Bottled Root Beers – Page 89 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Rocky Mountain Root Beer

Jan 082014

Rocky Mountain Root Beer Bottle Another acquired through trade from anthony. I should probably be more diligent in getting these Western root beers without having to appeal to the East Coast to get them. I almost love this label. The shiny, the bighorn sheep, the mountain scenery, the classy seal that … doesn’t quite … line up with the text … gaaaah! Really, why? Why would you put your classy shiny seal slightly off center? Just to grate my nerves I suppose. This root beer also has the distinction of being made with “Colorado Water” which I hope has some tasty minerals or something. I’m still going to just leave it as water in the root beer ingredients list (fun fact, I actually don’t list water as its pretty much given). Another curiosity is that they claim it’s “All Natural” so I suppose the potassium sorbate is naturally occurring. Maybe that’s what’s special about the Colorado Water.

The Body is mild but spicy with licorice and wintergreen and I almost want to say vanilla. It’s also a little bitter. There’s a solid spicy Bite and the carbonation level is nice too. The Head is very tall but fizzes down very quickly. The Aftertaste is mostly a sugar. The first bottle of this that I had, however, was really hollow with no spice and with a bitter chemical flavor.

Hmm, it is rare to have two bottles of the same brew be so different. I know it is batch brewed but I shouldn’t think that the difference between batches would be so pronounced. Though the second bottle was much better than the first, and raised the overall rating substantially, I don’t think I’d risk drinking it again just in case. See how it rates against other root beers.

Bedford’s Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Jan 012014

Bedford's Root Beer Bottle Bedford’s is another root beer that comes from close to my home. Their company is from Port Angeles, and though it seems that they originally bottled it there, it is currently listed Orca Beverages as one they bottle. Ironically, I didn’t find it anywhere in Washington, but down in Provo, UT. It was several years ago and you can see that whoever bottled it then, used aluminum screw caps which you almost never see anymore (and Orca doesn’t currently do). Jones also uses those bottles so maybe it’s a Puget Sound thing. As an aside, even the first A&W I had from glass bottles was like that but more on that another day. I like the medieval-ish banner and logo. Then there’s the fact that they used the same font for all of the text and the label’s a winner in my book.

The Body is sweet and creamy but a little weaker than it should be. Also, there is a hint of something strange in the flavor that just doesn’t belong. The Bite is really non-existent. The Head is nice, but not frothy so even though there is a lot of it, it doesn’t linger. The Aftertaste is pleasant, but that same strange flavor is there.

This root beer on the whole has got the right stuff, but just not enough. The first two bottles of this stuff that I drank were actually wonderful, but the rest were lacking and so you get my average review. I feel consistency between bottles is important after all. I want to be sure of quality if I’m going to recommend this to someone. But even at its worst is still a decent brew. See how it rates against other root beers.

Flashback Malt Shoppe Olde Time Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 252013

Flashback Root Beer Bottle Merry Christmas! Located near the beach in Seaside Oregon is the Flashback Malt Shoppe. They have over 200 types of glass bottled sodas and serve all manner of frozen desserts. Their own line of sodas is a recent, yet welcome development as the world always needs more gourmet root beer. While Seaside isn’t too far a drive it’s actually bottled by Orca Beverages which is extremely close. However, I got this in a trade from anthony who lives in NJ. I it makes me happy to know that this root beer traveled across the country and back just to make it to my refrigerator. I like their brick wall background with the logo and the sparkleys. The whole use-a-different-font-for-every-line is kind of annoying, but a lot of people do that for some reason. I didn’t study marketing so there may be something I don’t know. As for what their official soda name is I’m not quite sure. I even went so far as to ask them on their Facebook page and they just said, “Thank you for your input” which was not exactly helpful so I went with what’s written above. They also have a birch beer which their website calls a “Birch Root Beer” but the label says otherwise, much to my chagrin. Maybe they’ll change the label some day so I can review that one too.

The Body is medium strength with delicious vanilla and honey accents. There’s a lot of spice in there as well. The Bite is strong from the spice and the carbonation, almost too much. The Head is deplorable, barely better than the two second Head. The Aftertaste is a light vanilla and honey that lasts an appropriate amount of time.

This is good but really needs a proper Head. I’m starting to wonder if this is more of a problem with Orca than the brands themselves, as most of the Orca brands have had terrible Heads. Especially when you consider the nearly identical Bulldog and Steelhead brews with the Bulldog, having a poor Head, bottled by Orca. Oh well. It still tastes really good so if you’re ever in Seaside you should get some. See how it rates against other root beers.

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