Since I’ve already reviewed the original Dang! That’s Good Root Beer, I won’t make any comments on the name of this one. Except that the bottle also says “The Original” on it. Now how can it be the original if it is the butterscotch version? Shouldn’t it say, “The Butterscotch?” Unless there’s a fake version of Dang! That’s Good Butterscotch (there is Dougie Dog Butterscotch) but then there would have to be a fake version of the original root beer as well because it has the same tag on its label (and there isn’t a Dougie Dog other than the butterscotch). Or most likely, the makers of this, probably their marketing department, didn’t really think about why it is “The Original” but figured it lent some credibility to it in the way that vague marketing phrases often do. I find it extremely curious though that the bottle for this was a different type of bottle than the other Dang! Root Beer even though I bought them at the same store at the same time.
Anyways, the Body has a very strong, extremely sweet butterscotch flavor that masks out the other root beer flavors, which are on the light side, the very light side. I hold the brew in my mouth a little longer than usual before swallowing, waiting for something more, sadly it never comes. The Bite consists mainly of a carbonation tingle which is thankfully toned down from the original (regular?) Dang! That’s Good Root Beer. The Head is of excellent height but not too frothy so it fizzes down pretty quick. The last centimeter or so lingers around a little bit longer. The Aftertaste is mostly butterscotch with a slight hint of standard root beer flavors.
It was nice to see that they made some improvements over the original Dang! That’s Good (I am really getting tired of writing this whole name out), like toning down carbonation Bite while improving the Head height and frothiness. While I often like a variant on root beer flavors, like the butterscotch, that’s no excuse for skimping out on the rest of the root beer flavors, which it seems that they did. The rule should be, keep your recipe and add the new flavor, like Frostie and Frostie Vanilla. They sadly left the Body too hollow and the Bite too off for a Seal of Approval. See how it rates against other root beers.
Another root beer with an exclamatory phrase as the title. While So Duh! Rockin’ Root Beer was at least a play on words and an insinuation of the obvious, as is clearly seen on this bottle the “Dang!” is the centerpiece. Though “dang” can easily be a good interjection, it can also be used quite negatively. The fact that the “That’s Good” is in such small font makes it all the easier to misread the title of this root beer and think that they are aiming more towards the Rat Bastard Root Beer types. And anyways, what’s with this exclamatory naming trend anyhow? What’s next, a Holy Crap! Root Beer? What about a WTF Root Beer? This could easily be taken to the extreme. Why not just name it after the company founder, or place, or your favorite beetle (probably dung beetle would not be a good idea either), or your favorite type of dog (which plenty seem to do)? Well whatever, so how does it stack up?
