Once upon a time there was a farmer from Quyon, Quebec named Harvey. Upon a slightly different yet partially overlapping time there was a doctor from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia named Vern. They both lived in simpler, all natural times and enjoyed soda. “Then one day they met and decided to make root beer,” would be the logical conclusion of the story but it isn’t. They never met. But Harvey’s grandson married Vern’s daughter. He owned the Kichesippi Beer Company and decided to make Ginger Beer and Cream Soda that are all natural with locally sourced ingredients that would take one back to the two different but similar yesteryears that both Harvey and Vern kind of simultaneously enjoyed. He put it in painted bottles as well. Sometime thereafter he added root beer to the mix, and I got interested. But not living in Canada, I had to trade with the awesome Akira.
The Body is sweet and creamy with sarsaparilla and vanilla flavors and a little wintergreen. The Bite is pretty good with cinnamon featuring prominently though not burning. The Head is most excellent. Pour with care. The Aftertaste is some vanilla and bitter wintergreen. The bitter lingers too long, unfortunately, so it increases the more you drink, ruining an otherwise pleasant experience.
This is almost the standard creamy root beer with sarsaparilla flavor instead of sassafras. I do like it other than the bitter at the end. It’s definitely worth having every now and then. See how it rates against other root beers.
Getting this brew was frustrating. When it first came out they listed Cost Plus World Market as carrying it. I went to all of the ones in the area and they had every flavor of Swamp Pop except for the root beer. They were uncertain if they had merely sold out or never had it to begin with. After awhile it became evident that they didn’t have any and wouldn’t. So I emailed the company. They replied back that The Root Beer Store had it. But the people at the Root Beer Store didn’t have it and hadn’t even heard of it. So I was left wondering what to do and finally gave up and drank lots of other root beers. Then one day, I was at The Root Beer Store and they had it. Finally. This comes from down in Louisiana in the heart of Cajun country. It’s made with filé powder, which, if you don’t know, is ground sassafras leaves. It’s used for gumbo and other Cajun cooking. Since sassafras is a traditional root beer flavor (the roots anyways). The fine folks at Swamp Pop decided they should put it into their root beer to create “a flavor profile reminiscent of early, traditional root beers.”
Finally, I’ve gotten a hold of a clear root beer. I’ve been trying to do so since the beginning. Since that Snapple Tru Root Beer that I just missed in the late 90s. Then there was Tommy’s Naked Righteous Root Beer, that I also missed. So when someone tipped me off about this stuff, I had to buy it, no matter the price. Thankfully, the price wasn’t much so I didn’t break the bank. This is the second root beer to come in a little stubby clear bottle. The first was Dr. Brown’s which was also from New York. It must be a thing over there. Though I’ve long wanted to try a clear root beer, I don’t actually have very high expectations, since root beer, if made from it’s original ingredients would have color and it says “All Natural”. So with that in mind I unscrewed the cap and gave it a try.
