Jun 052019
 

Growler of Rocket Fizz Double Barrel Root BeerI’m sure you’ve all been thinking, Eric, you never review growler root beers anymore, and you know what, you’re not the only one thinking that. The fine folks at Rocket Fizz, who never tire of creating new root beers and ways to package them seem to be thinking the same, so they released a new brew and a waxed sealed growler so someone like yours truly could come and do that type of review. Why thank you Rocketfizz. This is called Double Barrel Root Beer, which I guess is continuing their hunting theme introduced with the Dad-Gum-It!. Now the only problem with Rocket Fizz’s continued gifts to root beer reviewers is the lack of any of their shops in the state of Minnesota where I currently reside. Enter that great root beer collector Vince to save the day! He graciously sent me the growler in trade for some of my Canadian bounty. Thanks Vince, from the bottom of my heart.

The Body is rich and complex and dark. There’s some wintergreen and some other flavor I can’t place that doesn’t really ruin it but doesn’t quite work either. The Bite’s OK, but nothing extraordinary. Vanilla comes through in the Aftertaste and it’s really quite good.

On the whole it’s not my favorite flavor profile but isn’t really bad, per se. I was on the fence for 2.5 and 3 but hey it was Christmas time so I broke for 3, you know, as a Christmas present and all. I mean, it did compliment roasted chestnuts pretty well.

Three kegs




Feb 212018
 

Growler of Heathen Brewing Root BeerHeathen Brewing is a small craft brewery in Vancouver, WA, just across the river from Portland. The brewery says they are “created from the soul of home brewing” I’m not sure what the soul of home brewing is, and why that’s preferable over the soul of craft brewing, but either way, they want to free themselves and all of us from the corporate stronghold on the beer/soda industry. Just like everybody else it seems. More root beers for me to try. Interestingly, though I’d driven past it on several occasions, I didn’t actually know it was there. But it just started in 2014 so I’m to be excused again. Plus the last time I was down there I did get a new brew so it’s not like I’ve been slacking. Anyways, that wonderful Root Beer Tracker grabbed me this growler as he swung through the state about a year ago, so I didn’t have to go down there.

The Body is very minty and kind of bitter but with a decent amount of vanilla. The Bite is mild and kind of smooth, expected more spice. The Aftertaste is vanilla and wintergreen, which is pretty nice.

This is okay, but a little too bitter and mild and not enough sweet. The Aftertaste saved it though, so I think it’d be worth drinking with some food. It also had an amazing Head, but I don’t rate Head on growler brews because it’s too hard to maintain consistency. So yeah, drinkable stuff.

Three kegs




Dec 212016
 

Dunsmuir Brewery Works Root Beer Growler Another growler review, finally! I can hear you all saying that. Yes, I know, I’ve neglected getting growlers because it’s much more fun to just buy it on tap, but with an estimated 2,000 different breweries that make root beer across this great land of ours (my estimate, not even counting Canadia), unless I suddenly win a lottery that I haven’t entered, or have some rich relative who I am not aware I have die and bequeath me a fortune, traveling all over the place getting to them is just not gonna happen. Maybe I could start a GoFundMe … you’d all send me money so I can travel around right? Right? Yeah right. So I’ll have to start trading for growlers. Thankfully I have friends in many places, like The Root Beer Trackers who hit up a lot of different places, like the Dunsmuir Brewery Works in Dunsmuir, CA. The irony is that I actually drove past Dunsmuir this past summer on my my amazing Tesla Gigafactory Root Beer Road Trip, but I didn’t check if there was anything there. I’m pretty sure my friends were getting tired of stopping though, so it’s probably for the best. This brewery is a newer one, only opening in 2009 in a town of less than 2,000 people. So massive props for making a root beer as well.

The Body is not very sweet and despite a nice initial contact, is rather empty and bitter. There is a lot of wintergreen and clove in there. The clove adds to the Bite, which is solid and spicy and wonderful. The Aftertaste, however, is bitter and empty.

I don’t really like this at all. I wish I did, but after the initial wonderful Bite, this brew falls flat on its face by being bitter and empty. Good thing I didn’t get my Tesla caravan to stop for it, they wouldn’t have been happy.

2 out of 5 root beer kegs