anthony is a great guy. He trades me root beers that are hard to find over here, like this one. Fiz Roc City Root Beer comes all the way from Rochester New York, which is much closer to New Jersey than to Washington. Is Roc City some slang for Rochester? It’s made by College Club Beverages but doesn’t seem to be branded as College Club in any way. The brand seems to be Fiz, so that’s how I’m labeling it. Some places seem to have it as Fiz Specialty Beverages or Fiz Specialty Drinks, and I alone am left to mourn the lack of coherent standards for root beer branding and labeling so every reviewer knows what to title his post as. But maybe that’s the goal, to provide an avenue for each and every reviewer to look deep inside themselves, and use the name that they feel is best, with all being right in the end because each of us is a special snowflake and we all see the world differently, and by allowing us to call the root beer whatever we want, we all fully able to express our individuality … I’m just going to stop that train of thought right now and tell you about this brew.
Very sweet Body with prominent sarsaparilla and vanilla flavors. There’s a strong Bite with spice and tingle. It’s solid and good. The Head is very nice and tall and foamy. The Aftertaste, however, falls flat. It’s just sort of sugar and that’s all. After much goodness, you’re left with just pure cane sugar that goes quickly, which is quite a disappointment.
Not a bad bit of brew, but that poor Aftertaste has torpedoed any chance of a Seal of Approval. It’s still better than average though so don’t pass it up if you are looking for a sarsaparilla-y root beer but not a sarsaparilla. See how it rates against other root beers.
