Bottled Root Beers – Eric's Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Deadworld Root Beer Creeper

Oct 072026

It’s October so I have to do something Halloween themed, or try at least, and this year I have a nice zombie themed root beer! Now, if you remember (please tell me I have people who regularly still follow this blog), about 11 years ago I also had two root beers from Deadworld, a regular and a vanilla. And I loved them. Seals of Approval and everything. Sometime in those last 11 years, the Deadworld Zombie soda flavors has dropped from 12 to only 5. Additionally the mascots for the flavors have changed. Gone are Slow Decay and Twilight Shuffler as well as the vanilla root beer entirely. Now there is only Creeper. Sadly, there’s no backstory on the label as to who creeper is, maybe just a generic zombie. From a recipe standpoint, that is different too, with different ingredients and nutrition information. Sad to see two nice root beers gone but excited to try something new. As I poured this out I noticed that they’ve colored it not the standard brown, but it looks almost black, which is on point for the zombie theme, but a bit confusing for a root beer.

The Body has a strong caramel flavor. It’s sweet and rich and there’s vanilla over a classic core. Quite delicious. The Bite is a bit prickly with spices. The Head is abysmal, sadly. Gone in seconds, super short. The Aftertaste is caramel and vanilla.

Yum, it’s got a great flavor. I really love caramel in root beer and the “contains milk” allergen warning confirms what my tastebuds were screaming, they used the real deal. Sadly, that pathetic Head does it in. No matter how tasty, I can’t give the Seal without that lovely foam. I’m glad Deadworld Soda still makes a tasty root beer, but ultimately, I take this as a severe step back. See how it rates against other root beers.

Faxon Farms Maple Root Beer

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Jul 012026

Minnesota has this thing called The Renaissance Festival, or Ren Fest for short. My family likes to attend because you can watch jousting while eating giant smoked turkey legs and do other fun activities and buy things at shops and dress up like a knight and whatnot. Last year, my sister found this being sold in one of the shops and bought me a bottle to review. I always appreciate people finding me new root beers. Faxon farms is a local producer of pure maple syrup that got started out of a hobby in 2010. They’ve expanded operations over the years to not just make pure maple syrup but also pure maple syrup products, including this root beer. I do love small farm maple syrup, being a hobbyist myself. I also love a good maple root beer.

The Body has a rich maple flavor with honey but quite mild on the rest of the root beer flavors. It starts strong but doesn’t maintain. The Bite is smooth, not really any spices. The Head is very short, gone quickly. Not quite the “2-Second Head”, but close. The Aftertaste is maple. Good maple. Quality maple, but that’s it.

This has a great maple, but not not so much a great root beer. I find that happens often, with maple or other flavored root beers. You make an amazing maple syrup, you want to make that into an amazing root beer, but you are not a root beer expert so you lean into your strength. You can’t just take a root beer and add maple, or even a good root beer and add maple, but you need to formulate what will be an amazing root beer because of its maple. That’s hard to do. As it stands, the delicious maple makes for a drinkable root beer, but not much else. See how it rates against other root beers.

Fuddy Duddy’s Root Beer

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Sep 032025

The final root beer from the batch trade with anthony. Fuddy Duddy’s is a confectionary in Owego, New York. It’s also a Soda Works. Should I call this Fuddy Duddy’s Confectionary Soda Works Root Beer? Seems really long. I’ll stick with just Fuddy Duddy’s. Fun fact, fuddy duddy is actually a slightly derogatory term (if Google is to be believed) but it means old fashioned and fussy. So, I suppose if you’re trying to make an old timey confectionary soda works and are persnickety about the quality, then fuddy duddy could be a good thing? Anyways the shades of green label with far too many fonts does give me an old timey feel.

The Body is sweet with a classic flavor. There’s a nice vanilla flavor as well. It could be a little creamier and a little fuller, but it’s quite nice. The Bite is sharp and spicy that’s almost a little too much. It doesn’t finish very smooth either. The Head, well, here it really falls short, pun intended. The classic 2-second head that I haven’t seen in awhile. What shame. The Aftertaste is a lovely vanilla that lasts the right amount of time.

This brew’s a little bit rough on Bite and quite disappointing on the Head, but still good overall. It’s refreshing and has good flavor so it’ll do in a pinch but not something to seek out. Their website shows lots of old fashioned chocolates and candies so maybe the confectionary is worth the visit, but I don’t know as I am only here for the brew. See how it rates against other root beers.

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