White Rose Springs Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  2 Responses »
Sep 102014
 

White Rose Springs Root Beer Bottle I know it doesn’t say “Springs” on the bottle but the people who make it insist on calling it that. You’d think they’d put the name on the bottle but no, why would they do something easy and consistent like that? That brings me to wonder about all of the root beers named after springs. It usually has something to do with the soda works’ water supply, but not for this one. This one is actually bottled by Natrona. It has the same slightly too tall, slightly not enough root beer as the Red Ribbon Root Beer. It even has the same nutritional information and listed ingredients as Red Ribbon. If I didn’t know any better I’d say they were the same root beer simply relabeled. Luckily, I do know better as I called them to find out and they swear the two are different. The label says that this root beer is “Definitely Better” but doesn’t say just what it is better than. For lack of any further clarification on that part I’m going to say they mean than Red Ribbon.

The Body is dark and turns fruity after the initial contact. There’s some anise and wintergreen hints in there as well. There’s a strong Bite, mostly from carbonation, that hits after you first start drinking but it subsides quickly for a smooth finish. The Head is medium short and fizzes away quickly. The Aftertaste is fruity and minty and isn’t my favorite.

Take away the fruity and this could be decent, but not as it is now. It is better than Red Ribbon, though I wouldn’t say Definitely Better. Maybe they were comparing themselves to Free Natural in which case I’ll agree. See how it rates against other root beers.

2.5/5 Root Beer Kegs




Free Natural Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Aug 012012
 

Another one from England. My project manager goes there so often so I’m always trying to find more gourmet root beers for him to bring back. Sadly, I think this is the last one available in glass bottles. I’ve spent hours looking for others to no avail. This one I had to order from Amazon.uk and have it delivered to his house since he’s getting a bit tired of spending his time off running to stores to look for root beers for me. Of all of the UK root beers I’ve had so far, this definitely looks the cheapest. No fancy wax dipped bottle or coat of arms or nothing, just a cheap little green bottle like what they use for wine in airplanes on transatlantic flights. It also says “sweetened with fruit juice” which I must say didn’t give me high hopes for the brew.

The Body is sour and sort of rancid. It tastes like nasty apple juice that someone threw some weird herbs into. Most likely because they sweeten it with apple juice concentrate. The Bite is pretty mild, some carbonation mostly but a little herbal-ness. The Head is the only redeeming feature; though it isn’t much go on about. It is short, about an inch at the most, but rather frothy. It isn’t a good Head by any means, but it isn’t terrible. The Aftertaste is some medicinal herbal apple stuff with a hint of sarsaparilla.

Ok, what gives? Every time I get a new British root beer, it seems worse than the previous ones. Not only does this taste terrible, it doesn’t even begin to taste like root beer. More like, a diluted herbal Martinelli’s. And the little green bottle with the cheapo label … Not Pretty! So where should I rate it, it doesn’t have the worst flavor I’ve ever tasted, though it’s in the top five. But the other nasty root beers, at least resembled root beers, not like this. So when taken all together; it is nothing like root beer, it’s bad, and the bottle is not pretty, this terrible British brew earns a fat goose egg! See how it rates against other root beers.