My esteemed coworker, Jimmy Jeff got this down in Texas at a Carl’s BBQ Restaurant where it’s labeled as Carl’s BBQ Old Fashioned Root Beer. However, it’s really a custom recipe by Teeroo’s Private Label that’s bottled by Ginseng Up. The Teeroo’s recipe was originally developed by some private labeler in Florida who the owner of Teeroo’s worked for as a distributor. Eventually the Florida dude gave it up, probably to retire in New York, and Ginseng Up told all of the other distributors that they could operate independently and continued to supply the recipe, which is different than the Ginseng Up recipe. As Teeroo’s labels for lots of small businesses in Texas, I’d expect there to be numerous different labels. The trick to identifying it is to look for the small print that lists Teeroo’s as the distributor. Unfortunately, there is a very real possibility of other private labelers in other states, with no affiliation to Teeroo’s, to be using this recipe as well. I have no doubt that Dr. Percival C. McGillicuddy will need to solve that case sometime in the future.
The Body is sweet with a caramel sassafras flavor accented by vanilla. The Bite is ok, sharp carbonation with a little spice, but I’d prefer it more reversed. The Head is a good height but fizzes away very rapidly. The Aftertaste is some nice vanilla but it doesn’t really last very long.
So this is pretty much a generic creamy root beer. It’s not bad, but nothing special. I’m sure it would go well with BBQ ribs and whatever else is served at all the other places that have it labeled as their own. See how it rates against other root beers.
