GourmetRootBeer

Moose’s Tooth Draft Root Beer

Jan 012025

So I was in Anchorage back in November for the Northwest Public Power Association Conference in Anchorage, Alaska. I was quite surprised how many breweries that made their own root beer there were. I saw from Google Maps that there were two within walking distance from my hotel. The first, Glacier Brewhouse, I realized, after I drank some, that I’d reviewed before when a tap room in Seattle had it. But that’s not this, in fact, this wasn’t even on that list of two, but people in the conference told me about Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, supposedly the best pizza in Anchorage which also makes their own root beer. They also had a pizza that has reindeer sausage on it which made me even more want to go, so we made that our dinner the first night of the conference. The place was absolutely packed but thankfully we only had to wait for 15 minutes or so to get seated.

The Body is sweet and rich with a classic flavor profile that’s just a little darker and more herbal. The herbal bit detracts a little. There’s a bit of a spicy Bite but it is all in all, nice and smooth. The Head is medium and foamy when you ask for it that way. The Aftertaste is a delicious sweet creamy vanilla that washes away any thoughts but how wonderful it is.

I’ll say, the first glass they brought did not have a good head and I had to ask them again if they could not make sure it was very tall and foamy and they brought back what was pictured. This brew isn’t perfect, but it’s really good and that wonderful Aftertaste really brings it home for the Seal. The pizza was amazing as well. My coworkers and I ordered 3 mediums and ate all but two slices, it was that good. If you are in Anchorage, Moose’s Tooth is a must!

**My coworkers and I with our Thai Chicken, Call of the Wild, and Santa’s Little Helper Pizzas.**

Old 121 Root Beer

Draft and Keg Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 042024

My 500th root beer! I can’t believe that the journey I started in 1998 would lead me to so many amazing brews and now here I am with 500 done. I tried to make this a special review, because, I didn’t want just any old random bottle of root beer in my fridge (which I’ve been sitting on for 2 months now). While this isn’t some storied, legendary root beer I’ve forever been questing for, I did review it on election night on November 5th, which is pretty epic one way or another. I was traveling and in Golden Colorado and was looking for something local and found the Old 121 Brewhouse which makes their own root beer and one other flavor of soda. That one was coconut cream soda. It’s also a woman owned brewery so, appropriate because there was a woman on the ballot? I’m not getting any more political than that. I don’t endorse candidates unless they have public pro root beer policies like, um … Hank’s is the best root beer or there needs to be a White House Root Beer Sommelier or root beer subsidies or something like that, which doesn’t happen, so yeah. Anyways, it was an epic night for an epic 500th review.

The Body is sweet with sassafras and hints of wintergreen and vanilla. It’s got a sort of darker take on the classic flavor profile. The Bite is smooth but a little prickly. There isn’t a lot of spice. The Head is nice medium height and solidly foamy, which is rather rare for breweries lately. The Aftertaste is slightly bitter from wintergreen that finishes with tinges of vanilla.

This is decent. It’s a tasty one that doesn’t really stand out much but isn’t bad at all. It’s a little better than average the sort of root beer everyone will enjoy. It’d go well with food but they don’t really do meals there, just some snacks. I also tried their coconut cream soda because, why not, and that was also tasty. So, ultimately fun, but nothing crazy mind blowing, like maybe also the election, no matter what happens there’s always another one in another four years, just like there’s always another root beer for me to review.

The Old 121 Brewhouse taps. Root Beer second from the left.

The Old 121 brewing vats. The root beer is made by the smallest one on the far right.

The Old 121 Brewhouse on a snowy election night.

Hank’s Gourmet Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Nov 062024

I made a mistake 13 years ago. Back when I held my Ultimate Root Beer Showdown I said that Hank’s seemed better than I remembered. At that time I knew the bottle had changed, but I didn’t actually realized that they’d made a subtle change to both their recipe (substituting cane sugar for high fructose corn syrup) and their name (substituting Gourmet for Premium). What I thought was the Hank’s I’d reviewed in 1998 was actually a technically new root beer. I’d like to think that after seeing such a high ranking at gourmetrootbeer.com they strove to make their premium root beer even better, worthy of truly being, “Gourmet”, and renamed the brew once they’d achieved it. Regardless, change their recipe and name they did, and thus a new root beer I need to review. Since I’ve been drinking Hank’s continuously since then, the review itself comes as no surprise but I shall write it as if it did.

Sweet mother of root beer! This has an amazing Body. How root beer should taste. It’s sweet and rooty and creamy and spicy. It’s perfectly proportioned with nothing lacking. The Bite is solid but not overbearing. The Head is tall and foamy as a root beer should be. The Aftertaste is luscious vanilla that lasts the perfect amount of time.

I really, truly, love this stuff. It is perhaps as close to perfection as we can come in this imperfect world. See how it rates against other root beers.

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