First off this has one of the most annoying names of any root beer I know. The company’s name is Maine Root, which will work well with any flavor other than root beer. While one could just chalk this up to an oversight on their part, Root Beer was the first flavor they offered. Clearly, with their attention on all natural, organic, free trade, and free-range (I’ll get to that later), they just couldn’t be bothered by not making their root beer redundant. It’s a forgivable offense, but will probably always keep them in the top 5 annoying root beer names (coming soon). Secondly, they have the amusing gimmick of Free-range Root Beer. That calls for all natural root beers that live (and are perhaps captured) in the wild. One of their stated goals is to fight corporate root beer, which I’ve seen before from that Flathead Lake Monster swill, but these people have a much better strategy.
The Body is crisp and well balanced. It is creamy with wintergreen surfacing after the initial contact. The Head is full and frothy. It lingers. It is less than the epic Head of a Henry’s, but sufficient for the most adamant connoisseur. There isn’t really much Bite. Though I like it smooth, some spices could improve it a bit. The Aftertaste is a creamy vanilla with hints of wintergreen.
This is a very delicious and well crafted brew. Overall it has all of the right flavors in the right proportions. It is very clean and crisp on account of the cane sugar and no preservatives. The lack of preservatives is wonderful as the slight soapiness or fruitiness that accompanies sodium benzoate or citric acid is gone, so all of the focus is on the wonderful mix of root beer goodness. They may be on to something with that whole Free-range business. I must say that this is the best all natural root beer I’ve had so far. The only drawback is the almost complete lack of bite and that something extra, like honey or cinnamon, to really seal the deal, however, I am still proud to give this root beer my Seal of Approval. See how it rates against other root beers.
Inspired by the success (or jealous of it) of Judge Wapner Root Beer, Gene Autry, or his foundation or fans or someone (since Gene’s dead), decided that they wanted to get a piece of that action and hence Gene Autry Root Beer. And why not? Root beer is the all American drink and Gene Autry was arguably one of the most all Americans that has ever been produced. A singing cowboy actor who wrote famous Christmas songs, owned rodeo stocks and part of a baseball team, and flew dangerous missions as a pilot in WWII. With a resume like that the biggest question is why it took so long for him to get his own root beer, especially when you consider his TV show’s appeal among children? Interestingly, both Gene Autry and Judge Wapner root beers are produced by Rocket Fizz so it seems that they’re competing against themselves for market share in the celebrity root beer market. I’m not sure if I hope that the trend of celebrity root beers ends here or not. On the one hand some people are so epic that there is no question they deserve a brew named after them, on the other hand, this could get way out of control where you could get a Kardashian family six pack with each being a different flavor of root beer. More root beers for me to review I suppose.
