Gale’s Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Nov 022011
 

I always appreciate puns. I do. I was the ‘pun’isher at my high school. So it was a great delight to see Gale’s root beer have a little girl (obviously Gale) bending against a blowing wind (gale). There is also a little dog (once again) and the phrase “Oh Rootie” From the story on the bottle Rootie is the name of the dog. Though I am loathe to read ingredients before I try my first bottle, I couldn’t help but notice that it said “Cinnamon Ginger Vanilla Flavored” Now this really got my hopes up for a gingery Myers Avenue Red type thing.

The Body came in a little weak on the initial contact and then ‘Ack!’ Attack of the ginger and cinnamon. It is actually hard to taste anything due to the immense ginger, cinnamon Bite. So much ginger and cinnamon, it bites like a feeding frenzy of great white sharks. It’s the first time my tongue was burning from the spices (at least for a root beer). Way too much! The Head is pretty tall but quickly fizzes down. The last centimeter of it does make a decent last stand. The Aftertaste is ginger, cinnamon and vanilla that is pretty good, but my tongue was still smarting from the Bite.

“Oh Rootie” did you knock all of Gale’s cinnamon and ginger powder into the root beer? How could you? Or maybe she was going for a gale force blast of cinnamon and ginger burn. I don’t know. But basically, if you want a root beer with the most epic Bite, here it is. Other than that, I can’t find much reason to drink this again. See how it rates against other root beers.




Foxon Park Draft Style Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Oct 302011
 

Foxon Park, a park filled with lots of foxon, you know, the plural of ox is oxen so the plural of fox must be foxon, or at least that’s what Brian Regan taught me. So, this root beer hails from the park of the endless hordes of foxon. I could be worse I suppose, they could be overrun by herds of moosen. It says that it is draft style. That always makes me excited because Henry’s is “draught (the olde spelling of draft) style” and has one of the most epic root beer heads of all time not to mention one of the best all around root beers. So if they are saying draft style they better live up to my expectations.

The Body is a little weak and watery. It is also slightly creamy with a hint of licorice flavor. The Bite is very sharp on the tongue, too sharp for my tastes. There is a little bit of spice to it but not enough. It also doesn’t go down smooth. The Head is decent height but is gone far too quickly, hardly the draft style that is boasted on the bottle. In fact, the bottle has a picture of an overflowing frothy Head, which this Head was definitely not. Talk about your false advertising. The Aftertaste is creamy vanilla with a touch of wintergreen and is the best part of this brew.

So all in all this isn’t really that good, especially after the boast of draft style and the lovely picture, but it isn’t bad either. Their website boasts about their wonderful and unique flavors, but it seems that this root beer isn’t one of them. They do say that it is traditionally drunk with pizza and I think that is about the only time that I would drink this again. See how it rates against other root beers.




Dang! That’s Good Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Oct 282011
 

Another root beer with an exclamatory phrase as the title. While So Duh! Rockin’ Root Beer was at least a play on words and an insinuation of the obvious, as is clearly seen on this bottle the “Dang!” is the centerpiece. Though “dang” can easily be a good interjection, it can also be used quite negatively. The fact that the “That’s Good” is in such small font makes it all the easier to misread the title of this root beer and think that they are aiming more towards the Rat Bastard Root Beer types. And anyways, what’s with this exclamatory naming trend anyhow? What’s next, a Holy Crap! Root Beer? What about a WTF Root Beer? This could easily be taken to the extreme. Why not just name it after the company founder, or place, or your favorite beetle (probably dung beetle would not be a good idea either), or your favorite type of dog (which plenty seem to do)? Well whatever, so how does it stack up?

Dang! It is sealed tighter than most twist caps. That doesn’t really impact its rating at all but I was just throwing it out there. It has a full Body with the standard root beer flavors. There is something slightly out of place with the flavor though, maybe a little too much licorice root or something. It is also a tad creamy. Dang! The Bite is pretty sharp on carbonation and very light on spices, rather the reverse of how it should be. Dang it! It even gave me the hiccups. The Head is pretty weak and fizzes away in seconds. Dang! I like a good Head. The Aftertaste is pretty empty and is just a sugar flavor with the tiniest bit of vanilla that quickly evanesces, dang. There is nothing really special about this brew at all and the Head and the Aftertaste are gravely lacking.

So I find that when drinking this root beer I say “Dang!” a lot. Though much to my chagrin it wasn’t saying “Dang! That’s good,” or anything else that is overly positive. It is drinkable though so I’ll give them that. See how it rates against other root beers.




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