Petition to Get Hires Root Beer in Glass Bottles

 Root Beer News  4 Responses »
Nov 082012
 

Hires 8 pack ad
Every so often there comes a time when people need to band together to change the world, one of those times is now. For over 100 years Hires Root Beer, the original root beer, has been offered to the public for their root beer enjoyment. In recent years however, Hires has receded dramatically in distribution. Worse than that, however, is the fact that it is no longer offered in glass bottles.
The advantages of glass bottles are many, including:

  • Tradition
  • Infinitely Reusable
  • Infinitely Recyclable
  • Longer Shelf Life
  • Better Taste
  • Especially Better Taste

For some root beers, this is not a problem, for the Original Root Beer, the Father of all Root Beers, this is a disgraceful shame that must be changed. I, the Root Beer Gourmet, therefore have taken it upon myself to start a petition to correct this problem. Please follow the link below and tell Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, the owners of the Hires brand, that we, the root beer connoisseurs of the world, demand better, we demand Hires Root Beer in glass!

Petition Link, Please Click and Sign




Chuck Wagon Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  2 Responses »
Nov 072012
 

Who doesn’t like a chuck wagon with a bunch of wooden soda kegs on it? It seems that the people at Chuck Wagon Old Fashioned Sodas decided to capitalize on that sentiment and thus they own and sell these wagons to people to set up stands at various county fairs and festivals. It is a pretty cool concept when you think about it and is doing it’s part in the Root Beer Revival. Though I’m curious, other than the cool old-fashioned wagon, what makes this an “OLD-FASHIONED SODA?” I’ve been wondering because there are so many root beers out there that claim old-fashioned, yet their flavors and ingredients vary widely. Unless, of course, root beer itself is an old-fashioned flavor which would mean all root beers would be old-fashioned. Hmm. This sounds like a great topic for the next IAGRB Standards Committee Meeting. Anyways, they also bottle their sodas as evidenced by the fact that I was able to procure two bottles to review, which makes them extra cool in my book.

This has a sweet medium Body with a pronounced caramel flavor that is nice and creamy. It has a nice mouth feel to it as well. I really love that flavor. There isn’t much Bite; it is nice and smooth with some subtle spice accents and fizz. The Head is medium height and froth, adequate. The Aftertaste is caramel with slight vanilla hints coming through. Delicious!

Wow! I love the taste of this brew. The creamy mouth feel is an added bonus as well. Good job! There’s nothing wrong with this root beer at all. There could be more right, like an even better Head and more spices for additional complexity, but they’ve essentially captured the proper root beer drinking experience and emphasized that amazing flavor. It is as the say, “SODA-LECIOUS”. I’m proud to give them my Seal of Approval, and look forward to drinking more of it in the future. See how it rates against other root beers.




Way 2 Cool Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  1 Response »
Oct 312012
 

This was one of those root beers that was just impossible to get a hold of. I had seen it on another reviewer’s site, and then I scoured the internet to no avail. Every now and then I’d scour again. I kept finding one place that said they had it, but they’d never respond to my emails. Finally at long last they did. They told me I could come into their store and get some, but it was about 1,000 miles away. When I told them that they said that I could call the brewery and gave me the number. Ah, now I was getting somewhere. I called and they said they’d ship me two bottles, and asked for my credit card info. They didn’t tell me how much it would cost though. Talk about your leap of faith. Thankfully it was under $15. I really like the bottle. The river flowing through the desert reminds me of the Columbia snaking through the sage brush steppe on which I spent my formative years.

The Body is very interesting and unique. It isn’t very sweet. It is mild and has a minty clove flavor with some anise. There is also a pronounced sour flavor that comes in after the initial contact. The whole combination comes off strange and not good. It has a solid bite from the cloves that isn’t too much. The Head is tall but fizzes down very quickly. The Aftertaste is sour minty licorice with a hint of clove.

Yuk! It is a strange brew indeed. I don’t know what it is, maybe the lack of sassafras (yes), the lack of vanilla (yes, YES), and the roasted malt barely (they put THAT in there?), but this root beer is way off base. I wouldn’t say it’s way 2 cool, maybe way 2 weird, or way 2 wrong or something. I’m not totally sure, but I think they got the 2 part right. See how it rates against other root beers.




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