Draft and Keg Root Beers – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Rattlesnake Mountain Brewing Company Root Beer

Oct 022024

Back in July I went out to the TriCities for a work conference. It felt good to be back in my home turf, having grown up in that area. Since it had been a few years since I’d been there, I figured it was worth trying for more root beer. I found, though not through their official site, that Rattlesnake Mountain Brewing Company made their own root beer, but tries to keep it a secret, evidently. I only learned of its existence through a review that someone left about them. I called and they confirmed it existed, but when I finally got there, it wasn’t even on the menu. I felt like part of an exclusive club at that point, you gotta know about it or they won’t even tell you. Another interesting thing is that, if you know the local geography, you’ll immediately notice that this brewery is much much closer to Badger Mountain than Rattlesnake Mountain, but there already is a Badger Mountain Brewing though that isn’t anywhere near this Badger Mountain, so maybe there’s more than one Badger Mountain in the same state? I think I’ve really strayed from my root beer story. So anyways, I showed up with a crew in tow of coworkers and customers and we sat down and they informed us trivia was going to start and if we wanted to play. So we were all like, “sure” then they wanted a name for our team, my coworkers looked to me but I replied, “I don’t know, I’m in a root beer mindset.” And thus team Root Beer Mindset was born. So while I got to reviewing this brew, I would interject answers to the surprise of the team “Anne of Green Gables”, “Baltic Sea”, “Weird Al Yankovic”, “Bushido code”, etc.

The Body is sweet and complex with a sassafras and licorice flavor with a little vanilla and wintergreen coming through. The licorice is very tame, just enough to add but not anywhere near overpowering. The Bite is nice and spicy and prickly but it still is rather smooth on the finish. The Head is non-existent. This is very sad. The Aftertaste has a caramelized sugar with a bit of licorice.

It’s a good complex flavor, but that utter lack of head really ruins it, which is sad. It was still quite nice and went really well with the apps we got. We also managed to win trivia, surprisingly, making this for quite the night for all involved.

**The Rattlesnake Mountain Brewing Company**

**Some bacon wrapped jalapeno popper things that were amazing.**

Bishop’s Beer Root Beer

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Sep 042024

The second brew on my roadtrip from Idaho back to Minnesota. This one come from the Bacon & Bleu Family Restaurant in Idaho Falls. I’d found out about it on the way there but didn’t have time to visit it till the way back. The root beer itself is named after the founder’s grandfather, Daune Bishop, who would make homemade root beer. In true old homemade fashion, the Bishop’s Beer is yeast carbonated, something that both intrigues and scares me whenever I hear it. Despite already having tried a root beer that day, I was determined to try another, because it seemed too unique to pass up. They also sell country fried bacon but more on that.

The Body is sweet with a homemade sarsaparilla and sassafras flavor that’s yeasty but not overpowering. Other than the yeast, the rest of the flavors are more of just a core root beer flavor, without a lot of garnishes but it works well. The Bite is mild, there’s not a lot of carbonation nor spice, but it’s nice and smooth. The Head is medium height if you ask for it like that. It fizzes down pretty quickly though. The Aftertaste is sweet, sort of a sarsaparilla with yeast that’s suprisingly refreshing.

This is quite good. Surprisingly so for yeast carbonated. Dare I say, it’s the best yeast brew I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing (most were anything but a pleasure). Not quite Seal of Approval, but still good. I love the fact that the restaurant has a dedicated root beer tap and kegerator just on its own where they get the root beer orders. Not even remotely close to any other drink filling. Just really highlights that brew. We ordered that country fried bacon and fried pickle chips as chasers and wow! I didn’t know I needed deep fried bacon and country gravy in my life, until I had. It may be the new perfect pairing with a frosty mug of brew. If a good yeast root beer isn’t enough to get you to Bacon & Bleu, add some delicous country fried bacon and you realize that this is a must vist.

**Country fried bacon and fried pickle chips. Great to share with the family over a frosty mug of brew.**

**Bacon** **and Bleu Restaurant. Note the root beer signage.**

Magic Valley Brewing Rockhound Root Beer

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Aug 072024

Last month I took my yearly road trip from Minneapolis to Idaho. I always make a point of stopping on someplace new along the way in order to spice it up. There’s also some friends that we like to visit along the way. Some of those live in the small town of Buhl. This time, out of curiosity, I checked to see if there were any breweries in this town of a little under 5,000. As luck would have it, there was exactly one, Magic Valley Brewing. I called them and they had root beer! So after lunch with our friends we dropped by to try their Rockhound Root Beer. The brewery has been there for only eight years. There’s a small brewpub that serves food as well. They try to source local and use fresh honey, ginger, and herbs in their different pops, ginger ale, cream soda, and root beer. They must not use any coloring because this root beer is blonde, something that usually gives me pause in a brewery root beer.

The Body is full and flavorful with that old fashioned profile that’s rich in wintergreen and licorice, but not too much licorice. There’s a little vanilla but not quite enough. It could be a little sweeter too, but it is quite complex and generally good. The Bite is all manner of spicy! I love that spice. The Head is abysmal, sadly. The Aftertaste is wintergreen and finishes a little bitter.

Interesting, a blonde brewery root beer that doesn’t taste all weird and herb tea-ish. It’s got good flavor for the most part, but it’s a little too bitter and has a terrible head. I didn’t try any of the food here, but this brew is good enough to drink with your meal. Plus the novelty of very small town root beer should not be ignored.

**The Magic Valley Brewing in downtown Buhl**

**The Magic Valley Brewing Taps. The pops are the far right.**

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