It wasn’t exactly the Pepsi challenge, but in the interest of crowning the king of Maine-drafted root beers, the editors of this fine publication submitted ourselves to the ultimate taste test. We lined up all the available challengers and sipped our way from one to the next until we had a clear winner (and our consensus was overwhelming, by the way). Capt’n Eli’s is a full-bodied, traditional root beer flavored with wintergreen oil, anise, and vanilla, and sweetened with natural cane and brown sugars (not that yucky corn syrup stuff).

The Maine potato is such an icon, such an enduring and delicious epitome of starchy goodness, and the Fox family, of Aroostook County, has been growing potatoes for so long (since the 1800s), that you begin to wonder why they waited to get into the chip business. No matter. The chip that Rhett Fox refined in the back room of his Mapleton convenience store has been worth the wait.

It’s not every day when a Maine hot sauce heads into the jalapeño heart of darkness that is Louisiana and burns the doors off the local competition. But that’s what Dan Stevens of the W.O. Hesperus Company did with his Canceaux Sauce — a fiery mix of jalapenos, African birdseye, japones, and cayenne red chilies, with just the right touch of sugar, vinegar, and garlic. Stevens’ homemade concoction took first place last year at the Cajun Hot Sauce Fest in Louisiana, beating out — get this — Tabasco. W.O.