So I had heard about Dick’s Root Beer from Anthony’s wish list. I found it was made in Centralia, which isn’t too far from me. Before I planned a trip there, I figured I would send a shout out on Facebook to see if any of my UW friends (Zombie Tag comrades) were from there or going there. Lucky for me a good friend and CFH member Brian lived there and said he would get me some over Thanksgiving. I told him I needed three bottles. Well he left a message on my voicemail over the break that they didn’t sell their root beer in bottles, only draft and growlers (filled from the draft) and that he got me a growler. So this caused a conundrum. I only rate bottled root beer. Though, technically, I should rate draft root beer from kegs and growlers as well, or at least drink them, since I rate my root beers with a keg system. Clearly, root beer from a keg is gourmet, as well as a growler filled from a keg. The problem is that I can’t really hold growler root beers to the same metric with the head since the bottling process preserves the head while pouring it in the growler will lose it. So I decided that I’ll review root beers from growlers, using the same Body, Bite, and Aftertaste metrics. The Head metric will be thrown out. The reviews will be on the blog under the Growler Root Beers category but there will be no short format reviews in the review tables since I am a stickler about my bottled root beer. I am not sure how I will rate root beers only available in kegs, but I’ll figure it out when I happen upon a keg root beer.
The Body is sweet and full with a candy-ish caramel flavor. There are accents of anise and wintergreen but not too much anise/licorice to make it bad (and it doesn’t take much in my book). It isn’t very creamy however, which is a downer. The Bite is solid with some nice spices grabbing you along with some fizzy carbonation all while having a smooth finish. The Aftertaste is a spicy caramel flavor that is slightly fruity.
So this is a quality brew. I wouldn’t go all the way there just to drink it, but if I were passing through and wanted a good meal and a root beer to go with it, I would surely stop by Dick’s Brewery. My wife and I enjoyed drinking this root beer with roasted chestnuts as well.
Wait, Langers makes a root beer? Langers makes juices. That’s what I remember from my days at BYU. I loved buying Langers fruit juices. They were usually cheaper and always 100% natural. I see them up here in the Seattle area as well. So when did they migrate into sodas? I can’t say. Langers’ own website doesn’t talk about their Gourmet Soda line. Maybe it’s their dirty little secret. True to their juice line, this root beer is also all natural. Though I don’t usually read ingredients or nutritional information before I drink the first bottle, they brag about some of their ingredients on the front of the bottle and I couldn’t help but notice they use Madagascar vanilla. Well that makes me happy since I served my mission in Madagascar and know all about their lovely vanilla. I also noticed honey on the front so I got pretty excited, since those are two of the things I like to taste in my root beers.
Thomas Kemper Soda of Portland, OR, recently discontinued their Purely Natural Soda line that had been sold in Whole Foods Market and other natural food stores. The line was launched in June 2010. Said company president, Bill Germano, “We loved the product but had difficulty in production.” The remaining stock of Purely Natural Sodas is being sold. As of the time of this post there are still limited quantities available for purchase at a few select outlets.