Steelhead – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

The Grizzly Paw Soda Company Root Beer

Mar 162016

The Grizzly Paw Soda Company Root Beer Bottle About the time I was emailed about the Brewski another Canadian, dare I say my very favorite Canadian, informed me that he had found this and wanted to know if I needed to try it. I say my favorite Canadian because he was my longest and last mission companion in Madagascar so many years ago. Our root beer relationship went back to then, with me sending him some A&W as soon as I got back home (I got home first) to help end the root beer dearth that country suffers from. I even visited him in Alberta and found the FLM and Red Jammer along the way. Anyhow, I traded him some Steelhead and Hank’s for this. It comes in the standard Canadian 341 ml bottle which still makes no sense at all. The label makes me think of some nature park warning sign which is appropriate for the region. The coolest part about it is the whole “Racinette” because, Canada.

The Body is rich and sort of creamy with a rather generic root beer flavor. There’s nothing that really jumps out at you. The Bite has got a lot of carbonation fizz but not really much in the spice department. The Head is short and doesn’t last very long. The Aftertaste is a light caramel licorice with a bit of vanilla that doesn’t last long enough.

This is pretty meh but not unpleasant in any way. It’s just one of those generic, decent root beers that might as well have a white label with the words “Root Beer” in black text. I’d drink it again if I needed a brew to go with dinner, but only if it just happened to be laying around. See how it rates against other root beers.

Steelhead Original Spicy Draft Root Beer

Draft and Keg Root Beers 1 Response »

Jun 112014

A pint of Steelhead Root Beer Original Spicy Draft So I unexpectedly found myself in San Francisco a few weeks back to meet some people about some … important stuff … We were scheduled to meet at some Italian place called Il Fornaio. When we got to the parking lot (which had individually metered spaces which only took quarters) the first thing that I noticed was across the street was the Steelhead Brewery. Dang, why couldn’t we have scheduled lunch there? I love Steelhead Root Beer. But after our lunch we were meeting someone else and I knew just the place to do it. When we got there I ordered a root beer and as I drank it I realized that it was quite different than the bottled stuff. The menu even confirmed it. I ordered another one and commenced with the review.

The Body is dark and spicy with an anise and wintergreen flavor. There’s not too much anise, thankfully. The Bite lives up to its name though it has a nice smooth finish. The Head is nice and tall and fizzes away at a medium. The Aftertaste more licorice and a bit of wintergreen and cloves.

This is probably my favorite take on this genre of dark and spicy brews, but the anise flavor was just a little too strong for me in the second glass. I wanted a third glass to really figure out what rating to give it, but the waiter never came back to ask if I wanted anything else, so I’ll just go with the lower review of what I was thinking of. This is a pretty good brew by all accounts, but not as good as their bottled recipe.

Three and a half kegs

The view from the parking lot.

The menu, proving this to be a different recipe than the bottled brew.

Flashback Malt Shoppe Olde Time Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 252013

Flashback Root Beer Bottle Merry Christmas! Located near the beach in Seaside Oregon is the Flashback Malt Shoppe. They have over 200 types of glass bottled sodas and serve all manner of frozen desserts. Their own line of sodas is a recent, yet welcome development as the world always needs more gourmet root beer. While Seaside isn’t too far a drive it’s actually bottled by Orca Beverages which is extremely close. However, I got this in a trade from anthony who lives in NJ. I it makes me happy to know that this root beer traveled across the country and back just to make it to my refrigerator. I like their brick wall background with the logo and the sparkleys. The whole use-a-different-font-for-every-line is kind of annoying, but a lot of people do that for some reason. I didn’t study marketing so there may be something I don’t know. As for what their official soda name is I’m not quite sure. I even went so far as to ask them on their Facebook page and they just said, “Thank you for your input” which was not exactly helpful so I went with what’s written above. They also have a birch beer which their website calls a “Birch Root Beer” but the label says otherwise, much to my chagrin. Maybe they’ll change the label some day so I can review that one too.

The Body is medium strength with delicious vanilla and honey accents. There’s a lot of spice in there as well. The Bite is strong from the spice and the carbonation, almost too much. The Head is deplorable, barely better than the two second Head. The Aftertaste is a light vanilla and honey that lasts an appropriate amount of time.

This is good but really needs a proper Head. I’m starting to wonder if this is more of a problem with Orca than the brands themselves, as most of the Orca brands have had terrible Heads. Especially when you consider the nearly identical Bulldog and Steelhead brews with the Bulldog, having a poor Head, bottled by Orca. Oh well. It still tastes really good so if you’re ever in Seaside you should get some. See how it rates against other root beers.

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