I ordered this in a mixed pack several years back. I was very excited because finally, I could have the root beer of the international brotherhood of the Masons. The label sadly, is missing all of the appropriate symbols, the all seeing eye, the square, the compass, etc. Unless that is, it’s hidden more than usual. Stare closely at the root beer keg featured prominently, tweak your eyes a bit like one of those Magic Eye things, and soon you will see the hidden world of Masonic knowledge. Or not. Yes, despite my best efforts I could find no Masonic anything with this, which is really a shame. Maybe the root beer itself is a Masonic symbol, and the displaying of it grants access into the deepest recesses of the lodge. Or maybe isn’t even made by the Masons. Maybe Mr. Mason was a Mason but didn’t want his Mason’s Root Beer to be too Masonic? My head hurts from thinking all of this. Maybe if I watch National Treasure again I’ll figure it out. Lemon juice on the back of the label? Hmm…
The Body is very sweet with an initial good root beer flavor, but then a slight fruity and out of place flavor sneaks its way in to disrupt the otherwise pleasant experience. The Bite is lacking. The Head is acceptable and rather frothy and foamy but on the light side. The Aftertaste is sticky and not quite as it should be.
So I think this root beer’s problem may have something to do with more sodium benzoate and citric acid than flavoring in the root beer. “Keg Brewed Flavor” indeed. It’s not that bad really, it’s actually tolerable should you be invited to a Masonic Lodge or just happen to be a big fan of The Lost Symbol, have a bottle or two with the rest of the snacks. I won’t be buying it to drink on its own, however. See how it rates against other root beers.
My first blog post! I’ve been running the site for over 10 years and a lot has changed in the web since then and so I’m adding the blog to get more with the times. I’ll write a “long format” blog post review of every root beer I taste test from now on and as time permits, go back and write up blog posts of the old “short format” reviews. Other blog posts will be added as seems appropriate. So, another root beer with a dog on the bottle. What is it with dogs on the bottles of root beer, I mean; mug, dog n suds, sea dog, bull dog, etc. Everybody (and their dog it seems) wants to put a dog on their root beer bottle. But beyond my canine quipping, it is a pretty sweet bottle. It’s got a fancy label and it doesn’t have a twist cap. I like it when they do that. I had to use a bottle opener like with Mason’s and Mendecino Taubold’s Private Reserve. It’s more old fashion (maybe its cheaper too?) So how did this old doggy root beer stack up?
