GourmetRootBeer

Frosty Mug Root Beer Cupcakes

Sep 292012

My family came up to visit on my birthday last week and brought the most amazing birthday cake ever. My lovely mother worked over time perfecting a root beer cake and frosting recipe as well as the greatest way possible to serve it. The cake has a solid root beer flavor and is even slightly fizzy from using actual root beer and baking soda. The frosting is rich and root beery as well. It is delicious and when made and served in the glass mugs, will be a hit with all root beer lovers. A wonderful bonus is that now I have a dozen glass mugs for root beer parties at home! I told her that I needed the recipe and she happily obliged. So here it is, Frosty Mug Root Beer Cupcakes by Pam Sortomme.

1 ¼ cup sugar
1 ½ cup flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
12 oz bottle root beer (Henry Weinhard’s)
2 tb root beer concentrate
1 ½ tsp real vanilla
1 tb white vinegar
¼ cup oil
12 11 oz glass mugs (from Dollar Tree)

Mix sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Add in root beer, root beer concentrate, vanilla, vinegar, and oil until well blended. The batter should be thin.
Spray the mugs will cooking spray and fill halfway with batter.
Bake at 350 F for 19-24 minutes.

Root beer butter cream frosting
1 cup butter
4 cups powder sugar
2 tb milk or water
1 tsp McCormicks root beer concentrate
½ tsp real vanilla

When the cupcakes are cool, frost so it looks like foam. Add straws if desired. The little root beer kegs are made from chocolate with her Cricket Cake Cutter. The cake itself is very moist and fluffy and delicious. You can even put a scoop of ice cream on top for a root beer cupcake float! While I won’t start giving Seal of Approvals to recipes with root beer in them (there would be far far too many I’m sure) I heartily recommend this to anyone who loves root beer.

The Frosty Mug Cakes from another angle

A close up of one of the cupcakes

Frosty Mug Root Beer Cupcakes viewed from above.

Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Root Beer

Draft and Keg Root Beers 4 Responses »

Sep 262012

My son, like most little boys, loves trains. This matters because Snoqualmie, WA has a historic train museum that includes a train ride from the historic depot. We had always thought it would be fun to take him there since we always drive through Snoqualmie on the way to my parents house. Then, I discovered Snoqualmie had a brewery that makes their own root beer, and only a block away from the museum. We quickly planned a family outing to see trains and drink root beer. The night before we went, we discovered that it was “A day with Thomas” at the museum, featuring a life sized Thomas the Tank Engine that would pull the train ride instead of the normal engine. Of course it was much more expensive (and a shorter ride) but with all of the additional events that were happening we were glad we went then. After a whole morning of riding trains, looking at trains, taking pictures of trains, and playing with model trains, we went to the brewery for lunch. Of course, I had to start by reviewing their root beer.

It has a sweet and complex Body. The core flavors taste like those generic root beer barrel candies with a lot of wintergreen and clove. It isn’t really creamy at all, but rather, sharp and spicy. The Bite is pretty strong from all of the spices but not harsh from carbonation. It’s still a little more than I prefer though. The Head is nice, medium height and very frothy. It lasts and lasts (at least when you ask them to pour it so it has a Head). The Aftertaste is wintergreen with some clove accents that lingers the right amount of time.

This is a pretty decent brew, but doesn’t really move me at all. While it has a nice complex flavor, it is more sharp than rich and I prefer a rich smooth flavor. There’s nothing unpleasant about it though, so I give it a 3 1/2 kegs, with the nice Head just pushing it over from a 3. So don’t go just to drink it, but it’ll go well with your meal. Just don’t get their pizza, while it’s loaded with toppings, it still tastes pretty bland. Their gumbo, however, is a different story.

Brooklyn Soda Works Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Sep 192012

When I first learned about this one I was in the process of seeking out new brews to try so I immediately sent them an email to see if they would mail order it. They said they couldn’t since they didn’t bottle much and it had to be refrigerated at all times. This was rather saddening but I figured if I ever go to Brooklyn, I’d look them up. A few days later I received a root beer shipment (part of a trade) from the one and only anthony which had an ice pack and two bottles of this root beer. What joy! anthony, you read my mind. I think that this has elevated him to the status of Root Beer Wizard. The bottle itself sets a new record I think for low budget labeling. The label itself looks like those blank name-tag stickers with “brooklynsodaworks” printed all over it in courier font with “Root Beer” scrawled on there in Sharpie. Though, at New York wages, plus benefits, it may actually be the most expensive label there is. When I poured it out however, it was orange-ish color. I said out loud, “I’m … hesitant”

The Body is different, that’s for sure. It tastes fruity and herbal with ginger and some vanilla coming through. There really isn’t a sassafras flavor to it at all, but rather, lemon and herbs and spices. It reminds me of those lemon ginger herbal teas that I love so much. The Bite has a decent ginger kick with a light carbonation tingle. The Head is on the short side, but very frothy and lingers a long time. The Aftertaste is light lemon and ginger with the slightest hints of vanilla that fades quickly.

So, this is basically a cold, carbonated herb tea. It is very light and refreshing. I do like it, but if I were blindfolded and tasted it, or actually if I were just given a glass and asked what it was, root beer would probably be at the bottom of the list. It’s probably the best doesn’t-taste-like-root-beer root beer I’ve had yet, but to be rated as a drinkable root beer, it actually needs to taste like a root beer. See how it rates against other root beers.

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