Jan 042017
 

Happy Camp'r Root Beer Bottle Another home brew from Minnesota. It reminds me a lot of Spring Lake Root Beer. They both have black and white labels that are home printed on standard printer paper glued to the bottle. They both are little home brew operations only about 40 minutes apart. And, they both say something about grandpa on the bottle. If I didn’t know any better I’d say they were made by the same guys, but I do know better and their ingredients are different as well. It seems like Happy Camp’r is trying to one up Spring Lake, as Spring Lake says “As Good As Grandpa Remembers” and Happy Camp’r says “The best root beer grandpa’s ever had!” I wonder what will be next in the War of Grandpa Root Beer One-upmanship. But label aside, the real question is how I like it.

The Body is sweet and a little creamy, but much more dark and with licorice and molasses flavors. The Bite spicy but a little harsh. I wish it were a bit smoother. The Head is very tall with decent staying power but by no means top tier. The Aftertaste is licorice and molasses that finishes a little bitter.

So this is decent but not my style. When I’m a grandpa, I know which of these Minnesota brews I’ll be recommending. I don’t know what my grandpa would say about them, as I’ve no grandpas left, but maybe he would try this and say its the best he’s ever had. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three kegs




Dec 282016
 

Homer Soda's Maple Syrup Root Beer BottleSeal of ApprovalHomer is a small farm town in Illinois. The soda company that bears its name is family owned and operated. They sell some of there own flavors and bottle other flavors. This root beer came about one day when the family went to the Champaign County Forest Preserve and learned how to make maple syrup. They were so excited they went home to make their own syrup, presumably from their own sugar maple trees. They liked their syrup so much that they wanted to see how it tasted in a root beer, and thus the Maple Syrup Root Beer was born. They even donate a portion of the sales of each bottle back to the CCFP as a thanks for the inspiration, which is always nice to see.

The Body is dominated by a rich maple flavor that’s accented by creamy vanilla all around a standard root beer flavored core. It’s nice to see they didn’t skimp on the root beer, just added a lot of maple syrup. The Bite is adequate but nothing is noteworthy of it. The brew itself isn’t overly smooth. The Head is medium-tall but fizzes down quicker than I prefer. The Aftertaste is luscious maple syrup and vanilla.

I love maple and vanilla. This is a good brew. It reminds me of that original Tommyknocker which had maple syrup as well. Though this isn’t as hearty, it’s definitely one I’m going to keep in stock. See how it rates against other root beers.

4 kegs




Dec 142016
 

Sprecher Honey Root Beer Bottle My 300th root beer review! For such a special moment I had to pick a special brew and this one is special indeed. Sprecher Honey Root Beer is a limited edition celebratory soda made in honor of Sprecher Brewing Company’s 30th year. They did a limited production run of only 3000 cases. So it was the natural pick for my 300th, to complete the trifecta of 3 times increasingly larger powers of 10. Also this brau is sweetened with only raw honey. Which is a bold move as too much honey can be dangerous. Yet, I love honey and I love Sprecher, so this should be good. I love the honey themed label, with the demonic raven thingy now clutching a hive. It also says “Craft Soda”. While I prefer to go with the label of gourmet root beer, craft soda/root beer is an appropriate label as well. I’ll write more about those distinctions another day, because the Sprecher is waiting.

The Body is light on standard root beer flavors and very heavy on the honey, being the only sweetener. It’s sort of a fruity raw honey which overpowers the rest of the flavors. The Bite is a light honey bite on the back of your throat. If you’ve ever eaten a spoonful of raw honey, you know what I mean. The carbonation is severely lacking, sadly, which makes the brew even heavier. The Head is pitiful, just pitiful, which is very disappointing. The Aftertaste is more raw honey, some fruity raw honey.

I do love me some honey, but this was too much honey and not enough of the other wonderful flavors that Sprecher has. The low carbonation really killed it for me as well, not only was there no Head, but it was too thick and syrupy without all of those bubbles in it. What a shame. At least it will not be missed after those 3000 cases are gone. See how rates against other root beers.

2.5/5 Root Beer Kegs