GourmetRootBeer

Barrel Brothers Root Beer

Sep 122012

Way back in the fall of 2003, I had just arrived at BYU to restart my undergrad career. I’d been off of my mission for a mere six months but I’d jumped back into root beer reviewing with a tenacity after two years of being completely dry (there was no gourmet root beer in Madagascar nor South Africa that I could find). On one of my first days in Provo, I went with my sister to the BYU creamery to get some of their amazing “squeaky cheese”, which is just a high quality cheddar cheese curd but it squeaks when you eat it so everyone calls it squeaky cheese. While I was there I of course checked for root beer and found a six-pack of Barrel Brothers. Excellent, more root beer for me. The label is interesting to be sure, two guys without necks wearing barrels with mugs of root beer. It’s like they’re depression era homeless people who found some root beer or something. And they also don’t have necks. That really bothers me. The other interesting tidbit on the label is that it is “brewed with both vitamin C & calcium” I’m not sure if they were setting out to make a root beer that sub for your morning glass of OJ or if their formula just happened to call for those ingredients and the marketing department (the thinner of the neck-less brothers perhaps?) decided they could pitch that as a benefit or something.

The Body was good at first but then a strange herbal flavor surfaced that was not the tastiest one to have in my mouth. It was creamy though. The tingly herbal Bite attacks you with the first drink. The Head is excellent and frothy, just as the bottle boasts and the Aftertaste is that herbal flavor and some vanilla.

So yeah, it starts out good enough and has a great Head to boot, but that strange herbal flavor really ruins it. Maybe they put too much yucca in it or maybe it’s the attempt at making a healthy orange juice substitute root beer but whatever it is they failed. Probably the reason that they have to wear barrels as the brew won’t sell enough for them to afford clothes. See how it rates against other root beers.

Hippo Size Beverages Jumbo Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Sep 052012

Was at the Root Beer Store the other day and noticed that they finally started carrying this. I’d known about it for some time from the Orca Beverages website but they utterly refused to make arrangements with me to get some, claiming that I could get anything they sold from the Root Beer Store, when the Root Beer Store clearly didn’t have it. But at last, they did and now I have it. With a name like Hippo Size and Jumbo, you’d think that this would come in some half gallon spring top growler or something. At least a 22 oz like Sparky’s does or at the very least some fat 16 oz bottles like Sprecher. However, it comes in just a regular 12 oz bottle like almost every other root beer. The did put it in the short fat bottles though, so they put in some effort. Then they realized that everyone would be let down by the lack-of-oversized bottle so they flavor texted it with “Small Bottle, Big Taste” I guess it was easier than getting bigger bottles. Despite this, they still say in the fine print that this is “The original Texas size drink” which contradicts their flavor text about it being small. It also claims a recipe that dates to 1927 though I hear they’d been out of business for some time and just recently resurrected.

This has a dark Body with a prominent licorice flavor along with sassafras and some wintergreen. It reminds me of a generic root beer barrel candy flavor (not the A&W ones). There is a strong carbonation Bite like sharp needles on the tongue. You can feel and even hear a bubble release unless it is poured from higher than normal into the glass, strange. Yet, despite all of said carbonation it still sports a “two second Head” which is quite a letdown. The Aftertaste is wintergreen and licorice that is a bit sticky.

Honestly after every drink I just think, generic stout. There really isn’t anything to distinguish this from all of the other dark and licoricey root beers other than the strange bubble release and the lack of distinguishing features. Perhaps that’s the reason it originally went out of business (and not a vast corporate conspiracy to deprive us of root beer variety). I don’t know but I do know that I’d never touch this again. See how it rates against other root beers.

Uncle Scott’s Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Aug 292012

I’m not sure who Scott is, or more importantly perhaps, whose uncle he is. Maybe he’s Dad’s brother. When I first heard about this I refrained from rushing a mail order since it is sold in North Carolina and I often do business trips to Charlotte. Of course, once I knew it was there I didn’t go back to Charlotte for another 8 months. I had gone to Greenville, SC and Raleigh in those 8 months but I never seemed to be able to track it down. Therefore, when I found myself going back to Charlotte, getting this was my top priority (after accomplishing the business of course). This is an all natural brew that is 98% organic. I’m not sure which 2% of it isn’t though. Interestingly, one of its ingredients is “wood extract.” Huh, that’s a new one. I would stick it on my ingredients list except I don’t know what type of wood it is. It could be something good like sassafras, birch, maple, or something else along those lines, but it could also be cedar, oak, aspen, or maybe even something deadly like hemlock. Why not sagebrush? Or mahogany? I mean, there are hundreds of different types of wood out there. Maybe it’s a different wood in each batch. Who knows. Just as important as what’s in this root beer is what isn’t. They clearly spell out that this brew does not contain “Milk, egg, fish, shellfish, wheat, soy bean or gluten.” That’s a relief. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve not been able to find a root beer that isn’t made with oysters or scallops. Or all the times I’ve tipped back a cold bottle of root beer to find that it’s really milk. If only all the root beers could be labeled thus my life would be easier for sure. So how is this woody and not clammy root beer?

It has a rather complex, but not full, Body with a prominent licorice and anise flavor as well as some cinnamon and vanilla. There’s some caramel flavor in there too. It sadly tastes a little watery, not much, but a little. There is a small cinnamon kick for a Bite which is kind of nice but still smooth, too smooth actually, as the carbonation is severely lacking. The Head is pitiful. There’s really nothing at all. Just a slight bubble up that doesn’t even cover the whole surface before it disappears. It makes the “two second Head” look good. The Aftertaste is vanilla with some cinnamon and licorice.

Interesting. The way the flavors mix you really need to sip it to see what’s going on. Every sip tastes a little different too. It is actually rather intriguing and unique, though not my favorite by any means. Also, the whole presentation needs some serious work. The Head and the carbonation level are atrocious. Even their own website, when showing a picture in a frosty mug, reveals that there is hardly a Head on this thing. I was really on the fence about how to rate this one. It has some major flaws but an interesting flavor. I think, if I were ever to go back to Charlotte, and I were at dinner, and the restaurant said they carried Uncle Scott’s, I’d get one with my meal, so it’s drinkable. See how it rates against other root beers.

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