Awhile back, as I was trawling through the vast brand lists of root beers on Anthony’s Root Beer Barrel (that’s right, I capitalized it!) I discovered this one. I emailed the company and asked them about their root beer, since their website mentioned nothing of its existence, and where it could be found bottled. I was told in the reply that it wasn’t bottled, but I could get kegs of it at the brewery if every I were in Greenville, SC. Interestingly enough, at the time I had a paper accepted in the IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference in Greenville, so heading there wasn’t out of the question for once. When I arrived on Sunday I found out that the hotel I was staying at didn’t have shuttle service to anywhere other than the airport and I didn’t rent a car. I tried in vain to find someone to give me a ride. Throughout this time, the conference shuttle service was atrocious leaving me and my newly met international friends quite stranded and unable to make decent plans. I finally snapped on Tuesday night and decided to sleep in and rent a car in the morning. I was pleased to find that a car for the day would be the same price as a taxi to the airport, and I could even leave it at the airport. Well, that sealed the deal. The first break I got headed off to the brewery with two of my new found friends. When I got there I was finally able to use a line I have been wanting to use for over 10 years now, “Hello, my name is Eric. I’m from gourmetrootbeer.com and I’d like to try your root beer.” Brilliantly it worked! They brought out some sample glasses, one for each of us perfectly poured from a keg, and then at my request, brought out some full sized glasses so I could drink more of the rather delicious brewgive a more accurate review.
This is has a medium Body with accents of creamy vanilla and fruity. There is a tad too much fruitiness for my tastes. There is a solid bite from cinnamon and other spices such that it reminds me a of a Myers Avenue Red, though not nearly as creamy. The Head is beautifully frothy because, to quote the head brew master with respect to root beers sporting the 2 second Head, “Those aren’t root beers.” I heartily agree. He adds sufficient yucca to build a beautiful Head but not too much that it starts to taste bitter or gross. The Aftertaste is cinnamon and a little fruity vanilla.
So, a solid brew, better than the average gourmet root beer for sure. It’s tasty and foamy and only comes from kegs. It’s on the milder side so that even the German girl who came with us, Eva, liked it having never had root beer before (Europeans generally detest root beer if you didn’t know). I didn’t really like that fruity flavor though, so it won’t getting my Seal of Approval, but it would be great with a pizza. Which happens to be the only other place you can get it, Brixx Wood Fired Pizza, also in Greenville. There’s talk of bottling it some day in the future, so if they do, I’ll give it another try. Check the pictures below as well.
The small tasting glass I was originally given.
The full size glasses with two of my IEEE friends in the background
Me and two of my IEEE friends trying out the root beer.
So another root beer from Anthony’s wonderful package from the East. I’d known about this one for awhile and was looking forward to giving it a try. Curiously, the week I had slotted to taste test it, I got an email from a nice chap named Fred giving me a heads up about ABC Root Beer and telling me that I should try it. It was thus ordained to be. Due to my recent luck of excellent brews, I expected the best. I really like the honey theme to the bottle as well. I love honey in root beer. And this is “brewed with a delightful blend of honey” which I assume means there’s more than one type of honey in it. Or, does it mean that the amount they blend in is a delightful amount leaving a total blend that is a delightful one? 
In an effort to expand my root beer collection in an affordable manner (have you ever ordered one variety online before?) I decided to try trading with other root beer reviewers. I looked first to Anthony of root beer barrel fame because he’s the undisputed king of root beer reviews and also his was the first site I encountered way back in 1998. I’d always looked up to him and since he is on the other coast, we each had access to different regional varieties. After a brief email exchange, the trade arranged. Sadly, i’d given him the wrong zip code since I had recently moved. The package was lost in the mail for over two weeks. Thankfully, he’d gotten a tracking number and I was able to sort it out. The one I was most excited to try was this one. I mean look at it. Bullet holes through the label with a cowboy holding a frosty mug. How can you not like that? It’s also made “with pure cane sugar.” What’s not to love?
