Fresh off my weekend in Duluth, I found myself in Sacramento, with another root beer target on my mind, Big A Root Beer Drive-In. I’d known about it for awhile but this trip saw me with enough time to make the hour and fifteen minute drive up to Grass Valley. Their website doesn’t give a lot of information about them, other than they make their own root beer fresh and it’s creamy and real and draft and seriously, that’s a little long for a name. Anyways, the building itself looks like an old A&W Drive-In, which makes sense. Sharing my adventure was my grandma, some aunts, and my mom, who happened to be in Sacramento that day.
The Body is sweet and rich with a classic flavor that is overflowing with delicious vanilla. It’s so sweet and smooth you feel you could just take a bath in all that vanilla. The Bite is subtle, with a nice blend of spices complimenting the Body and it finishes very smooth. The Head is excellent. Tall and foamy. The Aftertaste is a sweet vanilla that lasts and lasts.
Wow! After nearly 420 root beers, it takes a lot to impress me, yet, after my first drink, I was so overcome that I blurted out “Oh wow! It’s good!” The free refills are bad news, because before I knew it, I’d downed three 20 oz mugs of the stuff. I couldn’t help myself. It was so amazing. If there’s anything at all lacking in this brew, it could use a little more Bite, just a little, and it would achieve perfection. As it stands, I’d say that this is probably the 2nd highest rated 4.5, just a hair below 5. * The food at the place is top notch as well. I asked for recommendations, and took the deluxe bacon burger with avocado and a side of pesto garlic fries. I was in heaven. This place is a must visit, if you are a root beer fan. Seriously, stop what you’re doing and plan a trip to Big A Root Beer Drive-In right now!
*update I’ve thought about this a lot, and I should have given this a 5, other than Hank’s and Surf City, no root beer has moved me so nor inspired me to drink myself sick. So, the rating is updated, I appologize for not having the courage to do this sooner.
Day two of the Duluth family adventure. We went walking around the shopping district on the lakefront, went to some parks, and went to the Aquarium. It’s a fun aquarium, all freshwater themed, let’s you pet sturgeon and stuff like that. But then it was root beer time. I’d heard Bent Paddle Brewery had some amazing root beer on tap. They do, it’s 1919. Quality stuff that, but I wanted something new!!! So I went to Lake Superior Brewing Company, because I knew they had Roller Root Beer. Lake Superior Brewery was founded in 1995. Before craft brewing was “cool”, according to them. After we got there, however, we were informed that they’d sold out the night before. What a disappointment. I despondently asked if he knew another brewery that had root beer. He responded that Ursa Minor Brewery, a short walk away, carried their root beer! Huzzah! So off to Ursa Minor for root beer.
This past weekend I took a little weekend excursion with the family to see Duluth, MN. There’s lots of cool things up in Duluth and they’d never seen a great lake before. But let’s be honest, there were breweries up there and I needed to try root beer. Friday night dinner destination was Fitger’s Brewhouse. Fitger’s Brewing Company was at one point the oldest continuous operating brewery in the state of Minnesota, having been founded in 1859. However, in 1972, it fell victim to post war consolidation, and shuttered its doors. In 1995, the historic brewery building was converted into a mall with various shops and restaurants and Fitger’s Brewhouse, a small brewpub. In addition to a line of their own beers, they also make Driftwood Root Beer.
