This past weekend the family and I went to the Children’s Museum in Everett. Before we left I thought I’d check Google to see if any new breweries had popped up. The closest one was At Large Brewing Company. I gave them a call and they said they did have their own root beer on tap. It was only a 15 minute walk away, and the weather was nice, so off we went to get some brew. At Large Brewing has only been open since Memorial Day, and doesn’t yet have a proper restaurant. Their root beer is from a custom made Cascade Beer Candi Syrup flavor, which they then mix and carbonate at the brewery and serve on tap. It’s called Designation Root Beer for some reason. I should have asked. Their tap room is kid friendly and had a bean bag toss game. They also serve hot dogs and pretzels with plans to expand to a full restaurant some day.
The Body is sweet with a strong wintergreen flavor that has some bitter notes. It’s like those standard dark/old fashioned root beers without any licorice. The Bite is sharp and spicy, from clove I think. There is not really any Head at all, but there is good carbonation. The Aftertaste is more wintergreen that ends a little bitter.
This is okay, but a little one dimensional. It’s like half a root beer, a good half to be sure, but there should be a strong vanilla flavor or a (very) light licorice flavor or something to go with that wintergreen and clove. It’d make a nice float though, which they also serve there, so I can see this being a hit in that combo, but I think I’ll pass on it plain next time I’m in the neighborhood.
The At Large Brewing Company’s Brewing Vats
The different taps. Root Beer is the far left.
I discovered the Ice Harbor Brewing Company several years ago when my younger sister returned from her mission. She flew into Pasco, WA and we all went to meet her. I did a google search and found that they had root beer but we didn’t have time to go there. I swore that the next time I was in the Tri-Cities, I would get that brew. And then my little brothers went off on their missions, and I didn’t have the brau. But then last week they came back, and I went to meet them at the airport, and finally we could all go out to eat and celebrate with my parents and my aunt and uncle. Ice Harbor Brewing Company has two locations in Kennewick, and they are only about five blocks apart. We went to their location at the marina on Clover Island in the Columbia River, which is more family friendly with better food. They don’t do any of the brewing there though, sadly. We all ordered root beer and they asked if we just wanted pitchers, to which I responded that I was a reviewer and I’d like my pint freshly filled from the tap with lots of foam if possible. They first brought it in a plastic soda cup which I said was unacceptable and to bring me a proper pint. Obviously they don’t get too many root beer snobs in there.
I have the best friends. Especially a fellow by the last name of Clapp aka, The Clappicus Maximus, member extraordinaire of the elite Humans vs Zombies clan The Cowboys from Hell. He likes craft beers the way I like craft root beers (also Fanta but that’s another tale), and is always going to different breweries and taprooms and such. Whenever he sees a unique root beer he’ll text me to see if I’ve tried it, and I’ve gotten quite a few nice brews this way. This last week he discovered this at The Watershed Pub & Kitchen in Northgate, and let me know. I had to head over that same week since Glacier Brewhouse is in Anchorage and Watershed rotates their taps, so who knows when I’d ever find it again. This is only the second root beer I’ve ever had from Alaska, and to be honest, I’m not sure how many other root beers there are from there. 
