GourmetRootBeer

Official Launch of the New Site

Nov 052011

The new website layout officially launches! It’s not perfect but few things are. The new site will be updated regularly with blog posts and other additions. There are some new recipes, a more detailed root beer history, and so much more. Also I just posted my 99th review! So sing 99 Bottles of Root Beer on the Wall for each review so far. To celebrate I am having a wonderful Gourmetrootbeer.com launch party with some quality Seal of Approval Brews, a root beer cake, and A&W floats. It is a good day to be a root beer lover.

An A&W Root Beer Cake for the Launch Party

Filbert’s Old Time Quality Draft Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Nov 052011

Wow! That’s quite a name and an assertion they’ve got going. I mean, you’ll get old time root beers, and draft root beers, and even the occasional quality root beer, but more than one of those three on the same title? And not only that but all three no less. Well, it has been in continuous business for almost 90 years. If they haven’t changed the recipe at all then it would be old time. It must be of some quality in order to stay around for that long. Draft, well, I’ll see about that.

This is a very sweet medium Bodied brew that tastes like a root beer barrel candy. There is a hint of something kind of icky and out of place though. There are also some spices which add to the Bite but it is very smooth. The Head is very nice. It has an excellent height and is pretty frothy. So it is draft a style head in my opinion (though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it draught), but I’ve seen better. The Aftertaste is a letdown. It isn’t really anything. There are the faintest traces of sugar and vanilla but it is nowhere near enough.

Overall it’s pretty good. They seem to come through with all that they claimed the root beer would be. The Aftertaste though is where they take the biggest hit. It makes sense though because they boast of how their root beer has been served at certain restaurants for over 50 years, and pairing this with food would cover up the deficiencies. See how it rates against other root beers.

Dorothy’s Isle of Pines Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Nov 032011

Dorothy Molter, The Root Beer Lady, lived in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area on the international border of the United States and Ontario, Canada. She was a nurse by training and operated the Isle of Pines Resort. She brewed her own root beer for the travelers. She was wild and rugged. Now, her resort has been moved from that pristine wilderness to Ely, MN, where it is a museum. This root beer is brewed by the museum. An interesting history. Though, when I think of commemorative root beers, things like Crater Lake and Red Jammer come to mind.

The Body is sweet and creamy but watered down. There is also a hint of something else in there but I’m not sure what. It is too brief to really catch. There also isn’t much Bite at all, not from spices nor carbonation. I do like it smooth but it’s got to at least be there. The Head is medium height but is gone fast. Make sure not to blink or you might miss it. The brew is nearly flat after that as well. The Aftertaste is fleeting vanilla. It goes far too soon.

This is like the ghost of an excellent root beer. It reminds me of all that is good about a quality brew but isn’t that itself. And like a ghost, it is transparent and quickly fades away. I find it appropriate though, since all that remains of a once amazing and rugged woman is a displaced museum in her honor, that her root beer would be a shadow of a lost former glory. See how this rates against other root beers.

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