May 032017
 

Wisco Pop! Root Beer Bottle Another root beer with crowd funding roots. Like the others I donated, shared on social media and even wrote a blog post about it. And, once again, after all of that work, once the bottled product was hitting the shelves, there was no response to my requests to purchase some to review. I had to get some from a place called Fizzy Waters. This has no preservatives whatsoever, so they had to ship it overnight with an ice pack in it. It was pricey. Supposedly this can never be not cold. It’s made is Wisconsin (hence the Wisco) with only real, whole, natural ingredients like turbinado sugar, Wisconsin maple syrup (that’s a thing?), and sarsaparilla. The label keeps it pretty plain, though they’ve got too many fonts. They also are one of those few companies who likes to put an exclamation point in their name, which means you really should shout it whenever you say it.

The Body has a strong and pleasant herbal flavor with notes of sarsaparilla and molasses and a little maple. There’s quite a lot of other flavors going on in there and the net effect is that it comes across as an herb tea. The Bite is spicy and fizzy with lots of clove and cinnamon. The Head is very short but foamy. The Aftertaste is herbal molasses that lingers awhile.

Another herb tea type brew. These are not my favorite. I don’t know who’s idea of root beer is a carbonated herb tea, but I’ve encountered enough of them to have them as their own genre. It’s the most different take on root beer and I really wonder who started it, because I really wish they hadn’t. Oh well. If you like herb tea brews, this is for you, I’ll pass. See how it rates against other root beers.

2.5/5 Root Beer Kegs




Apr 262017
 

Levi's Root Beer Soda Bottle Levis is an old root beer. From back way in 1895. It was originally served at a marble soda fountain at a place called Levis, that served hot dogs and fish cakes and what not. After seeing the success of Hires’ brew, Levis made his root beer even better with a bold flavor, if the back of the bottle is to be believed. The hot dog stand is actually still there and has been continuously operating since its inception. It doesn’t say when the root beer started to be bottled, but currently the bottled version is owned and distributed by Amazing Beverages. The back of the bottle claims that it’s bottled with the same flavor used for almost 100 years, but they can’t be using exactly the same recipe because they only use part sugar and part sucralose. It still has enough sugar for me to consider it not a diet (25g) but it kind of is some strange hybrid type almost. I can’t imagine that does anything to improve the flavor. It does only have 100 calories per bottle which was probably the reason for the sugar dial down. To appeal to some strange health conscious subset of the population.

The Body is weak with a prominent sour and icky fake sugar taste. Why did they put sucralose in it instead of another 15g of sugar? The Bite is a bit harsh from carbonation and sour. The Head is medium-tall and lingers an average amount of time. It’s not super foamy but it’s okay. The Aftertaste is an icky sucralose flavor that coats my teeth and doesn’t go away.

This stuff is bad, and is what happens when somebody wants to reduce the calories in their root beer a little bit. I mean really, do you think anyone going for a bottle of soda is going to not get it because it has another 40 calories? Has there ever been anyone, in the history of the world, who thinks that the fake sweetener flavor is somehow better than real sugar? I will give them the fact that despite the fake sugar detraction, it does taste old-school-soda-fountiany. See how it rates against other root beers.

2 out of 5 root beer kegs




Apr 122017
 

Ramblin' Root Beer Bottle I like it when I get to taste resurrected brands. Especially if they came from a major company. Ramblin’ was originally introduced in 1979 by none other than The Coca-Cola Company. In the 80’s they even had an ad for it with a cameo by a young Sarah Jessica Parker. Additionally, this brew would often cause classic rock lovers to spontaneously break into either Led Zeppelin or Allman Brothers Band songs (I’m sure it did … I did when I was drinking it…). Yet despite that, sales slowed, and in 1995 Coke decided to Ramble On, as it were, to another root beer, and bought Barq’s, because it had bite, and Johnny could tell the world, or something. And Ramblin’ was relegated to the dust bins of history, or it was until 2015, when Monarch Beverages acquired the brand and the recipe. So now it’s back for us all to enjoy.

First I must say the Head on this is amazing. It is probably the tallest I’ve ever seen. And it has a lot of staying power, so pour with caution, or you’ll be waiting awhile. I’ve never ever said you could have too much of a Head, but this almost makes me think that. The Body is pleasant with a prominent sarsaparilla flavor in a Barq’s-y sort of way. There’s some caramel and vanilla hints as well. The Bite is not very strong though some spice is there. The Aftertaste is vanilla and sarsaparilla mixed so that it almost reminds me of cola.

This is nice, but not quite there, despite the most epic Head ever, I cannot give it a Seal. But it’ll do when gettin’ the Led out. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three and a half kegs