Mar 182015
 

Pure Soda Works Root Beer #4 Root BeerMy lovely wife got me a four-pack of this for me for Christmas. Root beer Christmas presents are always the best Christmas presents, and Hanukkah presents, and birthday presents, and Valentine’s Day presents, and wedding anniversary presents, and … Easter presents? You get the idea. This one I could tell was different just by looking at it. It’s all natural and is kind of pale amber. I’ve said before that the only reason a root beer is colored brown is because some of the original, natural ingredients were brown, and if it isn’t brown it doesn’t have those ingredients. My other question is why #4? Was there a number 1-3? Regardless, I’ve now had a Batch 001, 002, and a No. 9 root beer, so #4 is really just a natural progression of things. I’m sure I’ll collect the missing six numbers to complete my base ten digits root beer collection.

The Body is light and creamy and with ginger and herbs the prominent flavors. It tastes like a spiced ginger tea with some vanilla. The Bite is good and robust. It’s nice and spicy with ginger and cinnamon and some other spices with some carbonation burn mixed in. The Head is super tall and very frothy. The Aftertaste is a light vanilla and spice flavor.

This is tastes really good, but not at all like root beer. More like an iced herb tea. You would never call it a root beer if it didn’t say so on the bottle. It’s always a conundrum about how to rate such root beers, with me generally falling into the if-it-doesn’t-taste-like-root-beer-it-doesn’t-rate-high-as-a-root-beer camp. This is no exception. It is a fine, delicious soda, but I’d never, EVER drink it if I needed a root beer fix. See how it rates against other root beers.

2.5/5 Root Beer Kegs




Mar 262014
 

A pint of Bluebird Brewing Batch 002 Root BeerMy 200th Root Beer Review!!! After nearly a year of waiting, Bluebird Microcreamery contacted me to let me know that they finally rotated a new root beer into the store and to come and try it. I dutifully complied the next available opportunity and brought my buddy old Zombie Tag buddy with me. Bluebird has imaginatively named this brew Batch 002 Root Beer which saves a ton of money on their menu. For instance the chalkboard that had the menu on it only erased the ‘1’ and replaced it with a ‘2’ leaving their original ‘Batch 00’ … ‘Root Beer’ intact. That’s the sort of efficiency I applaud for a small company. They need to focus all of their energies on brewing instead of naming. Since it’s Batch 002 instead of Batch 2, it begs the question of whether they have over 100 different batches they’re willing to try. That could get interesting for sure and definitely help me keep my weekly reviews coming.

The Body is sweet but not overly sweet. It’s dark but not spicy and there’s no vanilla flavor but rather, a slightly fruity licorice one. The Bite is very mild as well without much fizz or spice. The Head is super tall and frothy and all over the place, just like with Batch 001. The Aftertaste is a sort of fruity licorice caramel that isn’t really my favorite.

So I’m not liking this one near as much as Batch 001. This has got more of the generic ‘stout’ root beer flavor rather than the more complex and spicy flavor of their first. Unfortunately I’m not the biggest fan of those types of brews. It’ll still go great in a float and their ice cream allows for some interesting combinations, but I’m gonna have to say it’s only drinkable on its own. I give it a high 3, almost 3 1/2 but not quite. Rumor has it that they even have a Batch 003 so I’ll have to see if that one ever pops up.

Three kegs