Dec 072011
 

Wait, Langers makes a root beer? Langers makes juices. That’s what I remember from my days at BYU. I loved buying Langers fruit juices. They were usually cheaper and always 100% natural. I see them up here in the Seattle area as well. So when did they migrate into sodas? I can’t say. Langers’ own website doesn’t talk about their Gourmet Soda line. Maybe it’s their dirty little secret. True to their juice line, this root beer is also all natural. Though I don’t usually read ingredients or nutritional information before I drink the first bottle, they brag about some of their ingredients on the front of the bottle and I couldn’t help but notice they use Madagascar vanilla. Well that makes me happy since I served my mission in Madagascar and know all about their lovely vanilla. I also noticed honey on the front so I got pretty excited, since those are two of the things I like to taste in my root beers.

The Body is rather weak. It has a really strong honey flavor with some vanilla and some spices, but the core root beer flavors are really missing. It is pretty creamy. The Bite is pretty mild a slight tingle of carbonation and spices that goes down really smooth. The Head is pathetic. Barely more than a Two Second Head and then it is nearly flat afterwards. The Aftertaste is honey, lots of honey, sticky slightly spicy honey.

So, quite a disappointment. Though I do like honey in my root beer, this is really just too much. It is more like a tad bit of root beer with my honey. It doesn’t taste much like root beer, more like a creamy honey soda. It is actually a pretty decent honey soda and since I feel root beer should have those flavors, I think it isn’t too off the mark to be less than Drinkable, but no higher. See how it rates against other root beers.




Nov 302011
 

Since I’ve already reviewed the original Dang! That’s Good Root Beer, I won’t make any comments on the name of this one. Except that the bottle also says “The Original” on it. Now how can it be the original if it is the butterscotch version? Shouldn’t it say, “The Butterscotch?” Unless there’s a fake version of Dang! That’s Good Butterscotch (there is Dougie Dog Butterscotch) but then there would have to be a fake version of the original root beer as well because it has the same tag on its label (and there isn’t a Dougie Dog other than the butterscotch). Or most likely, the makers of this, probably their marketing department, didn’t really think about why it is “The Original” but figured it lent some credibility to it in the way that vague marketing phrases often do. I find it extremely curious though that the bottle for this was a different type of bottle than the other Dang! Root Beer even though I bought them at the same store at the same time.

Anyways, the Body has a very strong, extremely sweet butterscotch flavor that masks out the other root beer flavors, which are on the light side, the very light side. I hold the brew in my mouth a little longer than usual before swallowing, waiting for something more, sadly it never comes. The Bite consists mainly of a carbonation tingle which is thankfully toned down from the original (regular?) Dang! That’s Good Root Beer. The Head is of excellent height but not too frothy so it fizzes down pretty quick. The last centimeter or so lingers around a little bit longer. The Aftertaste is mostly butterscotch with a slight hint of standard root beer flavors.

It was nice to see that they made some improvements over the original Dang! That’s Good (I am really getting tired of writing this whole name out), like toning down carbonation Bite while improving the Head height and frothiness. While I often like a variant on root beer flavors, like the butterscotch, that’s no excuse for skimping out on the rest of the root beer flavors, which it seems that they did. The rule should be, keep your recipe and add the new flavor, like Frostie and Frostie Vanilla. They sadly left the Body too hollow and the Bite too off for a Seal of Approval. See how it rates against other root beers.




Nov 232011
 

You’ve got to love a root beer bottle with a picture of a drive-in on it. Those were wonderful days, back when root beer reigned supreme as the soft drink of choice, our cars were beefy and so were the burgers. I don’t know how I can really get nostalgic about it since I wasn’t alive then, but I’ve heard stories. It is always nice when a dedicated root beer stand bottles their product so root beer aficionados like myself can enjoy it without having to take a trip to the Midwest. They say it’s been around since 1926 and it’s “Top Rated!” at that. What really got my hopes up was its claims about the amazing Head. So it was with great anticipation that I cracked it open to give it a try.

Sweet mother of root beer Head! The Head is amazingly tall and frothy. It overflowed my mug! The Body is very sweet and creamy. One of the sweetest I’ve ever had. There is a lot of wintergreen and some spices, maybe nutmeg? It is a little light on the sassafras, more of a medium bodied brew. The Bite is pretty good. There are some spices that grab you and a slight carbonation tingle but a smooth finish, as it should be. The Aftertaste is a deliciously creamy vanilla and wintergreen.

So it lived up to it’s claims, especially with the epic Head. I do rate this as a top brew. They say “NOTHING tops it… but the foam!” While not the best root beer ever, I must say, that’s pretty accurate. See how it rates against other root beers.