Root beer number three from my Montreal adventure, it was the serendipitous brew of the trip, for I didn’t even know of its existence before I went on my trek to find the Marco Root Beer. At my second stop, the Fruiterie du Plateau, when I found their soda section, I was overjoyed to discover that they had this brew that I’d never heard of before. They had some other Canadian ones I’d already had as well. I grabbed these along with the rest, and then had that wonderful hour long walk in the slushy snow/rain while carrying the box back to the hotel. This is actually made in the US, but Smucker Natural Foods, and is the Canadian version of Natural Brew, albeit with different listed ingredients and nutritional information. I don’t think it’s the exact some thing at all, though I’m not sure why they would do that. Anyways, different ingredients, name, label, nutrition equals new root beer as far as I’m concerned. I don’t like Natural Brew, and this?
The Body is mild with some sweet birch flavor accented by a bit of vanilla and some other herbals. It’s not a very standard root beer flavor to be sure, though it has a lot of the standard ingredients. The Bite is pretty mild with not much other than some carbonation. The Head is medium height and foamy; where this brew excels the most. The Aftertaste is some mild herbal birch that is gone very quickly.
Yeah, I also don’t like this as a root beer. It definitely tastes different than the Natural Brew I remember. Instead of overpowering licorice, this is just too far out of the standard root beer spectrum for me to consider drinkable. I do like it better than the original Natural Brew, so there’s that. See how it rates against other root beers.
This past weekend was my Birthday! To celebrate I wanted to go get root beer and since it was my Birthday, I could pick that for my party. So I piled the family in the car and we drove up to Taylor Falls to visit The Drive-In. It’s an old root beer stand that got its humble beginnings as a Frostop stand. While no longer affiliated with Frostop and with their own house recipe, they didn’t repaint the big Frostop mug eternally spinning in their sign. I think it’s kind of funny. But anyhow, they got car service and carhops in poodle skirts and serve that classic root beer drive-in fare with their brew served in nice frosty mugs. They also have a mini-golf course and they are a short walk from a beautiful state park with glacial potholes. But I was there first and foremost for root beer.
