GourmetRootBeer

Tower Root Beer

Apr 042012

Wow! A picture of a tower with the caption “Ye olde fashioned root beer”? It just makes me think of old text based RPGs and spoofs of such games. I think, I’ll write the rest of this as if it were a Dungeon Man game, but it’s not, it’s Tower Man!
Thou behold a tower. Thou enter the tower. In the room there is a window, an exit to the north, and a table with a flask and a bottle of old fashioned root beer.
What wouldst thou deau?
>Get ye flask
You cannot get ye flask. You are left wondering why you cannot get ye flask.
What wouldst thou deau?
>Get ye olde fashioned root beer
You pour the root beer into ye flask, for some reason you can now get ye flask of ye old fashioned root beer.

The Head of ye olde fashioned root beer is medium height but gone in mere seconds. The Body is extremely dark and rooty. The dominant flavors are sassafras, licorice, and mint. It’s sort of creamy. There is a strong Bite, both from spices and prickly carbonation on the tongue. The Aftertaste is sticky minty licorice with the faintest traces of vanilla.

You continue to drink ye olde fashioned Tower Root Beer. It definitely tastes ye olde fashioned. It isn’t bad, but not extremely good because you like creamy root beers that have significantly less licorice and much nicer Heads. You decide that if presented with more of this root beer, you’d rather pass and get something else. Hence, you exit the tower in search of better brews. At least you were able to get ye flask. See how it rates against other root beers.

Briar’s Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Mar 282012

The third and final brew from Anthony’s package, at least the final one that survived. He had put some Amish root beer in there as well but it spilled everywhere. Probably because it got lost in the mail for so long and I have proof that my mail carrier is grossly negligent and down right destructive of my mail. I think someday I’m going to snap his picture and write a blog post about him and all of the root beer he has destroyed. Anyways, I digress. Back to Briar’s. It has a very simple label that doesn’t really give me much material to go on. “Great Soda Since 1937” We’ll see about that.

It’s a medium Body in this brew with a distinct caramel flavor. Then it gets sour unfortunately. It is also mildly creamy with hints of vanilla. Then comes a sharp and sour carbonation Bite that sadly is rather devoid of spices. The Head is short yet foamy which is ok at best. The Aftertaste is a sour caramel vanilla that lasts too long and is kind of icky.

The first few drinks this are decent but it quickly deteriorates. “Great Soda”? Give me a break. Maybe their company has some other great flavors but this stuff? And why is it so sour? Sodium citrate and citric acid may have something to do with it. But then there are a whole host of other problems with this. The bottle also says “Enjoy!” though I think that is sarcasm. See how it rates against other root beers.

Big E Root Beer

Draft and Keg Root Beers 4 Responses »

Mar 232012

So my wonderful CFH friend (named Eric as well by the way) who found me the Joe’s discovered this brew for me on tap from a keg at a brewery/taphouse he often visits in Seattle called Naked City. It’s made by the Ellersick Brewing Company and isn’t bottled. I don’t usually go to Seattle any more but I told him the next time I was over there we’d have to try. I did finally make over on Thursday for a symposium at the University of Washington where I presented some wonderful electric vehicle research I’d done as well as performed some experiments on the company LEAF. After such a triumph, the only thing that could make it better would be to try a new root beer. I was running late when I got to the bar. I quickly ordered a glass, no ice, and poured to build the Head. The bar tender thought it was oddly specific until I explained who I was and what I was doing. To which she replied, “Ok, I still need your ID if you plan to sit at my bar.”

Despite my instructions, she didn’t build a very nice Head for me to evaluate, in part because she used a wet glass. However, my friend, who’d been there for about 10 minutes eating fries and sipping his own, vouched for the size of the Head on his. Mine was still very frothy though so I imagine it would be tall if done properly. The Body is very creamy, though not from vanilla, but it just feels creamy. It’s very sweet and tastes like a root beer barrel candy. Then comes the Bite, so much clove! Wintergreen too! Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever had a root beer with this much clove in it. There’s some other spice too, some cinnamon maybe. The net result is quite a Bite. The Aftertaste is sort of waxy wintergreen with hints of clove. The waxiness coats your mouth for quite a long time after drinking the brew.

Well, it’s decent, and very unique. Can’t say that I’d order it just to drink by itself, especially with that waxy Aftertaste, but the strong clove and wintergreen flavor would mix well with certain foods, and since they serve them there, it’s worth getting with your meal.

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