Oct 172018
 

Whistler Classic Soda Butterscotch Root Beer Bottle So the fine folks at Whistler Classic Soda have been busy. They’ve built the wonderful Blue Sun Soda Shop, a veritable cathedral of craft soda. It’s just north of Minneapolis, which means I can now drop by. I’ve seen soda shops before, but none like this. Soda is first and everything else comes second. They’ve got over 1300 flavors of glass bottled sodas, over 100 root beers. Granted, I’ve had almost all those root beers, but they still get some new ones. Plus, they’ve got a classic arcade with a window looking into the bottling plant. With a super fast soda chiller (3 minutes) this is a place you can just spend the afternoon, drinking your favorite brews and slamming quarters in the pinball machines (which I did when I picked up this root beer). Whistler itself has even expanded their flavors to include this butterscotch root beer among other new ones. They got bigger bottles too. You’ll have to click the picture in this post to see the cap which denotes the flavor. Returnable bottles and identical labeling help keep the costs lower.

The Body has a nice full butterscotch flavor, but a conspicuous lack of anything else. There’s also something off under the surface, an alkaline flavor of sorts. This flavor continues into the Bite, which is mild other than this alkaline burn. The Head is short, but it lingers. The Aftertaste is a light, sweet, butterscotch that is eventually replaced with this baking soda type flavor.

Yeah, this is not the best. It isn’t terrible though. I just really don’t like it. Why can’t I like these guys’ soda. They’re 0/3 for drinkable ratings, but I love everything else about these guys. I’ll be a frequent visitor of their store, but I don’t see me buying more of their root beers. Maybe their next flavor will be a win? Here’s hoping. See how it rates against other root beers.

2.5/5 Root Beer Kegs




Oct 102018
 

Sky Valley Root Beer BottleSeldom do you find an organic root beer. Even rarer is one that isn’t some diet abomination. A friend, The Root Beer Tracker found this and we set up a trade. After he mailed it I realized that I could have just bought it at Whole Foods and saved myself some shipping, oh well, I got to share some root beer love. The brew itself is made by Sky Valley Foods in Danville, VA. They have slightly lower than average sugar but are by no means a diet. The bottle is rather plain, with not much other than the bear and the name. Plus they mention it’s organic, twice. Three times if you count the USDA Organic seal. Five if you count the back of the label. Nine if you count the ingredients as well. And 10 if you count their website. Basically they want to make sure that anywhere you look you’ll see at least three mentions of organic, in case there was any doubt. I personally couldn’t care less about organic, but I do care about taste and Head and whatnot.

The Body is not very sweet. There’s vanilla and a decent core with some slight licorice notes, but then there is some strange aged, fruity, sour, flavor that surfaces. Perusing the ingredients shows apple cider vinegar, which fits the flavor perfectly. Why would they do that? There really is no Bite to speak of. None whatsoever, a big gaping hole is all there is. For the lack of Bite, it is only sort of smooth. The Head is decent, both with height and staying power. The Aftertaste is vanilla and apple cider vinegar. Again, why would they do that?

Seriously, they lost me with apple cider vinegar. I can’t think of anyone, who, drinking a root beer, thought to themselves, “you know what this needs, some apple cider vinegar” Yet that’s what they’ve made. It really just messes the whole thing up. It’d be okay without that, but with it, no good at all. Just stay clear of this one. See how it rates against other root beers.

2 out of 5 root beer kegs




Aug 152018
 

Stewart's Fountain Classics Root Beer BottleAwhile back I noticed that Stewart’s changed their recipe slightly. Not the drive-in Stewart’s, the bottled. They also added a “Fountain Classics” to their label. I’m pretty sure that means they’re a new root beer for me to try. And good thing too, it’s hard to keep finding new root beers, I mean, I need to drink 52 per year if I’m going to keep this Wednesday review going, and that ain’t easy. If only every new company would just mail me two bottles to try when they start up then I’d never have to worry about any of that … anyways, Stewart’s. It’s now Stewart’s Fountain Classics, it is still “Original” as in original from the original recipe, because it’s changed and all so it can’t be the original but it can still be original. And if that weren’t confusing enough, Stewart’s is also still “Cold Brewed Draft” which still makes no sense.

The Body is a little on the lighter side but has a classic flavor with some nice vanilla. The Bite is present but nothing special, just a little pique and burn. The Head is nice and tall and lingers. The Aftertaste is mild vanilla, not strong but good.

Not bad at all. In fact it’s quite refreshing. There is nothing really special about this but it’s nice and pleasant. There is also nothing bad or out of place which makes it better than the Original so this whole reformulation is a step in the right direction. I still won’t give it a Seal though, it’s not that good. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three and a half kegs