GourmetRootBeer

Big Ben’s Root Beer!

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

That’s right folks, there is an exclamation mark after the word root beer in the title. Unlike the few others that have done this, So Duh! and Dang! That’s Good, the fine people at Big Ben’s are emphasizing that it is Root Beer! They also say “Satisfying!” so they are pretty close to getting carried away with those exclamations. But, when you consider that Big Ben’s has been around continuously since the 1920’s with a line of 23 different flavors and 11 different packaging styles, there is a lot to be excited about. Such a robust independent soft drink company these days is a rare find indeed. Normally, they don’t ship their sodas in glass bottles but thankfully made an exception for yours truly. That way I didn’t have to go all the way to Pennsylvania to get it. Choice!

It has a full dark Body. It is strong with sassafras and hints of anise and wintergreen. It is only slightly creamy. I prefer more creamy. The Bite is very mild, mostly from carbonation. The Head builds to a good height but isn’t very frothy at all and quickly fizzes away. The Aftertaste is mild wintergreen and sassafras.

So overall it’s a decent brew but there really isn’t anything exceptional about it. It is the sort of standard supermarket line of root beer that you’ll find out there (for those supermarkets that bottle them in glass) which makes sense from a soda company with so many flavors that doesn’t specialize in root beer. Good enough to keep in business but it isn’t winning any awards. See how it rates against other root beers.




Rock It Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Jan 112012
 

What a name! What a picture! I love a good pun and this takes it to a whole new level. A guitar rocket ship blasting through the “Rock It” title banner. This is on the level of a picture of a sword guitar with the caption “one does not simply ROCK into Mordor” Such awesomeness could only come from the people at Emack & Bolio’s, makers of fine gourmet ice cream that is both rocket and rock and roll themed. They say that they microbrew their sodas to both compliment their ice cream or taste great on their own. The only other Rock themed root beer I’ve tried so far is So Duh! Rockin’ Root Beer which is amazing so I had high hope for this one.

This is a very unique brew. The Body is rich and full but not dark. It’s sweet and crisp from the cane sugar and there are hints of vanilla coming through. It tastes great! The Bite is strong from a combination of spices and the carbonation. The carbonation releases suddenly from the liquid and gives a slight acidic flavor and burn as it bites you. The Head is very strange. It is very dark colored and bubbles up quickly to a medium height. Then, rather than fizzing away, the bubbles coalesce into larger and larger bubbles before the one large bubble pops. This all happens in about 10 seconds and I’ve never seen anything like it before. It seems that their carbonation process is different than the normal method (water and CO2 are separate ingredients rather than carbonated water) and that may have something to do with it. The Aftertaste is sort of spicy caramel with some vanilla. It is really good.

So, this brew does taste great and it would make a wonderful root beer float. In fact, the way it is carbonated would probably work great to build an epic frothy float. The flavors are all in place for this brew but the Bite and the Head are just a little too off for the Seal of Approval. It will go great with food though, and would be a fun change up from the normal root beer routine so it’s definitely worth getting now and again. See how it rates against other root beers.




Return of the Mr. Root Beer Kit – Brotherly Bonding Over Christmas Vacation

 Homemade Root Beers  2 Responses »
Jan 072012
 


I am never one to vow in vain. So this past Christmas vacation, as I had returned to my homeland, I gathered my brothers to the kitchen to have our second go at root beer brewing. Since the last time was rather less than tasty, I had been pondering deeply on how to make it better. Since it was too watery the first time I started with a full cup less water. It wasn’t creamy as well so I added a tablespoon of vanilla extract to the water. Since there was a distinct lack of spices I added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. I added the spices and vanilla extract to the water and boiled it for a few minutes. I let it cool until it was warm and then we followed the root beer recipe as given in the instructions. The only other change we made was to add a full extra cup of honey. Not just any honey though. We added Hartman Honey. A raw honey sold in 10 pound tubs by a local bee keeper who retired a few years ago. And I must say it is the most epic honey I’ve ever had in my life. But since he has retired, you can’t buy it any more so we were using some of the last in the world. You’ve got to use it for something though. Since my parents were watching the Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the adjacent room, our pageantry was much reduced since our attentions were torn (the Twinners hadn’t seen that movie yet) but it was still a great time. After we bottled it we let it carbonate for two days as before. We enjoyed our creation on my Dad’s birthday with a fine meal of barbecued short ribs, chicken, and all of the fixin’s. I had a second bottle the next day for the official taste test.

The first thing that was noticed was a significant improvement in the Head as seen from the picture below. That picture was also taken about a minute after it was poured so you can get an idea of just how amazing the Head had become. It was very frothy and lingered for a very long time. I suspect it was the honey, which increased the viscosity so the froth lingered more. The extra sugar also increased the carbonation by giving the yeast more to eat. The Body was also much better. It had a medium Body to it though it wasn’t watery. It was also creamy. The honey flavor was a tad too strong and it also gave a hint of fruity to the brew. The Bite was decent from both spices and carbonation, but the spice flavors were a little too strong as well. The Aftertaste was a spicy honey and vanilla flavor.

So this was quite an improvement over last time but it was still a little off. The first time it was lacking and this time was a bit too much of the good stuff. Definitely a step in the right direction in a Newton’s Method sort of way. I must say that I actually enjoyed it with the meal and would recommend it over the original recipe any day. I give it 3 1/2 kegs with it barely squeaking in that last half a keg. Though now that we are out of the Mr. Root Beer kit ingredients, I think that we will start brewing using McCormick extract so look for some more fun recipes in the future.

The epic Head on our root beer. This was taken a full minute after being poured.




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