GourmetRootBeer

Feb 052020
 

Gene Simmons MoneyBag Root Beer Bottle Perhaps it was Rocket Fizz that spurred the creation of this brew. They made Kiss Army Root Beer after all. And that may have made Gene Simmons, one of the founders of Kiss, think to himself, I want some of that sweet soda money pie. And so MoneyBag soda was born? I don’t know. I can’t honestly say I know anything about Gene Simmons, or really Kiss other than the long tongues and makeup and they were referenced in Happy Gilmore and an episode of Scooby Doo where Shaggy wanted to get to a Kiss concert… Yeah um, I’m not the right person to be writing this review. I can do it no justice. Forgive me Kiss fans, I’m not worthy. But anyhow, this root beer was born, it exists, it’s making Gene Simmons lots of MoneyBags, and it happened to show up at a local grocery store so I bought it and drank it.

The Body is minty and creamy with a nice vanilla flavor featuring prominently. There’s also the tiniest hint of licorice and some bitter notes from the wintergreen. The Bite is a little harsh from carbonation but average from spices. The Head is very tall and foamy. It lingers and it basically a prime example of a proper root beer Head. The Aftertaste is a little too bitter, with wintergreen and vanilla in there as well.

It’s a decent brew, but nothing special, and a little too bitter. I wonder if its flavor is some sort of representation of Kiss and their music? I only know one of their songs, really, Rock’n Roll All Night, which I didn’t even know was a Kiss song till I Googled it right as I was writing this paragraph, and so I can’t really say. Oh well, it’s still worth drinking. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three and a half kegs




Jan 292020
 

Pennsylvania Dutch Candies Root Beer Flavored Rock Candy Crystal Stick

Pennsylvania Dutch Candies started as a specialty candy store in Mount Holly Spring, PA back in the 60’s. In 1965 it was bought by The Warrell Corporation and began expansion. Today they can be found in all 50 states. One of those states is Minnesota, where my son found these at a local grocery store and got me this (and some other candies) for Christmas because he knew I needed to try it and write about it. How thoughtful. That’s the best sort of Christmas gift, in my opinion. Something useful, needed, and won’t take up space in the house. He nailed it. Anyways, back to the root beer rock candy stick.

The flavor is standard generic minty root beer that isn’t too strong or too weak. It has a more creamy flavor than old fashioned flavor, which I prefer. The texture, should you choose to crunch it, is that strange rock candy crystal texture, which is fun at first but then sort of annoying, unless you like that, then it’s great.

Overall, it’s a pretty solid root beer hard candy. It gives you the flavor you expect without being unpleasant in anyway. It’s also got that strange rock candy crystal texture. What else could you want?




Jan 222020
 

A&W Gummy Soda Bottles

My final Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store post (from this past year’s journey at least). This is also made by Kenny’s Candy. They’re gummy soda bottles, obviously. They have several brand name flavors, but we only care about these root beer ones. I love gummies. They are probably my favorite type of candy. This is my first experience with root beer gummies, so I had high hopes for this, especially because they are made with A&W Root Beer concentrate, which is a good root beer. Though, usually gummies are fruity, there’s spice drops, and those are gummy and yummy. Root beer can be spicy too, so it could work.

There’s a very mild root beer flavor that has a slight wintergreen aftertaste. If you eat a lot of them, that wintergreen builds a bit, but really it’s hard to tell. They are really bland actually, with little root beer and even very little sweetness. It really tastes like gelatin more than anything. Gelatin with some wintergreen.

These are actually really bad. They don’t really have flavor, other than that hint of wintergreen. I eat them and eat them, yet they don’t get any better. I’ve had failed attempts at root beer candy before, but these have got to be the worst, sadly. I don’t even recommend trying these for the experience. Hopefully I’ll find some good root beer gummies some day.