Oct 232013
 

Old Brooklyn Williamsburg Root Beer Bottle I ordered this online a few years back as part of a variety pack. I can’t remember the circumstances very well, probably just another pack of 12 bottles and 4 varieties while I was an undergrad at BYU. I chose it for no particular reason, there were lots of brews back then that I needed. I’d always try to grab at least one that I though would be good and one I thought looked terrible and then ones that were cheap, with this being one of the cheap ones. The bottle is pretty simple but does have a nice label. It is actually produced by White Rock Beverages, one of America’s oldest beverage companies from 1871 or something. It’s also Kosher which is actually pretty easy to achieve with a soda but important if you’re in a place like New York with a large Jewish population.

The Body is very hollow and watery. It is sweet with a candy flavor, but it doesn’t really taste like root beer. The Bite is nonexistent and neither is the Head. In fact, this root beer is almost completely flat. The Aftertaste is weak and fruity with a hint of cream.

This stuff is not good, like really, not good at all. I also wonder where the root beer flavor went. It’s like they were trying to make 8 ounces of root beer stretch across a 12 ounce bottle using only water and citric acid. Note that I didn’t say carbonated water. They even advertise low carbonation so perhaps my theory is not far off the mark. To be fair, it didn’t make me gag, but I wouldn’t touch it again. See how it rates against other root beers.

keg1n5




Oct 092013
 

Eric's Famous Energy Root Beer Bottle I’d like to start by saying that this is not my root beer. True, I am Eric. Yes, I’m pretty famous and if I made a root beer it would no doubt reach new levels of root beer fame. But, this isn’t my root beer. This is made by some other Eric whose original drink seemed to be Eric’s Famous Cola, some energy drink cola thing. Keeping along those same lines he expanded to Eric’s Energy Company and made a root beer with lots of caffeine, guarana, kola nut, and other “quality” ingredients seldom found in root beer. And it’s microbrewed evidently. The label has a nice metallic shine but other than that and sharing a name with a famous root beer connoisseur, it actually is pretty frightening to me. Mostly because energy drink root beers are seldom pleasant. This one lives up to the expectations brilliantly.

The Body is weak with an herbish flavor that is mildly sweetish. It doesn’t make me gag though like other root beers of this genre. The Bite is sharp like needles on your tongue, too much. The Head is decent, but it fizzes away in a few seconds. The Aftertaste is sweet with a hint of vanilla.

Now I really want to stress again, THIS IS NOT MY ROOT BEER! I really hope there isn’t any confusion on that point. Though it isn’t the worst strange energy drink root beer that I have had, there are actually several that are much worse, and a few that are better, it is still a pretty bad root beer. See how it rates against other root beers.

2 out of 5 root beer kegs




Oct 022013
 

Parley Street Root Beer BottleSeal of ApprovalI first learned about this brew from The Root Beer Store in 2011 as Parley Street Root Beer. They don’t sell it, but they had one bottle on display. The owner told me that it’s only really sold at the Lion House in Salt Lake City. I hoped that I’d be able to get my hands on it someday. Fast forward to a Saturday in March 2013, I had just run out of new root beers to try. My wife tells me that I should go to the temple in Bellevue. I do and afterwards I remember that I need a new journal so I drop by Deseret Book before headed home. As I walk in I notice a cooler with some unfamiliar bottles. I go up and there it is, Parley Street Root Beer. I was so happy I started dancing around laughing, not only did I now have something to review, but those people at The Root Beer Store didn’t realize that this root beer was right under their noses. Truly, my wife was inspired. Later as Dr. Percival C. McGillicuddy was investigating the case of the mystery root beer, it was found that Parley Street and the Boise Brew were one in the same, both by Dowdle and Daughters. The world famous detective traced this brew all the way back to Ginseng Up, who makes their root beer and sells it to private labelers around the country, including those I bought it from.

The Body is full of sweet creamy goodness. It’s got all of the right flavors in the right proportions, especially the rich creamy vanilla. The Bite is on the smooth side but present. There’s some spice and carbonation tingle, just enough. The Head is nice and tall but only moderately frothy. Though, as it fizzes down, it forms some really large bubbles, about an inch in diameter, which hang around for awhile. The Aftertaste is sort of a syrupy vanilla flavor with the slightest accents of spice.

Yum, yum. I really like this. I wish they were more descriptive with the ingredients other than “Natural and Artificial Flavors” I’d almost swear there was some honey essence or flavoring or something. This actually reminds me a lot of a Henry’s but not quite as good. I’d say this is a ‘generic’ Seal of Approval brew. It hits all of the benchmarks with my favorite flavor type. Not bad for a private label brew. If I ever need my own custom labeled root beer, I can rest assured that if I get it from the Ginseng Up bottlers, it will be good. See how it rates against other root beers.

4 kegs