I had ignored this root beer for several years as I thought it was the same Americana Cream Style. Then I finally dug out my old bottle and checked the ingredients and found that they were different, and it wasn’t called Cream Style any more. It doesn’t seem to be made by Seattle Specialty Beverages either. Rumor has it that the original Americana Cream Style folded and Orca changed things a bit and is just going with this Americana. Interestingly, the label doesn’t depict an Americana soda, i.e. things associated with the culture and history of America, esp. the United States. The original did but now it’s all “Delicious Vintage” and “Handcrafted” and whatnot. The irony of the first is not lost on me seeing that this is a brand new recipe. Hopefully they improved it over the first Americana I tried.
The Body has a dark sassafras flavor that turns rich and creamy with vanilla and honey. The Bite is lacking. The Head, despite the picture on the label, is the “two second Head” and thus dismal. The Aftertaste is vanilla and honey with some wintergreen. It’s very delicious and the best part of this brew.
Wow! That is definitely an improvement over the licorice beast that was Americana Cream Style. It still falls short in almost every category, especially and literally the Head, save that lovely Aftertaste. I’d drink this again, though I wouldn’t seek it out. See how it rates against other root beers.
I found this in Seattle shortly after I began my eternal quest to review every gourmet root beer in the world. It was the first spring actually. I’d gone with some friends to a Mariners game and across the street from Safeco Field I found three different varieties in a mini-mart. Since the security was much less stringent, I actually took them into the game with me since I didn’t want to go back to the car. This brew is microcrafted, which I’ve never seen before. I’ve seen plenty of hand crafted and microbrewed, but never microcrafted. The label on this has got a lot going on, but it’s all very patriotic. It is Americana after all, so there’s got to be a bald eagle and The Liberty Bell. Then add some old fashioned squiggly lines that I’m sure have some sort of formal name but I don’t care to check and voilá, a truly American label, nay, an Americana label.
