Dec 152021
 

Last year my wife gave me this wonderful book for my birthday (I know, I’ve taken forever to write about it). 100 Years of A&W as released in 2019 as a celebration of, 100 years of A&W. At first I thought it would be a history book, but it’s actually more like a museum in a book. There’s not a chronological timeline of events, and they even say they didn’t want that, but there are photos of restaurants, root beer mugs, and advertising through the years, coupled with anecdotes from old employees and fans, which is actually sort of better honestly. It’s more a coffee table book, one you can just open to a random page and see pictures of uniforms throughout the years, or read the short memories of car hops who met the loves of their lives on the job, or see pictures of old menus. It’s a fabulous addition (edition?) to any root beer collection or anyone who just loves A&W root beer and all it stands for in American history. So if you don’t have it yet, I highly recommend getting a copy.

Oct 202021
 

Ass Kicking Root Beer BBQ Sauce

 

Back in 2020, before my kitchen got broke and needed to be replaced, I bought this and some other condiments off of Amazon. Then my kitchen got dead and I had to wait some ages while it got fixed (much nicer at least) before I could get a nice rack of ribs and give this a try. Thankfully the best by date is still another 6 months out. Ass Kickin’ was originally a hot sauce, using a teenager type pun (of which I approve) by having an ass, kicking. My kids sure like it cause they love this story called Brighty of the Grand Canyon, it’s about an ass named Brighty, anyways. This is very mild, no heat at all, which is good I guess but kind of off brand. But what do I know. Anyways, we made some ribs and gave this a shot.

By itself this isn’t very good at all. The flavor is acidic with tomato and also really dark and smoky but the flavors aren’t balanced. You can’t really pick out the root beer but I didn’t really expect that since the sweet spices of a brew would mingle and be lost. When cooked on ribs the flavor improves quite a bit and the ribs with it weren’t bad, but there are many more BBQ sauces I’d rather have on my ribs.

So yeah, I’m not really a BBQ sauce expert to describe how it should be, but I know what I like and this isn’t it. I couldn’t imagine dipping anything in this sauce which is one of my favorite things to do with BBQ sauce. I like the consistency of this much more than the Sprecher sauce but the flavor is worse. Maybe it’d be better if it were spicy. I don’t know. Either way, avoid this please.

 




My rack of ribs. They were, okay.
Sep 162021
 

Nature's Touch Root Beer Milk I saw someone post a picture of this on Facebook and I curiously asked where I could find it. They said QuikTrip in Minneapolis area. There are tons of those all around me! Alas the downside of driving electric, you have no idea what is being sold in local gas stations anymore. I mean, why would I go there? Root beer milk that’s why. So I did and I bought some. This root beer milk is actually made for QuikTrip, so it’s their house brand. It is also made locally. I have high hopes for a root beer milk. I’ve heard about it before and it seems to me like it could taste a lot like a root beer float if done correctly. So how was it?

It kind of tastes like root beer barrel candy at first sip, but the flavor is weak and off balance. The wintergreen comes through bitter and clashes with the milk flavor. Despite there being a lot of sugar, it doesn’t taste very sweet. It really doesn’t taste good at all.

Yuk! This is bad. Like, really not good. My kids wouldn’t even drink it. I have no idea who thinks this is good or why, but someone must. Yet I think it’s the worst flavored milk I’ve ever had. Stay away, unless you are a glutton for punishment.