Nov 062019
 

Summit Craft Root Beer BottleSummit is an Aldi brand. Aldi is a discount market where they don’t give you bags and you need to put quarters in to get shopping carts. Their standard store brand root beer is Summit Suds, which comes only in cans. They’ve done glass versions before, though they weren’t very good. I was very happy last year when I heard this root beer was being made. But, despite living near an Aldi now it never showed up, and I was left to mourn when it disappeared from all of the shelves. Then, later this year, I got a random text from my wife who was shopping at Aldi with a picture of a four-pack of this asking if I’d tried it. What luck! My son felt very proud too, as he was the one who found it. It’s not often I get a second chance at these, so reviewing it became my top priority. I don’t understand the whole aviator dog on the label. I get that there are a lot of dogs on root beer labels, but why is it an aviator? The bottle gives no clues, and maybe we’re not to know. They probably did it just to annoy me, cause they know I rant about these dog labels. Anyhow, my review.

The Body is sweet with a classic root beer flavor and a sarsaparilla tinge. It’s a little on the mild side though. There’s a decent spice Bite, from some cloves. The Head is medium tall and very foamy. The Aftertaste is a mild vanilla with sarsaparilla.

It’s pretty good, just not quite all there. I don’t know It’s a lot better than their previous try with the Vintage root beer, so there’s that. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three and a half kegs




Dec 022015
 

Bottle of Frankie's Root Bier For some reason the folks at Frankenmuth Brewery decided that they’d spell beer the German way for their root beer. Interestingly they didn’t use any other German words. I guess they’re just a little bit German. There’s a wiener dog on the label and supposedly the brewery was also originally known for its purebred Dachshunds. But the brewmeister grew tired of the walking sausages and needed to get rid of them. He convinced a local boy to take them in exchange for the fresh root beer. I’m wondering just what the exact terms of the contract was. Hopefully the boy was getting more than a case, like maybe a 6 pack a week or a free frosty mug every time he showed up or something for as long as the dogs were alive. Then the name Frankie is either from the boy, the dogs, or hot dogs (franks), at least according to the bottle. They were probably very disappointed that III Dachsunds Root Beer was already taken, and they had to come up with another name. This is another brew that boasts “Michigan Beet Sugar” Those Michiganders must really love their beets.

The Body is fruity, really fruity, with a decent amount of vanilla. It’s also kind of sour and not very strong. It’s a very smooth brew without a lot of Bite to it. The Head has a good height but lacks the staying power to really be great. It’s alright. The Aftertaste is more fruity vanilla.

I never was a fan of sour fruity root beers. That boy must have been or the whole trade deal wouldn’t have made much sense. To each their own I suppose. See how it rates against other root beers.

2 out of 5 root beer kegs




Sep 022015
 

Dog n Suds Root Beer BottleSeal of ApprovalOne from my BYU days, I ordered it in a variety pack online and when I got it one of my friends at the time told me how much she loved Dog n Suds. I didn’t actually ask for more info so I was completely lost as to what they were going for in their name. There’s a dog holding a hotdog and a mug of root beer so I assumed that the name came from a dog with a sudsy root beer, or maybe one is supposed to order a hotdog and the root beer supplies the suds. At the time it was an enigma but one I didn’t care to expend too much effort to solve (this was back before Percival C. McGillicuddy was on the scene). Finally someone emailed me at explained that it was a hotdog/root beer stand chain, hence ‘dog’ n ‘suds’. That would explain the whole “Drive In Style” on their bottle. I’ll just leave the original ratings table review the same so you can see the whole process of it back then.

The Body is creamy and good. The right type of flavor with nothing overly special but nothing wrong at all. It is all there. The Bite is a little on the weak side but I have said it before and I will iterate it, I like it SMOOTH! The Head is also nice and “sudsy?” though not as frothy as some of the others but definitely adequate. The Aftertaste also has got the right stuff.

I say that this root beer is just plain good. I understand the whole suds part of the name, it really is actually sudsy but in a good way. Though, unfortunately, it’s another brew to be tagged with ‘dog’ too much of that. Also, it’s a shame none of those drive-ins are remotely near me over here. Oh well. See how it rates against other root beers.

4 kegs