My grandmother found this for me shortly after I began collecting/reviewing root beers. She lives in Sacramento and found it while visiting Mendocino. She gave it to me when the family was down visiting. Unfortunately they insisted that I share the bottle with the rest of the family. Fortunately, this comes in a 25 ounce bottle that looks more like a wine bottle so there was plenty to go around. It’s yeast brewed but guarantees less than 0.05% alcohol by volume. It has some strange ingredients like Eugenol and Gum Tragacanth. It also has wild cherry. I’m not sure what the picture on the bottle is supposed to be, but the Taubold is some Mendocino local painter. I’m not sure of his affiliation with this root beer but maybe he helps make it or something. On the back of the bottle is a large poem about Taubold meeting John Wayne and a bet that Taubold couldn’t capture the Duke’s smile correctly in painting. The stakes were John’s ranch and the rights for Taubold’s Private Reserve, which I guess means this root beer. The story goes that Taubold succeeded, so he has John Wayne’s ranch evidently.
This is a very mild root beer. It has no real Bite to speak of and it also has a weak Body and Head. The Aftertaste is fruity.
The fruity is to be expected, what with the wild cherry. I’m not sure why everything else was so weak. I apologize for not being more descriptive of one of the most unique brews I’ve ever tried, but I was only 17 so you’ll have to forgive me. The company has since gone out of business, which is sad yet not surprising. See how it rates against other root beers.
This is my favorite all-time rootbeer. Long since out of business I still have a few bottles. (don’t know what they will taste like) I would share if we see each other again.
FTR, there were two kinds. The gold label you show has the alcohol taken out and is not as good as the silver label with a tiny bit of alcohol left in from the natural brewing process. It’s negligible, like a near-beer but legally it had to be labeled an alcoholic drink. At 17 years old cold you even drink it in you state?