Last week I found myself in Albuquerque doing DERMS things. That’s right, Corona has been defeated to the point where DERMS now takes me traveling places. Huzzah! Glory! Triumph! Root beer!!!! Because my very first trip would of course be somewhere new with root beer to boot. The Rio Bravo Brewing Company is built in the restored historic building from 1949. Their about page doesn’t say when they started, but I think it’s 2015. They seem to have won a lot of awards for their beer. In addition to this brew, they also make a cream soda. When I went the waitress said she didn’t actually like their root beer but rather the cream soda, which didn’t give me high expectations but still, maybe she just didn’t know good root beer.
The Body is weak, bitter, and not very sweet. I get some dark-ish wintergreen that is watered down and not very sweet overall. The Bite is spicy, at least, but not smooth nor particularly complex. The Head is sad, but not completely non-existent, just sad. The Aftertaste is bitter, but thankfully weak.
Actually, she was right, this is objectively terrible in about every way a root beer can be terrible. Why so weak? Why no Head? Why no sweet? This is without doubt one of the worst root beers I’ve had in a long time that wasn’t trying to be weird or fruity or organic or some nonsense, it’s just made bad. Oh well. There’s other root beers in that town that hopefully are better. So when I had my delicious green chili burger, I ordered the cream soda, I’d had enough of their brew. And Wow! So much sweet and creamy vanilla in that cream soda, one of the best I’ve ever had. If you are ever there, get the cream not the root.
