the local bar street immediately off the UNT (University of North Texas) campus, so you can imagine the crowd buzzing around there. So it's not surprising when a policeman eyeballs a young college student approaching the driver's side door of a car parked 50 feet from a bar while brandishing an open container, in this case a brown bottle, his suspicions suggest to him he should approach the youngster with some questions. At that point, my experience with law enforcement was limited and not exactly positive.

The last time I had spoken to an officer, I was reporting a bit of money stolen and immediately found myself being interrogated and accused of allegedly wasting it on hookers, illegal fireworks, and black tar heroin. Very specifically black tar heroin for some reason (true story. Small town cops tend to be very bored to my understanding). My favorite quote from that story is the officer revealingly saying, "Now I know when I was your age, I probably put some girls through junior college. And there were some times me and my buddies wanted to have some fun and snuck down to Mexico for a few illegal fireworks..." Needless to say, my trust for my local keepers of the peace immediately skyrocketed...

Suffice it to say, I was a little nervous as the officer ordered me to stop, despite the knowledge I was completely innocent. I had just exited the coffee shop on the corner with a half emptied bottle of Zuberfizz root beer and found myself now convincing a cop of its non-alcoholic character. After pointing out the "Root" on the label and nervously offering if he would like to try it or smell it to be sure, the officer, maybe a little weirded out by my offerings and attempts at getting him to smell my drink, let me on my way peacefully and unrestrained.

Not the most exciting experience, but an experience nonetheless. I also get this feeling of observed disapproval when I pull up to anywhere chugging down a bottle in front of watchful eyes. Now, I decided to do a bit of googling and was not surprised to see people had a few stories in which they were pulled over for drinking and driving, root beer of course. In light, I would like to know what kind of stories you've got to share as a root beer drinker put under the spotlight of our finest law enforcers?