A rare find indeed is this brew. All the way from the London borough of Hackney. That’s right another UK brew. They are as rare as they are awful, historically speaking, though this could be just the brew to break that losingest of streaks. I mean, it seems like they’re going for a pun, Square Root and root beer, and I just love puns. Plus a math pun with the square root sign on the label. That’s pretty … radical … The rest of label is way cool too, what with those nifty plants and bordered text. You can’t see it in the picture, but the label is textured so it feels really nice on the fingers. But then again, there are things that don’t bode so well for them. Square Root London Soda was started in 2012 with ginger beer as their first flavor, which kind of dashes the whole pun, though not entirely as ginger is a root. The math is still cool. But then there’s this on the label: “Root Beer is not for everyone. If you like it you probably don’t understand why you like it but you just do. Sit back, think rooty thoughts & enjoy this medicinal mix of unusual flavors.” Yeah, um that’s not generally the best way to introduce something that you think is amazing. The ingredients listed seem legit though, so who knows.
This has a Body that is sour with lots of bitter root and herb flavors mixed together like so much medicine. There’s a lot of strange complexity to it but none of it do I find pleasant. The Bite is lacking though it isn’t smooth. There’s some spice presence but it doesn’t really bite as it were. The Head, however, is a wonderful exception that makes it look like a proper root beer when poured. The Aftertaste is more bitter, medicinal flavours, sourly fading but not quickly enough.
Ugh. that was painful. I know that most English despise a good root beer, but I can’t imagine that they’d think that this tastes like the fine brews I enjoy. It seems that despite promising ingredients of sarsaparilla, wintergreen, vanilla, and caramel (amongst others) their description of “unusual” and “medicinal” and “not for everyone” is spot on. At least they realize it. It does have a very pretty bottle though. See how it rates against other root beers.
One of the earlier mail order root beers. I think I got it before my mission but I can’t remember anymore. It came in a variety pack. Back then I’d buy three bottles of four different varieties in a 12 pack. This is another root beer from Chicago. I think Chicago may have the most brands of gourmet root beer coming out of it of any city. I’m not sure why that is. The label doesn’t say much, there’s a goose, and it looks like a wooden keg and then there’s the whole “Hand Crafted”. What does that even mean? They pour the ingredients by hand? They stir by hand? And what isn’t “hand crafted”? Machine crafted? Foot crafted? Paw crafted (in the case of Sea Dog)? I somehow doubt, that even in the largest of soda bottling factories, that no hands are involved in the process. But, If someone ever finds out about what this really means, please let me know. It also says “Fresh Draught” off to the side. The only other brew I’ve ever seen spell draft as draught is my beloved Henry’s, so they get some extra props for that.
Antiqology is an antique shop of sorts in Huntington, IN. They sell a blend of old and new and claim to have many unique items not found anywhere else. They also sell ice cream and a large selection of craft sodas because antiques and craft sodas are often purveyed together… They made this Special Edition Root Beer for their “Heritage Days 2015” which some festival that happens in Huntington. This year’s theme was Broadcasting in the 1930’s which is the theme of the root beer label itself. I managed to get two bottles in a trade with the mighty 
