GourmetRootBeer

Mason’s Root Beer

May 142014

Mason's Root Beer Bottle I ordered this in a mixed pack several years back. I was very excited because finally, I could have the root beer of the international brotherhood of the Masons. The label sadly, is missing all of the appropriate symbols, the all seeing eye, the square, the compass, etc. Unless that is, it’s hidden more than usual. Stare closely at the root beer keg featured prominently, tweak your eyes a bit like one of those Magic Eye things, and soon you will see the hidden world of Masonic knowledge. Or not. Yes, despite my best efforts I could find no Masonic anything with this, which is really a shame. Maybe the root beer itself is a Masonic symbol, and the displaying of it grants access into the deepest recesses of the lodge. Or maybe isn’t even made by the Masons. Maybe Mr. Mason was a Mason but didn’t want his Mason’s Root Beer to be too Masonic? My head hurts from thinking all of this. Maybe if I watch National Treasure again I’ll figure it out. Lemon juice on the back of the label? Hmm…

The Body is very sweet with an initial good root beer flavor, but then a slight fruity and out of place flavor sneaks its way in to disrupt the otherwise pleasant experience. The Bite is lacking. The Head is acceptable and rather frothy and foamy but on the light side. The Aftertaste is sticky and not quite as it should be.

So I think this root beer’s problem may have something to do with more sodium benzoate and citric acid than flavoring in the root beer. “Keg Brewed Flavor” indeed. It’s not that bad really, it’s actually tolerable should you be invited to a Masonic Lodge or just happen to be a big fan of The Lost Symbol, have a bottle or two with the rest of the snacks. I won’t be buying it to drink on its own, however. See how it rates against other root beers.

R & B Produce Homemade Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers 1 Response »

May 072014

R & B Produce Root Beer Bottle When I first relaunched the site and started actively started trading for new root beers with other reviewers, anthony asked if I wanted some nasty Amish home brew. I told him that as long as it was bottled with a label on the bottle I’d love it. He sent some but it was lost in the mail for two weeks due to an erroneous zip code. I had just moved and messed up my address. Since it was yeast carbonated, the bottles had leaked over half of their contents out due to over carbonation, though luckily they were in plastic bags and it didn’t ruin the rest of the root beer bottles in that trade. I had to wait another two years before he tried sending it again. This time we made sure the address was right, and he insulated the package and put ice packs in it. Three days later it came all wet and soggy. The postal workers never stamped fragile on the package so it was tossed around and one of the three bottles was smashed, which tore the plastic bag, leaking root beer everywhere. I thought the others leaked too, but after washing them, drying them, and inspecting, I was relieved to find they were intact. I was even able to mostly save the label on one for my collection. I’m not sure what R & B stand for, so I’m guessing it’s Root and Beer. I’m sure it’s a good little produce market that sells carrots, turnips, beets, sweet potatoes, and this brew.

The Body is yeasty, sour, fruity, and weak in the normal root beer flavor department. There’s a sour acidic type of carbonation Bite that isn’t very pleasant. The Head is medium tall but fizzes away very quickly. The Aftertaste is sour yeastiness.

So, light on root beer, high on sour yeast. You can guess how I feel about that. This isn’t the nastiest Amish home brew I’ve tried (I’m looking at you Olde Heritage) but it’s definitely not what you want when you need a good root beer. See how it rates against other root beers.

Eleven City Diner Blonde Root Beer

Draft and Keg Root Beers No Responses »

Apr 302014

Mug of Eleven City Blonde Root beer Part 2 of my Eleven City Diner reviews. How many times have I found a restaurant with two different flavors of house root beer? ZERO! That’s how many. That’s how amazingly epic this place is. Additionally their food is very amazing, as my previous meal demonstrated, but in addition to classics, they also have some very original stuff as well. So I was back for lunch two days later with blonde brews on my mind. To be honest I’ve only heard of one other blonde root beer before so I had no idea what to expect.

This has a light Body with a very prominent vanilla flavor that is rich and creamy. It’s a lot like a cream soda and I do like cream sodas. It is very smooth in the Bite department though the carbonation level is good. The Head is medium-tall and frothy. The Aftertaste is more creamy vanilla.

So this is like a cross between a root beer and a cream soda with all of the darker colored ingredients axed. They do use a little bit of brown sugar in there though. Despite it being far from the center of the root beer spectrum, I really like it, a lot. If you drank it without looking at it, you’d still think it was a root beer. I give this a 4, though barely, with some originality bonus points putting it over. For my lunch I wanted to find a sandwich as different and good as a blonde root beer, and I found it in the #43. A double decker pastrami with a latke in the middle with fried onions and sour cream on a challah bun. Add some spicy brown mustard and … heaven in the form of a sandwich. This place is worth its own pilgrimage. Come for the root beer, stay for the food.

4 kegs