Root Beer Reviews – Page 11 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Raleigh Brewing Root Beer

Apr 052023

Back in early November I was in Raleigh visiting the local utility for DERMS reasons, obviously, and making the most of my evenings by finding fine dining and brews. I’d been ro Raleigh nearly 10 years before trying to be a professor at NC State but that didn’t work out. For some reason I also utterly failed to get any amazing and noteworthy food or root beer then, so this was basically like being in Raleigh for the very first time. On my bucket list were shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, BBQ, and two breweries. Raleigh Brewing being the first of those two. Raleigh Brewing was opened in 2013 by the first woman to own a brewery in North Carolina. In addition to the brewery they have a sister store attached to the tab room, Atlantic Brew Supply, which is a home brew supply shop. They have 32 taps, including their root beer, but only food trucks so I grabbed this brew before dinner.

The Body is mild and watery and not very sweet. The flavors are subtle, I get a bit of anise and something herbal. It really is rather weak. The Bite has a hint of spice and then pretty mild. Also mild in carbonation. The Head is short and goes away quickly. The Aftertaste is, you guessed it, faint, and gone quickly. Was there herbal notes in there? Who could say.

This is not really unpleasant but it’s utterly disappointing. It just falls flat in basically every category. Maybe I just got a bad batch or maybe they like it this way, but I sure don’t. Was glad I got to go somewhere else for dinner, where I had the most amazing chicken and waffles ever, but that’s another non-root beer story for another day. Stay away from this place unless you really must have a bad root beer.

**The Raleigh Brewing taps (some of them). Root Beer is the far left**

Canteen Brewhouse Root beer

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Mar 012023

Back in September I was in Albuquerque again, doing DERMS and eating green chilies. For dinner the second night we decided to find a new root beer, knowing there were several in the area. This time we picked Canteen Brewhouse. Canteen claims to be Albuquerque’s longest standing brewery, operating since 1994, though, originally, it was Il Vicino Brewing Company. Not sure why they changed their name, I didn’t ask. Neither did they offer to tell me. Interestingly Il Vicino Pizza still exists and has a house root beer, though I think it’s probably the same? Maybe a great schism occurred. Either way, I went to give their brew a try.

The Body features black licorice and some vanilla. It’s neither too sweet nor too strong. In fact it’s a little on the mild side which makes me happy because I don’t like strong black licorice flavor. There’s a little wintergreen but much less than expected for the amount of licorice. The Bite is spicy, with clove and some others I can’t quite place. It finishes smooth and reminds me of a licorice spice gum drop. The Head is medium short and fizzes down too quickly but not two second head style. The Aftertaste is some light licorice and vanilla.

It’s okay. Not great, not terrible. A decent drinkable. Their food is quite interesting, sandwiches and starters. I had their New Mexiterrainian sandwich, which had salami, prosciutto, and a green chili slaw on it. I never knew I needed New Mexican fusion cuisine before this trip, but wow, it’s good. This place is worth a visit if you’re in the area.

**The New Mexiterrainian Sandwhich. Pretty good. A flavor I never expected.**

Firehouse Brewing Company Root Beer

Draft and Keg Root Beers No Responses »

Feb 012023

Back in late July and early August, the family and I took a 3000 mile road trip to Idaho and back, going through South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota. We saw many things. On the way through South Dakota, heading towards Rapid City, we saw tons of signs for the Firehouse Brewing Company among the other attractions out there. Most of them had actual, old fire trucks, which really makes me wonder just how much thy spend on their advertising. Especially because most of the fire trucks looked really clean, so someone is going out and scrubbing them? I don’t know, but I had checked the previous day and knew they had root beer on tap, so fancy billboards or not, that’s where I was eating dinner that night. When we ordered they originally brought my root beer in a plastic cup, which enraged me to no end because I ordered a pint, not a plastic cup, of root beer. Though the waiter said it was impossible to get it in an actual glass, they do gave free refills so I went to the bar and asked if I could get my root beer in a glass and they gave me one no problem.

The Body is sweet and dark and licorice. Really strong licorice. Like black jelly bean. There’s a little wintergreen in there but not much else other than, Bite! Which is spicy as all get out. I do like those spices, but it’s not really smooth and pretty mild on carbonation which negatively impacts, Head! Or lack there of. I watched them pour it (the second pint at least) and really nothing at all which is the complete opposite of, Aftertaste! Which is bitter, and licorice, and strong, and lingers.

Um, do you like drinking liquified black jelly beans? Then you’ll love this root beer. I, of myself, feel that root beer should have a more complex flavor than just spiced black jelly bean. Also the Head is terrible. So yeah, I’m not a fan of this root beer one bit. Their food was quite good. They had many types of burgers and you could get any burger with a standard patty, an Impossible patty, a bison patty, or a cricket patty. I chose bison, it was good but a little dry, because bison is pretty lean. They also have an amazing fish and chips. It’s a pretty decent place all in all, but skip their root beer.

**My bacon cheese bison burger with fries. It was quite good**

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