GourmetRootBeer

Way 2 Cool Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  1 Response »
Oct 312012
 

This was one of those root beers that was just impossible to get a hold of. I had seen it on another reviewer’s site, and then I scoured the internet to no avail. Every now and then I’d scour again. I kept finding one place that said they had it, but they’d never respond to my emails. Finally at long last they did. They told me I could come into their store and get some, but it was about 1,000 miles away. When I told them that they said that I could call the brewery and gave me the number. Ah, now I was getting somewhere. I called and they said they’d ship me two bottles, and asked for my credit card info. They didn’t tell me how much it would cost though. Talk about your leap of faith. Thankfully it was under $15. I really like the bottle. The river flowing through the desert reminds me of the Columbia snaking through the sage brush steppe on which I spent my formative years.

The Body is very interesting and unique. It isn’t very sweet. It is mild and has a minty clove flavor with some anise. There is also a pronounced sour flavor that comes in after the initial contact. The whole combination comes off strange and not good. It has a solid bite from the cloves that isn’t too much. The Head is tall but fizzes down very quickly. The Aftertaste is sour minty licorice with a hint of clove.

Yuk! It is a strange brew indeed. I don’t know what it is, maybe the lack of sassafras (yes), the lack of vanilla (yes, YES), and the roasted malt barely (they put THAT in there?), but this root beer is way off base. I wouldn’t say it’s way 2 cool, maybe way 2 weird, or way 2 wrong or something. I’m not totally sure, but I think they got the 2 part right. See how it rates against other root beers.




Ben’s Old Fashioned Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Oct 242012
 

Another root beer sent my way by that Sage of Sassafras, anthony. This one hails from New York and can only be found at Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen Restaurant. There are five of said restaurants in New York and one in Boca Rotan, FL. No doubt to serve to all of the rich snowbirds that winter down there. Why give up your delicious kosher deli just because your over a thousand miles away from New York after all. The label is rather plain with the flavor text “More Than Just Your Neighborhood Kosher Deli”. I’m not sure why every word needed the first letter capitalized but I wholeheartedly agree with the statement, if for no other reason than my neighborhood kosher deli doesn’t have their own brand of bottled root beer, or even exists for that matter (Wait there is a kosher deli in my neighborhood, Blazin’ Bagels, still no root beer though).

It has a sweet generic tasting Body that isn’t quite full. There is a slight vanilla hint to it that is sort of a candy vanilla flavor, like a vanilla tootsie roll. Maybe they use artificial vanilla. It is really smooth without much Bite at all. There’s a bit of a fizz to it but that’s all. The Head is a modest height and fizzes down quickly. The Aftertaste is more of that candy vanilla flavor.

Overall it’s kind of refreshing and pretty generic. Nothing bad, but overall, just ok. I’m not sure what’s old fashioned about this though. I can imagine the lighter flavor would go better with certain sandwiches at the deli or something, but probably not a whole lot of effort went into it’s creation. Just some off-the-shelf extract, chuck in some vanillin and call it a day. So while they do offer their own root beer to distinguish themselves from other neighborhood kosher delis, it’s not a root beer worth its own dedicated trip. See how it rates against other root beers.




Miss Lady Small Batch Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  1 Response »
Oct 172012
 

Just look at that root beer. What class! A tall 22 oz wine bottle sealed with red wax. It is small batch brewed and you can only buy it in the Hamptons. Of course such a fancy and high class bottle, with a name like Miss Lady, features an elegant woman clad in a flowing white lace dress holding a parasol, right? Wrong! You’d think that’s what it’d have, but as you can see it’s an old wrinkly dog there instead. Really? A dog? I mean, you went to all of that work and then put a dog on your label, like so many others have? And not even a snooty rich people dog like a poodle but a wrinkly pug? I must say that I’m disappointed. Other than the label picture though, this is pretty cool. They even hand write what bottle number you purchase (I got 315 and 316 in case you were wondering) so this is a really exclusive brew. It’s all natural as well. All of that coolness doesn’t come cheap though, it’ll cost you $6 a bottle and that’s before shipping. Or you can go to some farmers markets in the Hamptons (you do have a summer home there, right?) and skip the shipping. I must say that I was excited to try this, as well as a little concerned, since I like to always recap the empty bottle and make it look as close to as it was before I opened it. The whole wax seal presented a new and unique challenge. As you can see though, I didn’t do half bad.

This has a very light Body with mild honey and sarsaparilla flavors. There’s the slightest hint of licorice as well but really the whole thing is very subtle. It isn’t overly sweet either. It reminds me of an herb tea sweetened with a little honey. There is a small Bite that’s a little prickly, but it isn’t very strong. the Head is nothing special. There’s nothing on the way of spice burn either. The Aftertaste is honey and anise that doesn’t linger very long.

So another herb tea root beer eh? It’s not the first one I’ve had from New York, nor the best I might add. What is it with them over there? Maybe such light, refreshing, herbal brews are more common in that region than I know. It isn’t bad, and I do enjoy drinking it if it were called something else. It has a lot of the right flavors but not a lot of them, sadly. A cold carbonated herb tea is not what I would reach for when I want a root beer. See how it rates against other root beers.




 Older Entries  Newer Entries