Nov 192014
 

Frostie Vanilla Root Beer BottleSeal of Approval About a year or so after I found Frostie Root Beer I encountered Frostie Vanilla at a grocery store in Provo where I was studying. They’re still going for the whole Christmas theme though now the snowy field has been replaced with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and the frosty mug o’ brew is now a tall root beer float, or something with a scoop of ice cream. It’s like they wanted it to be a root beer float soda, but wanted me to review it so they’re calling it a vanilla root beer instead. I can only say that that is a wise choice, because everyone knows that a soda that I won’t review based on the semantics of its name is clearly not worth drinking.

This has a sweet, creamy Body with lots of luscious vanilla. The Bite is on the weak side but not too bad. The Head is adequate, though it could be frothier. The Aftertaste is a wonderful vanilla flavor that lasts a long time.

Wow, delicious. This is really got a nice vanilla flavor while still being a root beer. It basically tastes like a normal Frostie root beer with the strange unnatural flavor replaced with vanilla. A wise and excellent improvement I say. Clearly, some great sage was present at the birth of this brew, guiding them so they’d make me happy. See how it rates against other root beers.

4 kegs




May 022012
 

I like a diverse brand. Any brand that feels they need to make more than one root beer flavor makes the world a better place in my opinion (except for Journey but that’s another story). So I was pleased to find that Hosmer Mountain makes a sarsaparilla root beer as well as their regular. Note that isn’t a sarsaparilla. I don’t review sarsaparillas. They’re not root beers. This is a sarsaparilla root beer, much like Dang! That’s Good makes a butterscotch root beer, and Frostie makes a vanilla root beer. Though, my most recent experience with a sarsaparilla flavored root beer (Hartridge’s) didn’t turn out so well so I wasn’t sure what to expect for this one. Though this one is “bottled in the land of swift moving waters” so has to be good right?

It has a nice creamy Body with a distinct sarsaparilla flavor in addition to the more standard root beer flavors. The brown sugar is noticeable. The Bite is adequate without being overbearing from both spices and carbonation with the overall mouth feel very smooth. The Head is nice and tall. It fizzes down a tad faster than I prefer, but it still lasts plenty long. The Aftertaste is sticky wintergreen and vanilla with hints of sarsaparilla.

Yum! Though it has sarsaparilla, it’s still definitely a root beer and it’s definitely good. It seems that with this one they corrected all of the flaws of their regular root beer and then added that sarsaparilla to change things up a bit. And you know what, variety is nice. I look forward to more of this in the future. See how it rates against other root beers.




Feb 182012
 


So a little bit ago, those fine root beer lovers, The Root Beer Brothers, issued a challenge. Have root beer and granola for breakfast. Not being one to back down from a root beer challenge (unless said challenge involves the words “can”, “plastic”, or “diet”) I went to the store and got some granola.

I decided on a simple honey almond granola since I do like honey in my root beer. Then I needed to choose a root beer. I thought about A&W like the brothers, but they’d already done that so I figured I’d try something new. Since I like vanilla and honey I settled on Frostie Vanilla Root Beer, since it is ultra-vanilla creamy and there’s no honey flavor to it. I tried to find the Vance Gilbert “Root Beer for Breakfast” on Grooveshark to listen to, but it wasn’t there. Alas, I had to settle for “Root Beer” by George Jones. So with “Root Beer” on loop, I poured the granola and root beer.

The first bite was interesting to be sure, the Frostie Vanilla mixed with the granola flavors and had a melted ice cream color. It kind of tasted like a melted ice cream mix. Despite my effort to pair flavors, they were a horrible combination. Half way through my monstrous bowl, I was feeling sick to my stomach. The last bite couldn’t come quickly enough. Blech. What a terrible idea. At least with the root beer I picked. Perhaps a more stout root beer would do the trick, but honestly, I can’t see myself trying it again, not for a very long time at least. I think the following limerick sums up the experience:

There once was a brother named Root,
Whose blog posts are quite a hoot,
He challenged for cheer
granola and root beer
But when I finished I wished he’d stayed mute.

My bowl of granola and root beer.