GourmetRootBeer

Cappy’s Old Time Maine Root Beer

Dec 022020

Bottle of Cappy's Old Time Maine Root Beer Cappy’s is a chowder house in Camden, Maine that’s been there since 1979. It’s named after Cappy Quinn, who actually never was officially affiliated with their restaurant. Rather he was an old salt who could be found around the Camden waterfront and was an inspiration to all. The root beer itself is actually bottled and supplied by Private Label Specialties which means it’s most likely really made by GinsenUp. However, the Cappy’s folks claim it’s made specially for them with a unique recipe, which is in line with what GinsengUp does, so it appears to be its own root beer. Unless they’re lying in which case they’ll burn in the special fires prepared for those who deceive root beer reviewers and scowl unnecessarily long at baby koalas. It’s another sailing themed root beer, of which the world cannot have too many.

The Body is that of a generic creamy root beer. Nothing really stands out at all but it’s good. The Bite is on the mild side with only a hint of spice. The Head is adequate, both in height in froth, but nothing special. The Aftertaste is a light vanilla and caramel flavor with the slightest bit of wintergreen.

What a pleasantly adequate brew. This is the sort of root beer that when you’re done drinking it you’ll remark, “I just drank a root beer”. Completely forgettable yet sufficiently enjoyable, this will compliment any meal that needs a root beer to compliment it without detracting in any way whatsoever. Drinking it will be an acceptable way to pass the time it takes to drink it. See how it rates against other root beers.

Honey & Mackie’s Root Beer Ice Cream

Root Beer Frozen Treats 1 Response »

Nov 182020

A quart of Honey & Mackie's root beer ice cream Not far from my house is a lovely craft ice cream shop called Honey & Mackie’s. They do small batch, hand mixed flavors that are truly top notch. Many a summer afternoon or evening, we’ve strolled there to get a waffle cone full of their decadent treats. They also have fries. Loaded fries that are kind of like a poutine, but not exactly but will definitely fill you up and are as high quality as their ice cream. So yeah, it’s one of those gems you find sometimes. They rotate through various flavors and this past week they made root beer ice cream, so I had to get some. Their method was to use root beer candy sticks, crush them up, and mix them in. I wasn’t sure how that would work, but I immediately went and bought a quart to give it a try.

It’s very rich and sweet with a distinct, minty root beer flavor. There’s lots of creamy vanilla, obviously, but it still tastes more root beer than float. The ice cream itself is very sticky and gooey and high quality. Despite being so rich and well flavored, it isn’t overpowering nor overly sweet.

Oh yum. This does not disappoint. It’s exactly the sort of quality you would expect from Honey & Mackie’s, if you’ve been there before and were expecting. This is hands down the best root beer ice cream I’ve ever had. I hope they bring it back as I would love to get this with maybe a scoop of cinnamon in a waffle cone. Anyways, if you’re in the Twin Cities area, you should definitely head over there. You won’t regret it.

The root beer (and some other) ice cream. It’s kind of pink. Strange color.

All of the different Honey & Mackie’s Flavors

Virgil’s Handcrafted Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Nov 042020

Virgil's Handcrafted Root Beer Bottle Virgil’s has been around for a long time. It was ballyhooed to me greatly in the 90’s by many only to leave me quite disappointed when I finally tried it. Last year, however, there was a shake up in the company for some reason. I don’t know all of the details, but for some reason the bottling was moved to a new location, the fan favorite, Bavarian Nutmeg (the only one I liked) was discontinued, and the recipe and name was changed on the flagship root beer. Now it sports an all natural recipe and the name Handcrafted Root Beer as opposed to the original Micro Brewed designation. I guess the new bottler brews bigger batches and they do so by hand? I don’t know, but it means that I can write a new review on the new recipe with the new name cause it’s a new root beer and that makes me happy. The label picture is also slightly different yet similar and somehow not as cool, like the Digitally Remastered Edition… Anyways, root beer.

The Body is kind of dark and rather complex. There’s sarsaparilla, licorice, a hint of fruity, and some other stuff going on but it doesn’t really work. The Bite is mild with no discernable spices yet harsh at the same time in mouthfeel. The Head is tall initially but fizzes down really quickly. The Aftertaste is sarsaparilla with licorice hints and fruity notes.

I like this less than their original and I wasn’t a fan of that. I don’t know how they made it worse, but they did. It just doesn’t mix well. Their last version at least had a balanced flavor, even though I didn’t like it. This is all over the place while also failing to be good. So yeah, I don’t know what they hoped to accomplish by getting rid of their best root beer flavor and making their flagship worse, but I don’t have a lot of hope for this company. See how it rates against other root beers.

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