The third and final brew from Anthony’s package, at least the final one that survived. He had put some Amish root beer in there as well but it spilled everywhere. Probably because it got lost in the mail for so long and I have proof that my mail carrier is grossly negligent and down right destructive of my mail. I think someday I’m going to snap his picture and write a blog post about him and all of the root beer he has destroyed. Anyways, I digress. Back to Briar’s. It has a very simple label that doesn’t really give me much material to go on. “Great Soda Since 1937” We’ll see about that.
It’s a medium Body in this brew with a distinct caramel flavor. Then it gets sour unfortunately. It is also mildly creamy with hints of vanilla. Then comes a sharp and sour carbonation Bite that sadly is rather devoid of spices. The Head is short yet foamy which is ok at best. The Aftertaste is a sour caramel vanilla that lasts too long and is kind of icky.
The first few drinks this are decent but it quickly deteriorates. “Great Soda”? Give me a break. Maybe their company has some other great flavors but this stuff? And why is it so sour? Sodium citrate and citric acid may have something to do with it. But then there are a whole host of other problems with this. The bottle also says “Enjoy!” though I think that is sarcasm. See how it rates against other root beers.
Back in September, as I was busy searching for new root beers, I discovered Thomas Kemper Purely Natural Root Beer on another reviewers blog. I was surprised, because I had never seen or even heard about this brew and Thomas Kemper is made in Portland, and can be found all over the Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest in general. Nearly every grocery store and gas station carries it. I figured it must be so new that it hadn’t had time to proliferate through the region. I sent the company an email asking which retail outlets carried it, and kept my eye out as I traveled around. After a few months of not seeing it, I sent the company another email asking where I could find it. I got a response from the company president telling me that they had recently discontinued the purely natural line. What?? A gourmet root beer had been born and killed right under my nose before I ever knew it existed? Say it ain’t so! Then it occurred to me, that if it was just recently discontinued, there might still be some bottles floating around out there. I searched Amazon, Ebay, all of the specialty online stores that sell root beer. Nothing. Then I took my search back to a distributor, Real Soda. I noticed it was listed on their site, but so is Journey John Barleycorn and Dr. Tima, both of which are long since dead, but I emailed them nonetheless. To my great joy, they said they still had 11 cases. I quickly made arrangements and ordered a 12 pack, 8 bottles of this stuff and 2 bottles of two other varieties. Whew, that was too close.
So more into my questing of small microbrewery root beers. I had heard about this one from another blog and wrote an email to them since they didn’t seem to have a way to buy it online. A fine chap by the name of Dennis wrote me back and said that they didn’t sell it online but if I called they’d be glad to send me some and “it is the very best.” I called and made the purchase. About a week later I get a rather large padded envelope on my door step containing the two bottles of Surf City Root Beer, a gift certificate for $5 of merchandise at Brewbakers Restaurant and Brewery (if I’m ever in Huntington Beach, CA I guess), a restaurant menu, a brewery menu (all the different beers you can custom make), and a box hop jump tea bags. Huh? What are hop jumps? It seems from the description that they are dried hops that you put into a draft beer to make it taste fuller. I don’t know, I’ve never drank beer. I gave them to the British guy I work with and he thought they were hilarious, though he hasn’t tried them yet. I honestly think they put them in there for padding between the two bottles. And who sends root beer in only a padded envelope? These guys are different for sure, but I suppose that’s how surfer dudes are. So how is it?
