Seal of Approval – Page 2 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Red Hare Root Beer

Jan 032024

Last month I was in Atlanta for my final work trip of the year. It’s been a rather busy one with over 100,000 miles of air travel and probably two full months in hotels. But anyhow, I was finally done but had one last DERMS hurrah to be made in a new city so once again ended up dragging my coworkers out for a brew. The Red Hare Brewing and Distilling have a brewery and a still in Atlanta, and one was rather close to my hotel. They don’t really have an “about” section that I could find on their website so I couldn’t tell you much about them other than that. But they also make a root beer and a grapefruit soda and serve them on tap. Their food was all Cuban themed, which is not what I expected from a brewery/still in Georgia, but that’s what it was.

The Body is sweet and rich with a classic, yet complex flavor. There’s a bit of licorice but not much, a bit of vanilla too, but not quite as much as I’d prefer. It is well balanced and quite delicious. The Bite is spicy and fizzy and really delivers. The Head is short and fizzes down too fast but doesn’t completely fizz away, so that you still get foam throughout the whole drinking experience, which is just barely enough Head. The Aftertaste is sweet and mild and pleasant. Not really much of one thing nor another but farewell to the draught you’ve just had, making you want another.

Nice! It’s been awhile since I had a draft brew that made me want seconds, so this was quite welcome. I wish it had a big more Head, but all considered, this is a solid brew I’d recommend to anyone. Their Cuban food was really good too, and the portion size is enormous. So check this place out if you’re in Atlanta.

**My Cuban Salmon Bowl with our appetizers and the Root Beer. It was a good meal**

**The Red Hare Taps, Root Beer on the far right**

Reverence Brewing Company HONEY PIE Root beer

Draft and Keg Root Beers No Responses »

Sep 212022

Round three with Reverence Brewing Company. Nate, the brewer, was originally from Minnesota, which means he grew up around fine craft root beer which inspired him as he made his different flavors. He also had too many taps. The location of their brewery was originally another, different brewery, that failed, so when he moved in, the equipment was there and they had too many taps to fill with just their beer, so he figured he needed to make a bunch of different root beers. Once again, capital thinking on his part. He makes his root beers a lot like I do, he has a base extract provided by a supplier, but then he adds different sugars and other extracts and spices to make the final products. He mixes them all in the same mixing tanks as the beer (picture below) and then kegs them and taps them up. Now this was the brew I was looking forward to the most, because you know how much I love honey in my root beer. They use wild Colorado honey.

The Body is sweet with a classic flavor profile accented by sarsaparilla and honey with a hint of creamy vanilla. I wish there were a little more vanilla but there’s a complexity to it if you drink slowly. The Bite is mild and smooth, yet present. The Head is decent, tall but fizzes down a little quicker than I’d like. The Aftertaste is a nice honey flavor that builds the more you drink so the honey flavor becomes more and more prominent, which is amazing.

Yum! I knew it would be good. It’s basically their EH + DUBS with honey added in place of some of the sugar, which is just what I love. This is my favorite one yet, and I’m pleased to give this brew my Seal of Approval.

**Reverence Brewing Company mixing tanks for the root beer (and regular beer)**

Fiz Oktoberfest Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Sep 072022

This is the second Oktoberfest root beer to come out of the collaboration of Roc City (Fiz) and The Soda Pop Bros, that is a limited addition root beer with chocolate as one of the ingredients. The base formula for both is the same, but mixed in different ratios with different levels of carbonation, which makes two similar yet distinct brews. As I mentioned before, the Fiz has more carbonation and about 20% more of the flavoring and sugar, making stronger, stickier, foamier brew as opposed to the Soda Pop Bros more light and refreshing root beer. Whichever one prefers is up to personal preference but I lean more to enjoy the stronger flavors so I was excited to try this. I also really like the label on this bottle, the yellow and the coat of arms makes it feel very Bavarian.

The Body is rich and sweet with an aged sarsaparilla core wrapped in a chocolately flavor that adds darkness and depth. There’s also a little vanilla to round it out. I like it a lot. The Bite is not strong but there is a bit of spice. I like the feel of it too. The Head is very tall and foamy as it should be. The Aftertaste is a nice chocolaty sarsaparilla.

This is good. This is what I like. A nice and sweet and full of yummy flavored brew. This only the second time I’ve chocolate in a root beer and I’m pleased that it worked so well. I hope they bring this back every October because I’d love to celebrate Okoberfest with a tall mug of this. See how it rates against other root beers.

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