Triple XXX – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Triple XXX Family Restaurant Root Beer

Root Beer Stand Root Beers No Responses »

May 012024

Seal of Approval

Last month I set out on a quest to view the total solar eclipse. If you’ve never seen a total solar eclipse, I cannot recommend it enough. Partial eclipses are neat, but really, absolutely, nothing like a total eclipse. Having that proper understanding, yet living outside of the path of totality, I determined that a quest must be had. I pragmatically picked the closest major city I could drive to without having to pay exorbitant hotel fees. And thus I decided on Indianapolis. Once that was decided the next objective, root beer. I stopped in Wisconsin Dells on the first day to visit the National Root Beer Museum. The second day the family and I had the lunch destination of the Triple XXX Family Restaurant. The last official Triple XXX root beer stand in existence and the first Drive In to open in Indiana, in 1931. The place was packed but we got in after a 30 minute wait and ordered food and brews. The place has the classic diner feel you’d expect, with waitresses with big pitchers of root beer filling up anyone in need. And a good thing too because that root beer is great.

The Body is sweet and rich and creamy with a nice vanilla flavor accenting the classic root beer stand taste. I almost want to say there’s some honey in it? The Bite is mild and smooth, could use a bit more spice but I still like it. The Head is medium and frothy. The Aftertaste is a nice sweet vanilla.

It’s that classic drive-in style I love. I know that the bottled version I tried way back when was kind of an inconsistent mess, but every mug (2 and a half of them this trip) I tried was spot on. The food was amazing as well. I tried a really different burger with peanut butter that was featured on Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dives. It was surprisingly good. This place alone would have made the eclipse quest a success. The fact that the weather was basically perfect on eclipse day made this hands down one of the most successful road trips I’ve ever done.

4 kegs

The Triple XXX Family Restaurant

You can see how packed it is on the inside.

Some historic pictures on their wall

A menu from the 1940s

My burger (chopped steak) with onion rings and a root beer.

Triple XXX Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Apr 162014

Triple XXX Root Beer Bottle After reading my XXX Root Beer review and my Triple AAA Root Beer review I knew you were wondering what things I had to say about Triple XXX, the root beer that started all of this mess. It was awhile ago that I came across a six pack of this. The first thing that got me hung up about this brew was the name. Did they mean Triple X, but wanted to make sure you really got it so they called it Triple XXX? It seemed redundant but yes, it really was called Triple XXX and not Triple X. So does Triple XXX = 9X, X^9, or 3X^3? Does it mean this root beer has some connection to the adult entertainment industry (as an aside I’ve really thought about registering www.gourmetrootbeer.xxx and having it redirect to this post)? According to their website, XXX used to mean good, so the owners thought that Triple XXX is three times as good, or something. Who knows. The label makes me happy, simple, metallic, and retro. Though they changed it since I drank this.

I drank more bottles of this root beer than normal and every time I got something different. The Body was sometimes sweet and full, sometimes watery and lacking. The Bite was sometimes harsh, sometimes smooth. The Head was never very frothy but ranged between nonexistent and not bad. It always fizzed away quickly though. The Aftertaste was sometimes (see a pattern here?) very nice and of vanilla, and sometimes very weak.

Ok, what’s up with that? Whatever happened to quality control and process consistency? I have strict standards and try to recreate the exact same drinking situation with each review but this one was all over the place throughout the whole six pack. The inconsistency of it all was appalling. “Tastes like root beer used to taste”? Really, it seems like they can’t remember and tried several things. Though sometimes the root beer was really good, I just can’t in good faith call the brew drinkable when I’m not sure what it’ll be. So sorry Triple XXX, you get a two and a half. See how it rates against other root beers.

Dublin Texas Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Apr 092014

Dublin Texas Root Beer Bottle I first heard about the Dublin Bottling Works when news of the lawsuit and the end of Dublin Dr Pepper broke. While I was sympathetic towards the plight of those who loved the drink, would miss the drink, or whose livelihoods depended on the drink, I didn’t like the drink. Or rather, I don’t like Dr Pepper or any of the imitations and never had, so I really couldn’t lament much even though I’ve never tried that particular version of it. But Dublin Bottling Works, being from Texas, won’t let The Man keep them down, and have replaced their Dublin Dr Pepper with Dublin Texas Root Beer. Now this is a very positive thing in my opinion. Replacing I flavor I don’t like with one I do. It’s not like they’re strangers to root beer either, they used to bottle Triple XXX. I’m not sure if they still do, but now they have their own original root beer. Since it was a new product launch, they were kind enough to send me a six pack for review.

The Body is sweet and a little creamy and full of the standard root beer flavors, so much so that it borders being generic tasting. It’s a little on the dark side as well. The Bite is prickly from carbonation but lacking in spice. The Head is tall but fizzes down at an average speed, faster than I feel it should. The Aftertaste is a sort of sticky caramel almost vanilla flavor.

Pretty good, but it doesn’t really have anything extra to really make me swoon. It is a solid brew for a barbeque or a float, but not quite sipping variety. But a good all around root beer like this is sure to be successful enough, even if it’s not my favorite. See how it rates against other root beers.