I know everyone’s been dying for me to do another growler root beer review. It’s been over a year and I always am just picking them up off the tap instead of taking them home for later, but finally your wait is over. I’ve known about Rogue for awhile and was even all set to go to a brewhouse that served it but I ended up winning those tickets to the Silver Tips so I went to Scuttlebutt instead. Then The Root Beer Store told me that they had just had a keg of Rogue returned that was 3/4 full and they’d fill me a growler if I wanted, so it’s a little hard to pass that up. Sadly most of the carbonation foamed out during the filling and the foam lasted an exceedingly long time, but I don’t rate the Head for growler brews. According the the Rogue website, this root beer is a paradox. It says “12 Ingredients: Brewed using 6 Ingredients” Perhaps they’ve just fallen into the physics trap of losing a factor of two somewhere but the contradictions don’t stop there. It also says “No Chemicals, Additives, or Preservatives” but then two of those six (12?) ingredients are “Sodium Benzoate & Citric Acid” So either the brown sugar they use is rich is sodium benzoate or something (two things actually) don’t add up (pun intended).
The Body is full but not creamy. There’s a fruity molasses flavor in there as well mixed with spices. The Bite is solid from said spices and I’m sure if it had a full carbonation it would give a good kick there as well. The Aftertaste is a complex molasses and spice with a subtle fruity flavor. The molasses flavor isn’t overbearing but still not my favorite.
So it’s really disappointing. I want to like this but I don’t really. It’s ok, but doesn’t really live up to its possibilities given the ingredient list. I may try it again on tap if I encounter it just to see if maybe it was sitting around for too long or the loss of carbonation somehow sabotaged the flavor, but for now, it’s just a drinkable.
