Simpson Spring is evidently the “Oldest Bottling Plant in the USA” They use water from … Simpson Spring. The spring was originally the primary water source of the Assowompset Indians, a tribe of such notoriety that there isn’t even a Wikipedia article on them, which is sad, because they sound like an amazing tribe. So the waters of this spring, which are naturally bubbling, are now used make a line of sodas. You can also buy the just the bubbly water if you want. I kind of like the label, not too busy with some nice gold on it. But, why does it say there is only 10 FL OZ when this bottle seems the exact same size as all of the 12 OZ bottles I drink, and it seems just as full. I would imagine the loss of 2 OZ would be more noticeable. It may be they’re just using old labels on new bottles or something, so I guess I should be happy that I’m getting unadvertised bonus root beer. Promise less, deliver more. Nothing wrong with that.
The Body on this seems a little watered down sadly. There is a nice minty vanilla flavor on the initial contact but then the core is rather weak. The Bite is a tad sharper than I prefer. The Head is exceedingly tall and moderately frothy. As it fizzes down it forms larger bubbles to a point which gives a rather odd head of about an inch or so with bubbles about a centimeter in diameter. The Aftertaste is vanilla and wintergreen with a slight bitter hint that increases the more you drink so by the end I can hardly stand it.
So really this isn’t bad if it weren’t for the increasingly bitter Aftertaste. I blame the spring water itself. There’s probably some natural occurring minerals or something that cause it, but that’s no excuse. It ruins the whole experience. Though, if you were used to drinking this water, then this probably wouldn’t be as noticeable, but it still needs a fuller flavor. See how it rates against other root beers.
Another one from Sacramento. Well Folsom really but that’s essentially Sacramento. The brewery is named after the famous Folsom prison (gotta lock em down you know) and has many of their brews named after places in Folsom. Rainbow Root Beer is named after … the Rainbow Bridge of course. Not sure why it’s called that other than it has an underside arch so maybe that’s like a rainbow, or perhaps when they built it they were hoping to extend all the way to Asgard or something, whatever. Not to let a good gimmick go to waste though, they claim their root beer is made with “a rainbow of flavors” and then proceed to list licorice bark, orange peel, cinnamon, and vanilla. Ok, I see the rainbow; brown (black), orange, red, white. But orange peel? Seriously? Well it’s a new ingredient for my 