Hosmer Mountain Sarsaparilla Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
May 022012
 

I like a diverse brand. Any brand that feels they need to make more than one root beer flavor makes the world a better place in my opinion (except for Journey but that’s another story). So I was pleased to find that Hosmer Mountain makes a sarsaparilla root beer as well as their regular. Note that isn’t a sarsaparilla. I don’t review sarsaparillas. They’re not root beers. This is a sarsaparilla root beer, much like Dang! That’s Good makes a butterscotch root beer, and Frostie makes a vanilla root beer. Though, my most recent experience with a sarsaparilla flavored root beer (Hartridge’s) didn’t turn out so well so I wasn’t sure what to expect for this one. Though this one is “bottled in the land of swift moving waters” so has to be good right?

It has a nice creamy Body with a distinct sarsaparilla flavor in addition to the more standard root beer flavors. The brown sugar is noticeable. The Bite is adequate without being overbearing from both spices and carbonation with the overall mouth feel very smooth. The Head is nice and tall. It fizzes down a tad faster than I prefer, but it still lasts plenty long. The Aftertaste is sticky wintergreen and vanilla with hints of sarsaparilla.

Yum! Though it has sarsaparilla, it’s still definitely a root beer and it’s definitely good. It seems that with this one they corrected all of the flaws of their regular root beer and then added that sarsaparilla to change things up a bit. And you know what, variety is nice. I look forward to more of this in the future. See how it rates against other root beers.




III Dachshunds Old Fashioned Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Apr 252012
 

So the fine people at beveragesdirect.com brought to my attention that there were several fine brews that they sell that I hadn’t reviewed, including III Dachshunds,which just so happens to be the root beer analogue of Dos Equis (Two ‘X’s in Spanish, you know 2 ‘x’s, 3 Dachshunds, it totally makes sense). They sell a lot of it to one man in particular. He travels around the world, so more people have the opportunity to meet him. He gives motivational speeches, just by looking in your direction. He once said something stupid, just to see what it was like. He’s, the Second Most Interesting Man in the World (almost as cool as the Most Interesting Man). He doesn’t always drink root beer, but when he does, he prefers III Dachshunds. Of course when I heard this I immediately made arrangements to procure all of the necessary brews. So why does he prefer it?

Because it has an amazingly sweet and creamy Body. It has the right flavors, sassafras, caramel, vanilla, and hints of wintergreen. There’s a pretty good Bite from carbonation and spices as well, but it is still very smooth going down. The Head, unfortunately, is barely an inch tall. It is however very frothy so it lasts several minutes. The Aftertaste is creamy vanilla with accents of wintergreen.

This is a delicious brew. I understand why the Second Most Interesting Man in the World prefers it. Probably the next time I’m out deep sea fishing, safariing, white water kayaking, or otherwise adventuring in the second most interesting way possible, I’ll have this at my side, at least some of the time. Sayth the bottle, “Time for a Treat” Indeed. I’ll take two if you please. See how it rates against other root beers.




Francis Hartridge’s Celebrated Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Apr 182012
 

A British made root beer! That’s right folks, the chaps across the pond thought they’d give root beer brewing a try. And not just any chaps, but the Hartridges (whose coat of arms features prominently on the neck of the bottle). Francis Hartidge himself, the distinguished gentleman on the label, allegedly brought this recipe back from the Americas. Luckily for me my project manager (a tosser really) hails from Hampshire and actually likes to visit home for some reason rather frequently. I found the nearest stockist to his house and to my joy he returned after Christmas vacation with a kingly gift indeed, two bottles of the Celebrated Root Beer. I must say that I was certainly celebrating. However, he said he tried a bottle himself and it tasted like washing up liquid, then again, he says all root beers taste like that and other bullocks along those lines.

The Body is fruity with a noticeable sarsaparilla flavor on the initial contact but then quickly fades to a watery sour flavor. There really isn’t much root beer flavor but there is a lot of sour fruity. Perhaps that’s due to there being more citric acid in this than flavor (as per the ingredients). There is a strong acidic Bite, both from the sour and carbonation, not the best. The Head’s pretty decent. It’s very tall but quickly fizzes down, kind of like the Head on Barq’s. The Aftertaste is a faint fruity sarsaparilla but rather empty.

So yeah, really sweet and fruity, not really root beer. What rubbish! He was right, if you want a good root beer this is like washing up liquid. I suppose the trainspotters with nothing better to do would think drinking this to be quite diverting. But really, Francis Hartridge dropped a bullock on this one. It reminds me a lot like Bundaberg but not even that good. Those Brits seem to have the same affliction of the Aussies when it comes to root beer. Shame indeed. See how it rates against other root beers.




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