Another trade with anthony. This brew comes from San Diego and is made by 6th generation San Diegans, which is what you call people from San Diego. Who knew? I have some of my own family roots from San Diego area, on my mother’s side. They are also surfers like this root beer depicts. Surfer themed root beers are a favorite of mine so I have high hopes. This is also brewed in small batches, if the text on the label is to be believed. I like a double entendre on the title as well. A swell in the waves or a swell root beer. Though a riptide is a pretty dangerous thing so I don’t know about having a riptide being swell. It is a beach thing so I guess that fits, or maybe they’re just going for alliteration.
The Body is sweet and rich with a lot of vanilla and caramel with a tinge of fruity sarsaparilla. It’s pretty good. The Bite is mild on spice with some prickly carbonation. That said, it isn’t the smoothest. The Head is medium tall but fizzes down too fast. The Aftertaste is vanilla. There’s a hint of that sarsaparilla as well. Overall it’s pretty good,
I’d say it’s pretty swell. Not Seal of Approval but swell. This brings an interesting question of how good is swell, is it better than good, slightly worse than excellent? I feel it’s somewhat better than good but not the best. Maybe I’ve been using swell wrong my whole life? Maybe this root beer makes me rethink everything on the word swell, a word I’ve just sort of used without too much thought. Anyways, swell brew. See how it rates against other root beers.
