Apr 022025
 

Pumpkin root beers. The limited edition brews that show up near the end of September and stick around through pumpkin spice season. I’ve had mixed experiences with pumpkin root beers. Granted, I’ve only had two of them before, making it one of the rarest type of flavored root beer. One of those two is toppest tier while the other was very meh. I’ve known about this one for a few years but it has eluded me until recently when anthony sent me some. Filbert’s is a brand I had tried awhile back and it was decent but nothing special. But now they’ve made pumpkin so is this the redemption arc? I like their label, what with the horses and wagon, but shouldn’t it be carrying pumpkins and not just kegs? I mean, we get that the root beer is in kegs but add that extra pumpkin? I don’t know. The orange on black does capture the Halloween asthetic.

The Body is sweet with a mild pumpkin spice flavor. There’s a distinct lack of root beer flavors. Just pumpkin. The Bite is decent with some clove and other pumpkin spices shining through. The Head is short and fizzes away quickly. The Aftertaste is sweet pumpkin spice.

Well, this is a pleasant soda, but isn’t really a root beer at all. I get they want it to taste like pumpkin, but there has to be a way to make the pumpkin flavor shine over a root beer core. I’ve tasted it done properly and this is not done properly. They should likely just call this pumpkin soda or something but they didn’t so I don’t really like it. See how it rates against other root beers.

2.5/5 Root Beer Kegs

May 052021
 

Mother Road Route 66 Root Beer Bottle When I was at Blue Sun getting one of the most perplexing yet delicious brews (Lemon Root Beer?) I also stumbled across this. Mother Road isn’t exactly brand new. It’s Filbert’s except with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. Now those two things do taste different and can make a difference in a root beer. I’m actually quite please with Filbert’s, for rather than change their original product which may anger their old fans, they just made a whole new soda line for the cane sugar recipes. This is even better because people like me have no issue reviewing a new root beer with a new label and name and only one different ingredient, then going back and reviewing again the same root beer even though it changes. Yes, I really want everything in the (root beer) world to just be easily categorized. Anyhow, Mother Road is now the fifth brew with Route 66 in the title that I’ve had, which is probably a record for root beer name themes. Though enough about names and routes and things, let’s move to the root of this review.

The Body has a classic taste with sassafras and wintergreen. There’s a little vanilla in there as well but not as much as I would like. The Bite is okay. You can feel and taste the spice, but it’s nothing exceptional. The Head is medium but foamy and lasts as it should. The Aftertaste is a more sassafras and wintergreen.

This is rather generic and much like Filbert’s, which is to be expected. I like, not love it, but like it better than the original, which was their goal all along? I don’t know. It’s a nice brew, just nothing special. It will hit the spot with a hot dog on a hot summer day which is a win for most people, but I won’t have it in my fridge for special sipping occasions. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three and a half kegs




Nov 052011
 

Wow! That’s quite a name and an assertion they’ve got going. I mean, you’ll get old time root beers, and draft root beers, and even the occasional quality root beer, but more than one of those three on the same title? And not only that but all three no less. Well, it has been in continuous business for almost 90 years. If they haven’t changed the recipe at all then it would be old time. It must be of some quality in order to stay around for that long. Draft, well, I’ll see about that.

This is a very sweet medium Bodied brew that tastes like a root beer barrel candy. There is a hint of something kind of icky and out of place though. There are also some spices which add to the Bite but it is very smooth. The Head is very nice. It has an excellent height and is pretty frothy. So it is draft a style head in my opinion (though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it draught), but I’ve seen better. The Aftertaste is a letdown. It isn’t really anything. There are the faintest traces of sugar and vanilla but it is nowhere near enough.

Overall it’s pretty good. They seem to come through with all that they claimed the root beer would be. The Aftertaste though is where they take the biggest hit. It makes sense though because they boast of how their root beer has been served at certain restaurants for over 50 years, and pairing this with food would cover up the deficiencies. See how it rates against other root beers.