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




Nov 052014
 

Frostie Root Beer Bottle This was part of a mail order variety pack that I got the summer after my mission. It’s one of the more common brands of gourmet root beer out there, but is not sold much on the West Coast. Frostie has been around since 1939, and actually been continuously sold since then, unlike many brands which are being revived these days and tack a “Since 19” It was also first bottled in an abandoned jail house in Maryland … there’s a joke in there somewhere, I know it, but I’m just not familiar enough with the area to make it. The name and label confuse me. It almost seems like they’re going for a Christmas theme, like Frostie the Snow Man, and the picture on the label is of some Santa wannabe. There’s snow as well and a frosty mug of root beer. They’re just oozing with Christmas iconography but they leave it at that, making you wonder if it’s just some happy festive coincidence. Oh well, as far as I’m concerned it’s the Christmas Root Beer until someone says otherwise, or makes a more Christmasy brew.

The Body is good, but has a strange, unplaceable flavor surfacing after the initial contact. There is a good Bite. The Head good as well. The Aftertaste is that same strange flavor, which isn’t gross, but just doesn’t belong.

Not bad, not bad at all. If it were not for this aforementioned flavor, Frostie would’ve rated higher. However, that flavor is there and it really drags it down. It’s still drinkable. Mixing it with food, or with a scoop of ice cream in a float, would probably hide that strange flavor. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three kegs




Nov 302011
 

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.