GourmetRootBeer

Hardware … Hank’s Root Beer?

Apr 302018

So some of my coworkers learned about my root beer infatuation, and went to look up where they could get some of the top brews. Last week one of them triumphantly announced that he’d found the best at a hardware store and bought a whole case of it. “Hank’s?” I asked. He replied yes, the one with the guy on the label. Guy on the label? Hanks doesn’t have a guy on the label, what was he talking about. The next day he brought me a four pack and sure enough, there was a guy on the label. Some hardware store guy. I had to figure out what was going on.

So I got in touch with my friends at Hank’s. Turns out around 20 years ago, when they were expanding into the mid west, they go in contact with Hardware Hank a chain headquartered in Plymouth, MN, where I currently live coincidentally . The Hardware Hank marketing guys liked the idea of a tie in soda, and have featured Hank’s Root Beer (and other flavors) in their stores ever since. It’s been a big hit when they have tent sales and other events and has been mutually beneficial for both brands. The year 2017 happened to be Hardware Hank’s 60th anniversary, so Hank’s Root Beer made a special neck label to celebrate for their loyal customer. Some three trailers were produced and were sold exclusively in the Hardware Hank stores during their anniversary sales events. There’s still some floating around it seems, which caused all the confusion with me and my coworker. If you’re a collector of root beer bottles, you may want to try and snag one while they still can be found, or if you just want to drink the best root beer ever, you may just want to drop by Hardware Hank.

Bull’s Head Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Apr 252018

Bull's Head Root Beer Bottle Awhile back I got in touch with another Seattle reviewer, The SodaFry, who reviews all sodas as well as french fries and french fry dishes, which includes fried green tomatoes evidently. Anyways he went up to Canada to find sodas and fries and brought back a few extra bottles of this stuff for which I traded him some extra, hard to find brews that I had. It all went down in the underground bus tunnel at Westlake and kind of felt like some black market deal. Bull’s Head is a Quebecois beverage company that started in 1896 making ginger ale. It has a long and storied history with their ginger ale, while the root beer is a more recent edition. It has a really cool stubby little bottle that few other root beers have every come in. The label also looks old fashioned, like it might have back in the 1890s, and coupled with the stubby bottle, gives the brew a very unique and sort of special feel. It’s also 100% natural for people who care about that sort of thing.

The Body is mild with vanilla as the prominent flavor. It isn’t a very sweet brew, but it is well balanced. The Bite is mild as well with only a little spice. The Head has good height but dissipates quickly. The Aftertaste is light vanilla with some bitter hints.

All in all this is a pleasant and refreshing brew. While it has great potential, it just doesn’t deliver enough. It just needs a bit more oomph in all departments. See how it rates against other root beers.

Thomas Kemper Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Apr 182018

Thomas Kemper Root Beer Bottle Every now and then the makers of a root beer will feel that it’s time for a change. This could come from a desire to improve their product or perhaps to cut costs. When this occurs they seldom let the public know, and even less often do they change their name to sufficiently differentiate the pre and post change products. Thomas Kemper, for reasons I know not, has gone down this route. I’m not sure when it started, but I did notice that the bottle and label have changed significantly as of late. Indeed the ingredients are slightly different as are the nutritional values. And it’s lost the Pure Draft portion of its name. Implying of course that it is no longer pure nor draft, and instead it’s just a root beer. They do pepper the bottle with some little catch phrases like “Cane Sugar Soda” and “Small Batch” and my personal (ironically) favorite “Every Batch Made from Scratch”. Noticeably missing is “Original” since this no longer is the original Thomas Kemper Pure Draft Root Beer. I wonder if they improved it.

The Body has a noticeable honey flavor that’s a little fruity, which happens with some honeys. It tastes mildly of sassafras and there’s some vanilla in there as well. It’s nice but the flavors are not very strong. The Bite is more like a nibble with a smallest bit of spice. Yet, it isn’t really smooth. The Head is very tall and frothy as is should be, enough to get some bonus points. The Aftertaste is a light vanilla with some cane sugar and honey going on, but not nearly enough I’m afraid.

This one is rather bland unfortunately. Sweet but bland. It’s got some of the right flavors, but they aren’t nearly pronounced enough. While their Pure Draft was good but not quite there, this is rather ‘meh’. They should have stuck with the original, HFCS notwithstanding. See how it rates against other root beers.

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