Draft and Keg Root Beers – Page 2 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Old 121 Root Beer

Dec 042024

My 500th root beer! I can’t believe that the journey I started in 1998 would lead me to so many amazing brews and now here I am with 500 done. I tried to make this a special review, because, I didn’t want just any old random bottle of root beer in my fridge (which I’ve been sitting on for 2 months now). While this isn’t some storied, legendary root beer I’ve forever been questing for, I did review it on election night on November 5th, which is pretty epic one way or another. I was traveling and in Golden Colorado and was looking for something local and found the Old 121 Brewhouse which makes their own root beer and one other flavor of soda. That one was coconut cream soda. It’s also a woman owned brewery so, appropriate because there was a woman on the ballot? I’m not getting any more political than that. I don’t endorse candidates unless they have public pro root beer policies like, um … Hank’s is the best root beer or there needs to be a White House Root Beer Sommelier or root beer subsidies or something like that, which doesn’t happen, so yeah. Anyways, it was an epic night for an epic 500th review.

The Body is sweet with sassafras and hints of wintergreen and vanilla. It’s got a sort of darker take on the classic flavor profile. The Bite is smooth but a little prickly. There isn’t a lot of spice. The Head is nice medium height and solidly foamy, which is rather rare for breweries lately. The Aftertaste is slightly bitter from wintergreen that finishes with tinges of vanilla.

This is decent. It’s a tasty one that doesn’t really stand out much but isn’t bad at all. It’s a little better than average the sort of root beer everyone will enjoy. It’d go well with food but they don’t really do meals there, just some snacks. I also tried their coconut cream soda because, why not, and that was also tasty. So, ultimately fun, but nothing crazy mind blowing, like maybe also the election, no matter what happens there’s always another one in another four years, just like there’s always another root beer for me to review.

The Old 121 Brewhouse taps. Root Beer second from the left.

The Old 121 brewing vats. The root beer is made by the smallest one on the far right.

The Old 121 Brewhouse on a snowy election night.

Rattlesnake Mountain Brewing Company Root Beer

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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.**

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