Feb 072015
 

Cool Mountain Root Beer Bottle I ordered this online a long, long time ago, in a state far far away … At least I think I did. I’m pretty sure I was living in Utah at the time. When I got it was was very impressed with the Indian chief fellow on it. I’m not sure why they choose to put that picture on the bottle, but I just went with it. Fast forward to the present when I was going through my extensive bottle collection and writing blog reviews of all of those old school brews. And, um, well, I lost the bottle. I don’t know where it is. I went through box after box and found every other root beer bottle I’d ever reviewed. I don’t know what happened. I can’t believe that I would have just lost this one, but evidently I did. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Consolation prize, they still make Cool Mountain Root Beer, and they sell it at The Root Beer Store, so I went out and bought a bottle. According to the owner this has the same recipe as Chicago Draft Style Root Beer, but they are bottled at different locations which leads to a different flavor. This time they actually have a picture of a rather cool looking mountain so everything makes more sense. The shiny purple background is also a nice touch, but I still think the chief was cooler … cooler mountain.

This has a strong, sticky Body. There’s kind of a “dark” flavor to it. It has a very solid Bite. The Head is acceptable, but it bubbles away quickly. The Aftertaste is anise-ish which is rather icky to me.

When I drank it, there was an explosion of flavor in my mouth. The problem, it just doesn’t stop exploding. It’s alright I suppose, good enough if you really just need a root beer and there’s nothing else around. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three kegs




Apr 242013
 

Steelhead Root Beer BottleSeal of ApprovalI’ve long passed up reviewing Steelhead because I thought it was identical to Bulldog Root Beer due to the fact that the website actually calls it their identical sister brand, which is a pretty good indicator that they are just relabeled. I prefer the Steelhead label though. It seems to take the classy look a level higher than Bulldog, plus they ditched the dogs and “The Original” thus escaping the cliches. Did I mention that I’m a sports fisher? I am and I have caught a few Steelhead in my day so that’s another plus. We need more fish themed root beers. So, during a root beer lull last year, I got curious and dug a little deeper. They aren’t bottled at the same location so I wondered if they would taste different like Cool Mountain and Chicago. So I bought some bottles and started side by side comparisons.

The Body is wonderful. Lots of honey, vanilla, and the other essential flavors. Sweet and creamy, the kind of flavor you could just snuggle up to if that were possible. The Bite is not much but sufficient. The whole thing has a very rich and smooth mouth feel from the maltodextrin. The Head is medium height and very foamy. It forms increasingly larger bubbles as it begins to fade and lasts a good while. The Aftertaste is of vanilla and honey and very pleasing though a little sticky.

If you go back you’ll notice that my description is nearly identical to Bulldog. Over several months of blind taste testing multiple batches of each, I could not tell them apart. The Head, however, is another story. The Steelhead has a superior Head, one that’s taller, lasts longer, and with a different consistency. While the Bulldog’s is short and frothy with small bubbles, the Steelhead’s is medium and foamy with larger bubbles that lingers several minutes longer. It’s enough to have it rank a little higher against its peers such that when presented with the choice between the two, I’ll take Steelhead every time. An email with the people at Orca Beverages (bottler of Bulldog) even confirms that the two recipes are slightly different and that the website is out of date. So they probably just toss a little extra foaming agent in the Steelhead. That works for me. See how it rates against other root beers.

4.5 Kegs




Feb 132013
 

Chicago Draft Style Root Beer First of all, I know it doesn’t say “Draft Style” on the bottle. However, their website, as well as several other websites that sell it, do call it “Draft Style” so I’ll go with that name. The label itself is pretty cool. I really like the whole skyline and the search lights. You can’t see it from the picture, but it’s also shiny and reflects light at certain angles. I had resisted getting this one for awhile because it shares a recipe with Cool Mountian Root Beer (which as of this posting I haven’t written a blog post on). However, after a (rather profitable) correspondence with Bill, the owner of both Chicago and Cool Mountain brands, I learned of the slight differences. It comes from the fact that they are not bottled at the same facility and thus the water and sugar used will have slightly different flavors. It’s still pushing the limits of a new root beer, I know, but I felt I had to give it a side by side comparison at least. Since didn’t want to buy a full case I snagged three bottles in a variety pack from Beverages Direct and then got a bottle of Cool Mountain. First I’d review Chicago on it’s own merits.

The Body is nice and full. It’s almost creamy but not really. I want to say there’s vanilla in there somewhere. There’s also the slightest hint of cola in a Barq’s-y sort of way. Bite is prickly from carbonation but not really spicy, neither is it smooth. The Head is very tall but fizzes down quickly. The Aftertaste is some vanilla and that very tiny cola-ish-ness that doesn’t really last long.

Not a bad root beer. Nothing overly special special, though not bad in any way. Then I did my side to side comparison with Cool Mountain. After half a bottle of each I swore there was a slight difference. I had my wife administer a blind taste test and 2/2 times I correctly identified the right root beer. It wasn’t up in the air either, as soon as I had tried the Chicago I definitively pronounced it so. From that I’d say that there is a >75% chance that they are different brews and so I’ll stick to it. The Cool Mountain also seemed a bit better than I remembered, but I don’t like to go back and change reviews. Plus, the differences weren’t that big so the Chicago gets the same keg rating even though it rates slightly higher. Anyways, not a bad root beer to get a keg of for your party if you live in Chicago. See how it rates against other root beers.