Bottled Root Beers – Page 77 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Journey Shenandoah Sassafras Root Beer

Dec 312014

A bottle of Journey Shenandoah Sassafras Root Beer Several months after I started reviewing root beers my friends and I drove from our tiny town to Seattle to watch our beloved Mariners lose a baseball game. I’m not sure if they actually lost, but statistically speaking, if I was at the game, they probably did. Outside of the ballpark was a mini-mart with several new root beer varieties including this one. The name is rather perplexing. Saying Sassafras Root Beer is like saying beef hamburgers or pork bacon, while true, it’s not generally something you have to mention. “Oh, our root beer is sassafras flavored …” well they’re ALL supposed to be sassafras flavored. I am also not sure where the Shenandoah comes from. The only other time I’ve seen that word is in Choir singing some song about being bound away across the wide Missouri, and this stuff is from Vermont so, yeah confusion abounds.

The Body is weird, the Head is weak, the Aftertaste made me almost vomit, and the Bite has nothing notable.

Oh this is awful. I’m sorry that I wasn’t more descriptive of the awfulness back then but know this, it literally made me sick to my stomach. And not literally in the figurative sense that gets thrown around the internet these days, but I actually felt quite ill after partaking in this … swill. It does have a very pretty bottle though. Some mountain distillery with lots of greenery and an owl and some slick fanning diagonal text and a nifty upside down question mark logo. Yup, this is the literal definition of a 1 Keg brew. See how it rates against other root beers.

Moosejaw Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 242014

Moosejaw_Big I can’t look at the name of this and not think about The Arrogant Worms, a Canadian comedy folk band whose song, The Last Saskatchewan Pirate contains the phrase “A bridge outside of Moose Jaw spans the mighty river. Farmers cross in so much fear their stomachs are a quiver. Because they know that Tractor Jack is hiding in the bay …” (Coincidentally I also had two bottles of Captain Jack’s Root Beer to review right after this one…) It is a glorious song. Interestingly the pizza place and brewery this comes from is named after the town of Arrogant Worms fame. And there’s some homage/connection to Al Capone as well. Why not? It wouldn’t be the first time he was affiliated with root beer. Other than that if there was one thing I could say to describe this brew it would be Sodium Benzoate. Why? Because they want to let you know just how many times they put it in there. It’s listed in parentheses as the last ingredient in the ingredient “Rootbeer Extract”. Then they add a “Sodium Benzoate Solution” which of course contains it in parentheses again, and finally it’s also included in their “Sparkling Foam” ingredient. After each mention of Sodium Benzoate they say “(Preservative)” so you’re getting into nested parentheses. Seriously, we figured out that it was a preservative the first time. So yeah, this brew is chalk full of sodium benzoate evidently.

The Body is sweet and spicy with honey and wintergreen and some slight bit of fruity. There’s a solid spicy Bite. The Head is short, but frothy and lingers. The Aftertaste is some fruity honey and spice. I suspect that the honey used in this was a fruity type honey which is where that flavor comes from.

I like the spicy honey, but not the fruity and the poor Head. And after all of the ballyhooed sodium benozate, I really didn’t notice it in there. All in all it’s pretty decent and would go well with their pizzas I’m sure. See how it rates against other root beers.

Napa Valley Soda Company Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 172014

Napa Valley Soda Co. Root Beer Bottle One day I’m walking through Macey’s (a grocery store) in Provo and I spot this new root beer on the shelves. I’d tried one other brew from Napa Valley Soda Company, Rutherford, and it was an experience I wished I could forget. Closer inspection revealed that this iteration is certified organic instead of merely being all natural. The label had clearly changed from the peaceful bliss of Rutherford. Gone were the green valley and the sunny days and the lazy fliers and in its place a swirling vortex of doom. This cavernous void was no doubt the result of Rutherford Root Beer being unleashed upon the valley. Only one hot air balloon managed to escape the destruction, with the valley’s last hope for salvation, the new and improved Napa Valley Soda Company Root Beer. Only a truly excellent brew of the highest caliber could save them.

The Body is ok, very sweet but fruity and kind of weak. The bite is really not there at all. The Head is awful; it fizzes away in like two seconds. The Aftertaste is fruity as well, but luckily it goes away quickly.

Ok, this isn’t good at all. It has a hint of the right stuff, but not enough, not nearly enough to save them from the apocalypse they created. Most likely because natural flavor is the last ingredient. It’s better than Rutherford, but not much. At least they could claim they were making progress, however it was too little too late. Like with Rutherford, they wrote some spiel about Napa Valley and quality and what not, but once again, the product does not live up to the “tradition of excellence.” And thus the vortex of doom overcame them and the company has since been closed. Frankly, I’m not surprised at all. See how it rates against other root beers.

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