The third root beer from the Cicero Beverage Company/Capone Family Secret people. They were kind enough to ship me two bottles of this after I completely loved their Salted Caramel variety. This one is Chicago Style and I can’t for the life of me figure out what that’s supposed to mean. I know of a Chicago Style deep dish pizza, like what you find at Giordano’s, but Chicago Style root beer? I didn’t know that was a thing. Granted, they’re not the first to slap that on their bottle, there’s Goose Island Chicago Style and Chicago Draft Style, but once again, there really isn’t any specific definition of what Chicago Style entails. Maybe it’s like “old fashioned” or something in that it doesn’t really mean anything but is good marketing. They are in Chicago after all. Anyways, this one’s label is similar to their salted caramel except there’s no salted caramel flowing down.
The body is a medium strength standard root beer flavor that isn’t overly sweet. The Bite is sharp on the tongue and a little harsh going down. Not my favorite. The Head is extra tall, but fizzes down really quickly. The Aftertaste is a light and sweet vanilla flavor.
This is an alright brew that is rather refreshing. There isn’t any unpleasantness but at the same time it doesn’t really have anything to jump out and grab your attention like the Salted Caramel or the smooth sweet vanilla of Capone. The not creamy, slightly harsh, and tall yet quickly dissipating Head is similar to Chicago Draft Style, so maybe that’s what Chicago Style is all about. Why not? See how it rates against other root beers.
IBC holds a very special place in my root beer reviewing life. It was probably the third that I ever tried, and could be found at the local Walmart in 6-packs of 12 oz bottles, 24-packs of 6 oz bottles, and single 32 oz bottles. My friends and I would snag the latter occasionally after bowling trips and buy the 24 packs for parties sometimes. It was also, during the great sadness in the summer of ’98, that taught me that all gourmet root beers are not created equal. At that time I was drinking several bottles of root beer a day to drown my sorrows. As IBC was much cheaper than the Henry’s I’d usually drink in such occasions, I started getting it as well to relieve the budget. Over the course of several weeks, I could clearly see that there was a difference between the two, and in this case you’d get what you paid for. 
I was trawling through Google Maps trying to find breweries in the greater Puget Sound area and I discovered that BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse not only had their own draft root beer, but a location in Redmond where I live. How’d I miss that? I’ve been gallivanting across the nation in search new brews and there was one right in my own backyard? In my defense, it only opened a few months before I discovered it so it’s not like I missed it for that long. It was only two weeks after the discovery that I got the whole family there for dinner on a Saturday night. The place was very, very crowded and busy. I hoped it was worth the wait. 
