GourmetRootBeer

Mar 132019
 

HyVee Root Beer Pops BoxHyVee Root Beer PopAnother break from hard candy! Yes there are all manner of root beer food confections and I just need to start searching for them in earnest. So I went to my local HyVee and started searching high and low for anything root beer. Sadly this was the only thing I could find, yet, it was something to find. Plus this is my first frozen treat. I’m not sure how I want to name this category as it isn’t ice cream, maybe I’ll just say Frozen Treats. That can be a thing right? Let me know in the comments if you have a better name for the category ice creams, popsicles and the like. Anyway, how are these things.

They have a mild root beer flavor, of the minty variety, with a nice wintergreen and subtle notes of licorice. They aren’t overly sweet so they aren’t very sticky which makes them quite refreshing. The flavor is a little light, but the whole thing is still rather pleasurable.

It’s cool and refreshing! Just the sort of frozen confection for a hot summer’s day. I wish the root beer flavor were a little stronger, but I think I’d buy them again. They are very reasonably priced and my kids really like them. My wife hated them though. I guess you can’t please everyone.




Mar 062019
 

Foodhold Root Beer BottleBack in April, when I was in New Jersey, I met anthony and traded for this brew. It’s made for Foodhold, USA, which is a company that makes food for supermarkets, it seems. I googled it and I couldn’t get a straight answer for what exactly Foodhold is, other than there were a lot of complaints about their products. Putting it in Google Maps didn’t come up with any locations so I’m assuming it isn’t a store that I don’t know about. I didn’t even ask anthony where he got it. Yeah, I’m much lazier than I once was, and I don’t care to do more investigating. Anyone’s welcome to tell me off in the comments for not making your lives easier, or better yet, tell me what Foodhold actually is so everyone can know. I’ll be more diligent in the future, I promise. It has a very generic sort of label, but I like it. All the black and what not.

The Body has a nice sweet sarsaparilla flavor that isn’t of the fruity type, more on the spice side. The Bite is mild in total spices, yet prickly with carbonation. The Head is of medium height, but fizzes away quickly. The Aftertaste is of sarsaparilla.

So year, it’s a pleasant enough drink, but nothing at all special. It seems like a middle of the road sarsaparilla type, though I don’t review sarsaparillas so I can’t say how good or not it is as one of those, but as a root beer. It’s not bad. Nay, it’s beyond not bad, it’s down right drinkable! See how it rates against other root beers.

Three kegs




Feb 272019
 

Dad's Root Beer Barrel

Time to write a post about the most iconic root beer candy there is, the root beer barrel. I’m sure that’s what you first thought of back when I said I would write about candy and stuff. Because honestly, while other candies may have a root beer flavor, there is no other barrel candy. The root beer barrel is as synonymous with old fashioned candies as lemon drops and those ribbon candy things that your grandma used to give you. There’s a lot of types, and I aim to write about them all, but to start I’m going with Dad’s, since it’s also a rather iconic root beer brand with national distribution.

They’re nice and sweet with flavor that is not unlike Dad’s Root Beer, unsurprisingly. This means that there isn’t a strong licorice or mint flavor, and there’s a hint of spice. It also isn’t too sticky for hard candy, if that makes any sense. And gives a fine root beer like experience.

Yum. I can honestly say I really enjoy sucking these things. Being of a lighter flavor profile than some of the other root beer hard candies, you can pop quite a few in a row and they don’t get old. I can’t wait to see what they other root beer barrel candies are like. Until then, I highly recommend these.