Seal of Approval – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Old Keg Root Beer

Mar 052025

The root beer that could have been my 500th review. I bought the bottle after trying my 499th, but, I didn’t think it was “special enough” to be 500. It’s another resurrected brand from Orca Beverages, of which there are several, and that’s just a bit to plain a backstory for the storied 500th brew. I found this at the store formerly known as Blue Sun Soda, and I do like the motif of an old keg being called Old Keg. I mean, I throw pictures of old kegs all over this site of mine. But does it really have that, “old keg” flavor and profile?

The Body sweet with rich honey and vanilla complimenting a nice rooty sassafras core. It is really delicious. The Bite is spicy and prickly with a smooth finish. The Head is medium tall and foamy that fizzes away faster than I prefer by coalescing into increasingly larger bubbles. That’s rather unique. The Aftertaste is a delicious honey sassafras with hints of vanilla.

This is my kind of root beer. Darker than classic, with honey showing through. I love it. Honestly, as far as quality of the root beer goes, this would have been a better 500th than what I had, and while it didn’t have a backstory then, it’s lack of backstory has become one of the better ones. Ah, the brew and review that could have been, but at least it won the Seal. See how it rates against other root beers.

Hank’s Gourmet Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Nov 062024

I made a mistake 13 years ago. Back when I held my Ultimate Root Beer Showdown I said that Hank’s seemed better than I remembered. At that time I knew the bottle had changed, but I didn’t actually realized that they’d made a subtle change to both their recipe (substituting cane sugar for high fructose corn syrup) and their name (substituting Gourmet for Premium). What I thought was the Hank’s I’d reviewed in 1998 was actually a technically new root beer. I’d like to think that after seeing such a high ranking at gourmetrootbeer.com they strove to make their premium root beer even better, worthy of truly being, “Gourmet”, and renamed the brew once they’d achieved it. Regardless, change their recipe and name they did, and thus a new root beer I need to review. Since I’ve been drinking Hank’s continuously since then, the review itself comes as no surprise but I shall write it as if it did.

Sweet mother of root beer! This has an amazing Body. How root beer should taste. It’s sweet and rooty and creamy and spicy. It’s perfectly proportioned with nothing lacking. The Bite is solid but not overbearing. The Head is tall and foamy as a root beer should be. The Aftertaste is luscious vanilla that lasts the perfect amount of time.

I really, truly, love this stuff. It is perhaps as close to perfection as we can come in this imperfect world. See how it rates against other root beers.

Henry Weinhard’s Gourmet Soda Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Jun 052024

Henry Weinhard’s was for ages my root beer standard while I was living on the West Coast. They had tweaked their recipe several times over the decades but it always still tasted the same. The name had never changed so it always left me with a bit of a conundrum as to whether or not I should rereview it. In the years since I’ve moved to Minnesota, they finally added a “Gourmet Soda” tag to their name so I can safely differentiate it from the Henry’s that’s gone before. While I wish they had never changed their recipe, it does give me more things to review and more bottles to add to the collection. My biggest fear was they somehow ruined the brew that for ages was the gold standard of root beer for me.

The Body is sweet and creamy with rich vanilla and a hint of honey flavor. It is nearly perfectly balanced, tasting just like you expect a creamy root beer to taste. The Bite is smoooth, and yet there is a bit of spice and carbonation tingle. The Head is amazing, a standard to which all other root beers must be held. Tall, foamy, lasts forever, pour carefully lest you overflow your mug. The Aftertaste is a nice caramely vanilla that lasts the perfect amount of time.

It’s nice to see that a slightly new name and ingredients mess this up. I’m quite pleased that it is basically indistinguishable from its predicessors where I can still give it my Seal and place it in the highest echellon of fine brews. See how it rates against other root beers.

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