Dec 162020
 

Fresh Thyme Root Beer Drops
Last Christmas my son gave me some different root beer candies that I hadn’t ever had. He found them at Fresh Thyme, a sort of organic “farmer’s market” that sells the sorts of things you’d expect from that type of place. In their candy section they have several types of old fashion candies including these root beer drops. As far as I can tell, they are actually made for Fresh Thyme, so that’s what I’m saying the brand is. They are only my second root beer drops ever, so I wonder just how different they are from the first.

The nice sugar dusting flavor gives way to a rather generic, minty root beer flavor. The more you suck on it, the stronger the wintergreen flavor grows, to almost overpower the root beer. It’s not bad though, just not as good as it could be.

They’re slightly different, I would say, not as good. But it’s really hard to have a standout or an utter failure amongst root beer hard candies. That said, I probably would never buy them again, but at the same time if someone gave me some, I wouldn’t be upset.




Nov 182020
 

A quart of Honey & Mackie's root beer ice creamNot far from my house is a lovely craft ice cream shop called Honey & Mackie’s. They do small batch, hand mixed flavors that are truly top notch. Many a summer afternoon or evening, we’ve strolled there to get a waffle cone full of their decadent treats. They also have fries. Loaded fries that are kind of like a poutine, but not exactly but will definitely fill you up and are as high quality as their ice cream. So yeah, it’s one of those gems you find sometimes. They rotate through various flavors and this past week they made root beer ice cream, so I had to get some. Their method was to use root beer candy sticks, crush them up, and mix them in. I wasn’t sure how that would work, but I immediately went and bought a quart to give it a try.

It’s very rich and sweet with a distinct, minty root beer flavor. There’s lots of creamy vanilla, obviously, but it still tastes more root beer than float. The ice cream itself is very sticky and gooey and high quality. Despite being so rich and well flavored, it isn’t overpowering nor overly sweet.

Oh yum. This does not disappoint. It’s exactly the sort of quality you would expect from Honey & Mackie’s, if you’ve been there before and were expecting. This is hands down the best root beer ice cream I’ve ever had. I hope they bring it back as I would love to get this with maybe a scoop of cinnamon in a waffle cone. Anyways, if you’re in the Twin Cities area, you should definitely head over there. You won’t regret it.




The root beer (and some other) ice cream. It’s kind of pink. Strange color.

All of the different Honey & Mackie’s Flavors

Oct 212020
 

Sprecher Root Beer BBQ SauceThe last good of my Sprecher Root Beer Products order. The Barbecue Sauce. I love me some barbecue sauce. I always put it on burgers, fries, chicken strips, ribs, etc. I always am pouring copious amounts of it on my barbecue. In my opinion, fries are merely a vehicle to eat barbecue sauce. So this was the one I was the most excited for. We waited for a special occasion and then made a nice rack of ribs topped with the sauce for a first taste.

It’s a rather runny sauce, which is unexpected. The flavor is a little ketchupy and tangy, with a bit of tart spice. The root beer doesn’t really come out like it does in their mustard. When cooked on ribs, it thickens nicely and gives a great flavor, though not the root beer flavor that I’d hoped.

That was kind of disappointing. I later tried it on a hamburger and a chicken burger and some fries and I’ll just give it an okay. It’s not really my style, and the root beer doesn’t really shine though. It isn’t bad by any means, just not what you’ll probably be looking for when you get a root beer barbecue sauce. I’m looking for something thick that I can dip all my things, whereas this seems more like a marinade sauce than a finishing/dipping sauce.

My rack of Sprecher Root Beer Barbecue ribs.

My rack of Sprecher Root Beer Barbecue ribs.