Mt. Angel Brewing Company Old Fashioned Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  Comments Off on Mt. Angel Brewing Company Old Fashioned Root Beer
May 222013
 

Mt. Angel Brewing Company Root Beer Bottle Mt. Angel Brewing Company is unique in that it is a soda brewery. They brew sodas and only sodas which can be purchased in either bottles or various keg sizes. Their original flavor was their Old Fashioned Root Beer though they’ve since expanded to unique flavors like Marionberry and Hazelnut as well as the more traditional Orange Cream. They’ve won several awards for their brew. They took the Silver Metal at 2012 National Open Root Beer Competition (a category of the National Open Beer Competition), where the Gold and Bronze went to Seal of Approval brews so I was excited to get this to say the least. Getting it was a bit of a pain even though it’s only about a 4 hour drive to their brewery. I didn’t want to mail order it at first, hoping I’d be down there for some reason or another, but eventually I got around to getting my two bottles. Their motto is “Venite et Gaudete” which is “Come and Rejoice” The motto seems to be on a seal of some sort which only appears on their labels, the website is quite mute on the subject.

The Body has a rich strong minty flavor with a hint of fruity. It isn’t really creamy and is a tad bitter and sticky. The Bite is pretty non-existent. There’s a little carbonation tingle and the slightest mint burn but really nothing. The Head is short, very short, but frothy. The Aftertaste is very minty and a little bitter and fruity.

So this root beer really reminds me of Ozark Mountain, minus the creamy vanilla and the beautiful Head. They even both have green labels. While the creamy minty brews are a favorite of mine, this only has the minty part of the equation. Then that hint of fruity detracts and the Head is poor. In fact on the second bottle I tried, the Head was non-existent but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and rated it with the Head from the first bottle, which was still really short. All in all, it’s a decent brew but not one of my favorites by any means. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three kegs




Apr 032013
 

Ozark Mountain Bottling Works Root Beer BottleSeal of ApprovalA newcomer to the world of gourmet root beer, Ozark Mountain Bottling works was founded just 4 years ago in 2009 in Branson, MO. If you go to their website you’ll see that they have five different flavors of soda, each with a different color label. The orange soda has an orange label, the grape’s is purple, the lemonade’s is pink (pink lemonade), and as you can see the root beer corresponds with this color scheme and is green, wait, what? Why is the root beer label green? Is does seem to break the pattern unless the root beer itself is green (which it isn’t). I can see no reason to have the root beer label green and not brown. I’ll just imagine that someone there was dying to have a green label but their spinach soda was shot down by the board. Since they didn’t want to hurt his feelings too bad they decided to put a green label on the root beer for him. They say on the site that they use 100% pure cane sugar and their brew is “designed to highlight the classic flavors of Root Beer and Sarsaparilla to create a unique taste unlike anything else on the market.”

The Body is minty and creamy complimenting a full sassafras flavor. The vanilla hints give it a nice rich texture and flavor. The Bite is subtle; just enough to let you know it’s there but not too much. The Head is huge and very frothy! It rivals the other top root beer Heads out there. It lasts a long time as well. The Aftertaste is rich wintergreen and vanilla with the slightest accents of caramel.

Yum, yum, yum! I love this root beer. It reminds me a lot of River City with that creamy minty goodness. Maybe they have a green label because of all the mint. Whatever the reason, I wish I had ordered more. See how it rates against other root beers.

4 kegs