Nov 062024
 
Seal of Approval

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.

5 out of 5 Kegs, Elixer of the Gods

Jul 102024
 

Back in February I found myself in Vermont for the first time in my life. If you want to know why, it was DERMS, DERMS of course it was DERMS. We actually flew into Albany and then drove to Rutland. I searched feverishly along the way to find some brewery making some maple syrup root beer to no avail. The second night there, I went to a grocery store to buy some snacks and found this local store brand. Hannaford is a grocery store chain up in those parts which I had never encountered before. They’re headquartered in Massachusetts so I think they’re a New England thing. They make a root beer using natural extracts and spices in small batches, if their marketing is to be believed. They also don’t use any preservatives. They also offer a double money back gaurantee so if I hate this I can make money. I do like the sound of that. More brands should pay me if I’m dissatisfied with their brews.

The Body is sweet and a little creamy. It’s also a bit weak. There’s a nice spicy Bite, with clove featuring prominently. The Head is decent. It’s medium tall and fizzes down slowly so there’s always some foam. The Aftertaste is slightly spicy clove with the smallest hint of wintergreen.

This is decidedly mid. I mean, that’s to be expected from a store brand. I’ll give that it isn’t generic, but it’s still mid. Better mid than none I say, when I comes to gourmet root beer, however. And I think as Drinkable, I don’t need my money back, so there’s that. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three kegs

Jun 052024
 
Seal of Approval

Henry Weinhard’s was for ages my root beer standard while I was living on the West Coast. They had tweaked their recipe several times over the decades but it always still tasted the same. The name had never changed so it always left me with a bit of a conundrum as to whether or not I should rereview it. In the years since I’ve moved to Minnesota, they finally added a “Gourmet Soda” tag to their name so I can safely differentiate it from the Henry’s that’s gone before. While I wish they had never changed their recipe, it does give me more things to review and more bottles to add to the collection. My biggest fear was they somehow ruined the brew that for ages was the gold standard of root beer for me.

The Body is sweet and creamy with rich vanilla and a hint of honey flavor. It is nearly perfectly balanced, tasting just like you expect a creamy root beer to taste. The Bite is smoooth, and yet there is a bit of spice and carbonation tingle. The Head is amazing, a standard to which all other root beers must be held. Tall, foamy, lasts forever, pour carefully lest you overflow your mug. The Aftertaste is a nice caramely vanilla that lasts the perfect amount of time.

It’s nice to see that a slightly new name and ingredients mess this up. I’m quite pleased that it is basically indistinguishable from its predicessors where I can still give it my Seal and place it in the highest echellon of fine brews. See how it rates against other root beers.

4.5 Kegs