GourmetRootBeer

Marco Root Beer

Apr 032019

Bottle of Marco Root Beer The first root beer of my Montreal trip. I say first even though Tousignant was the first that I learned about and drank. I found this by Googling, and discovered that there were stores only about a 30 minute walk from my hotel, so I took off in the rainy evening after my work was complete. The first place only had their spruce beer. I prayed the second place, Fruiterie du Plateau, would have the root beer I desperately sought. And it did, and lo, it also had another root beer that I didn’t even know I needed to try, plus birch and spruce beers to trade to my good chums. What fortune had befallen me. Three root beers in a single trip. Surely only good things could come.

The Body sour, and icky, and yeasty. It’s really bad. The Bite is something prickly and spicy, but it isn’t good. The Head is super tall and foamy, so that is going for it at least. The Aftertaste is sour sarsaparilla that leaves a chalky residue in your mouth.

I hate this. Like, this is really awful. I actually live streamed myself reviewing the second bottle (while playing my mobile game) and you can see for yourself that it was a painful experience. I almost thought that maybe the bottles had spoiled somehow, despite having preservatives, but checking out some other reviews seems like it’s just a yeasty mess. I guess some people like yeasty drinks? This is probably the worst of the ones I’ve ever had. It does have a pretty bottle though, kind of. See how it rates against other root beers.

Dum-Dums Original Pops Root Beer

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Mar 272019

Dum-Dums Root Beer

Ah Dum-Dums. The classic sucker that you find everywhere, mostly as free treats for children at places like doctor’s offices, banks, and the like. Also found hurtling off floats at 4th of July parades. These little guys are so ubiquitous and yet nobody ever goes to just buy some Dum-Dums cause they want one. I mean, who would do that? You buy them to give away, and you eat them because you either are at a place giving one away or you found it in your pocket from who knows how long ago but it’s not like they ever go bad. When I had aspirations of being a professor it was my goal to have 3 bowls of candy on my desk, Dum-Dums, Smarties, and Nerds and depending on student’s grades I’d offer them from one of the respective bowls, all innocent like. This would be after I was tenured of course. Probably why I’m not a professor… Anyways, in addition to their many, many flavors (including Mystery), they make root beer, and so, in my quest to write about all products root beer related, I decided to wait until I found them being offered somewhere and I’d pick through to find a root beer one. But I didn’t even need to wait that long, as my son, wanting to help his daddy, was thinking the same thing and quickly procured and offered me a root beer lollipop. I knew I’d never need to buy one for myself. Now that I’ve had a decent number of these hard candy types, how does it compare?

A rather generic root beer flavor that is neither minty nor licoricey, if that’s a word. It’s quite pleasant and the closest thing to a creamy root beer that I’ve ever experienced in a hard candy. It also isn’t overly strong, so it doesn’t feel super sticky, but it isn’t too light either. Basically it’s a perfectly proportioned root beer flavor in lollipop form.

I truly like these things. They’re very well balanced. Definitely worth rummaging through the bowl next time you need to make a cash withdrawal at your local branch if you’re in a root beer sort of mood. Or you could buy some, to give away, knowing full well that the quality will not be met with disappointment.

Jelly Belly A&W Root Beer Jelly Beans

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Mar 202019

Jelly Belly A&W Root Beer Jelly Beans

Ah Jelly Belly, the Original Gourmet Jelly Bean. At least that’s what they claim and it seems they’ve been around for over 100 years, so … maybe? Despite my absolute love of jelly beans, I’ve never done much research on them. And on that topic, I must say that jelly beans are my favorite candy type (if I had to pick), especially in Easter baskets. Jelly Belly has a host of various flavors and I’ve always been struck by how realistic their flavors taste, especially that juicy pear. But I’m not here to talk about pears, I’m here to talk root beer. They’ve licensed A&W, the most iconic brand, for their root beer flavor which has my hopes high.

They have a very nice root beer flavor, though a little mintier than A&W, and also less vanilla. It’s more like a root beer barrel flavor made into a jelly bean. Somehow, it also seems like they are carbonated, which is ridiculous, because you can make a fizzy jelly bean, but it still feels like that in my mouth.

What dark magic have they employed to make a fizzy jelly bean? They never cease to amaze me. Now, I still hold that this doesn’t really taste much like A&W, yet, more than any candy I’ve ever had, it most closely resembles the root beer drinking experience, because of that arcane wizardry. So I heartily recommend these.

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