This was a birthday present from my lovely wife. It’s always easy to know what presents I want, just find a root beer I don’t have. She also got me some of their other flavor but more on that next month. So the people at Parlor are very passionate about their root beer. Their website says it’s “The best root beer you’ll ever slam down your gullet” amongst some other claims. They seem like fun guys and all they make is root beer and birch beer. Their mascot on this bottle is Patty Parlor, which I learned from their merch page. They also have a Betty Birch for their birch beer. Their merch also features a shirt which says “F*CK WATER DRINK ROOT BEER”, which, I mean, a little crass but also, yes. Anyhow, I’m not 100% sure what their parlor and their parlor girls are supposed mean, Google gave me some definitions which maybe fit… But they’re all tattooed and playing cards and stuff so I’m guessing this parlor of theirs is smoke filled with scantily clad, tattooed women and people playing cards. And you drink root beer there. Nailed it. Anyways. They make root beer so I like them for that.
The Body is sweet with a caramel cane sugar flavor and vanilla notes. The flavor is clean but rather plain, lacking the complexity you find in most root beers. There is very little Bite but the feel isn’t very smooth either. The Head is excellent, it’s tall and frothy but also doesn’t build too high nor last too long. The Aftertaste is rich vanilla, which builds the more you drink, almost like a root beer float vanilla.
Hmm, this is tasty but rather plain. It’s like a cheeseburger with nothing but meat cheese and ketchup. Good, but can be improved upon with more complexity of flavor. So is this the best root beer I’ll ever slam down my gullet? No. Is it even Seal of Approval? Also no. But it is yummy, it just needs more depth. See how it rates against other root beers.
