Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

I’d been trying to get this for about a year. I couldn’t find anyone who sold it online so I went straight to the company. They said they’d send some, but then they couldn’t get around to it and asked me to check back with them in a couple of months. Every few months I’d send them an email and finally gave up. I even ordered some from Beverages Direct. Then out of nowhere, they asked if I still wanted some and what my address was. I told them (I can’t ever say no to a root beer offer) and low and behold, it arrived before my order. They even threw in a bottle of their Red Cow and Orange Cow for me to try. While it’s called Black Cow, they’ve got a picture of a Holstein cow on the label, which is partially black, so I guess I’ll let it slide. Clearly though, they’re going for a root beer float type root beer, or a black cow, a point even more reinforced by the “Vanilla Creme” and just put the cow on there for the pun. I guess it went over so well that they wanted to extend it to other flavors like orange and red … but I’ve never heard of an orange cow, let alone a red cow. Those also feature Holsteins on the labels but the black parts are either orange or red respectively. Hmm.

The Body is light and creamy and rather refreshing. It tastes a lot like a root beer float, which is what they’re going for. It has an interesting mouth feel with only the mildest of Bites. The Head is tall but fizzes away in the blink of an eye. The Aftertaste is vanilla cream, like store brand vanilla ice cream, that lasts awhile.

Interesting. It really does comes across like a root beer float, a generic store brand root beer float, but a root beer float nonetheless. However, instead of being extra syrupy, it is a light and refreshing drink. Not bad. It could use a lot of improvement, especially on the Head since an extra frothy Head is a hallmark of a root beer float, but as it stands it’s well worth getting occasionally for your picnic. See how it rates against other root beers.