Draft and Keg Root Beers – Page 29 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Schilo’s Root Beer

Feb 122014

A Mug of Schilo's Root Beer A few weeks ago I was down in San Antonio for DistribuTECH where I was making a presentation on Cold Load Pickup. My usual Google search of “root beer ” turned up Schilo’s Delicatessen which boasts their own homemade root beer, and it was only two blocks away from my hotel. My first afternoon in San Antonio found me at Schilo’s for lunch and brew. The deli itself is about 100 years old and has been in its current location for around 70. It was started by a German family and is still run by a German family, though not the same one. The root beer was introduced during prohibition and they’ve kept the same original recipe ever since. They make it fresh every day in kegs, which are they then tap out from underneath a sweet wooden barrel arrangement.

The Body is sweet and rich and caramely. There’s tons of creamy vanilla complementing a spicy sassafras flavor. So, so good. The Bite is nearly perfect with loads of spice and the right amount of carbonation. It finishes very smooth. The Head is nice and foamy, though it could be a little taller and foamier. It’s good enough, but not quite perfect like the rest. The Aftertaste is lovely spiced vanilla.

Wow, wow, WOW! Every few years a root beer comes along that totally blows me away and this is one of them. I went back every day to get a mug and a free refill. The more I had, the more I loved it. It’s so rich and creamy and delicious. If the Head had been perfect, this would be a 5, but it was just slightly less than, so it only gets a 4.5. I’d say this is one of the top 5 brews I’ve ever had. It’s definitely worth making a trip to San Antonio for. It’s a shame they don’t bottle it. They said they were working on it, but since they use egg whites as a foaming agent (original recipe), they can’t let it get room temperature. That’s a shame, but I’d rather they stay true to that amazing recipe. Their food is delicious as well. My lunch was Wienerschnitzel with a side of the best split pea soup I’ve ever had. There’s a reason this place has stayed strong for over 70 years.

4.5 Kegs

My lunch at Schilo’s

The root beer barrel on top of the keg with a pitcher of root beer getting a refill.

The San Antonio River Walk. Schilo’s is just above the River Walk, though not at this particular spot.

Flyers Brand Vintage Draft Style Root Beer

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Feb 052014

Flyers Brewery Root Beer Coming off of the wild success that was the trip to Silver City Brewery, I searched to see if there was something else local that would involve a scenic ferry ride and beaches and found Flyers Restaurant and Brewery in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. Correspondence with the owner revealed that the root beer was only added a little over a month ago. Since the 4th of July weekend was that next week I figured that one of those days we could take a little day trip. We chose July 5. The ferry ride was not as long, nor as scenic but Whidbey was very fun especially the Deception Pass State Park. Lunch was at Flyers with the first thing ordered being a pint of root beer.

The Body is sweet and full flavored with a nice creamy caramel flavor in there as well from brown sugar and vanilla. There’s also something out of place, sort of sourish tart, that surfaces after the initial contact and disappears shortly thereafter leaving you to wonder if it was ever really there. It really detracts from the other goodness going on. The Bite is very smooth with little carbonation burn or spices. The Head is medium height and very frothy. It lasts the whole time you drink it. The Aftertaste is vanilla and caramel that lasts.

This stuff is pretty good. I like all of it except that strange flavor in the middle. It doesn’t build and is gone by the Aftertaste, but it’s there, really getting in the way of what would otherwise be a very wonderful root beer experience. Because of that it can’t get a Seal, but a solid 3.5. The owner says he’s still tweaking the recipe and hopes to bottle it when it’s dialed in. I welcome his efforts and look forward to the mature product. The food is really good. My wife got the fish tacos which were delicious (she let me have half of one). They have a challenge of eating a 3 pound burger and 1 pound of fries in 30 minutes but seeing is that is 1 pound more and 15 minutes less than the last challenge I took, couldn’t do it. I ordered their Fireball Burger instead which had habenero sauce on top of green chilies, jalapenos, and pepper jack cheese. I love spicy, but not the flavor of habenero. Unfortunately for me they put so much habenero on it that it was one of the prominent flavors, and it really burned, even me. So I regret that purchase and wish I had gotten the oysters and chips. Oh well, live and learn and warn the rest.

The Fireball Burger. Note the massive amount of spiciness piled on there.

The fish tacos. Absolutely delicious.

Inside Flyers Restaurant and Brewery.

Silver City Brewery Root Beer

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Jan 222014

A pint of Silver City Brewery Root Beer Across the Puget Sound from my home is the city of Silverdale and the Silver City Brewery. They’re unique from the other breweries that also do root beer in that they use it in their cooking and are proud of it. They make a root beer barbeque sauce and use it on their baby back ribs and their pulled pork sandwich for example. But that’s not all, they also have a “BBQ Root Beer Burger” on the menu, which has bacon, onion rings, lettuce, tomato, and lots of the root beer BBQ sauce. Now that’s what I like to see. Name your burger after the root beer. There should be more of that. Back in June, on a nice sunny Saturday, my family and I took the 1 hour ferry (our first time) across the Sound to Bremerton to try out this brew and the food made with it.

The Body has a sweet honey and sarsaparilla flavor that’s a little weaker than I prefer. It isn’t really creamy either and is almost fruity. There’s is a good carbonation fizz in the Bite but not a lot of spice. It’s very smooth going down. There is almost no Head, sadly, which always surprises me from a draft brew. The Aftertaste is more honey with sarsaparilla that lasts the right amount of time.

Not bad at all, in fact, it’s pretty decent. It’s not my preferred flavors though and I wish it were a little stronger. Plus it losses some points on the Head, but it’s drinkable and goes really well with the BBQ Root Beer Burger. That burger is delicious! One of the best brewery burgers I’ve ever had. I LOVE their root beer barbeque sauce. So sweet and tangy and spicy. The ribs are really good too and the portions are large. You’ll definitely leave feeling satisfied, unless you really just wanted a Seal of Approval brew. Otherwise, if you’re in the Seattle area, the trip, with the wonderful views on the ferry and food, is well worth it.

Three kegs

The Silver City Brewery BBQ Root Beer Burger

Baby back ribs with root beer barbecue sauce.

Ferrying through the Puget Sound on a quest for root beer!

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