Root Beer Reviews – Page 17 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Parlor Butterscotch Root Beer

Apr 062022

The second root beer of my birthday present of Parlor. This one is a butterscotch which is nice because while that type of brew used to be quite popular to add to a soda maker’s lineup, I haven’t seen a lot of new ones in the past few years. I guess 2020 was kind of a big stoppage in new flavor creation amongst all of the other problems. Anyways this brew. Now there is a parlor guy on the bottle and I don’t know his name. Couldn’t find anything about him on the website, but I think he looks a lot like a Brian, Brian Butterscotch? Maybe Bill. Yeah, Bill Butterscotch, better pay your Bills if you know what I mean.

The Body has a rich butterscotch flavor accented by vanilla and a root beer core. The flavors mingle beautifully so that neither overpowers the other. The Bite is mild for a root beer, as butterscotch, not spice takes the main stage. The Head is nice height and frothy. The Aftertaste is of vanilla and butterscotch.

Wow, good job. They nailed it and butterscotch root beer is hard to nail. This takes the simple plain root beer flavor of their original and expertly adds butterscotch to make it a thing of excellence. If their original brew had been more complex, maybe with more wintergreen and other spices, it may not have worked, but dang! (on purpose) It sure did this time. See how it rates against other root beers.

Parlor Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Mar 022022

This was a birthday present from my lovely wife. It’s always easy to know what presents I want, just find a root beer I don’t have. She also got me some of their other flavor but more on that next month. So the people at Parlor are very passionate about their root beer. Their website says it’s “The best root beer you’ll ever slam down your gullet” amongst some other claims. They seem like fun guys and all they make is root beer and birch beer. Their mascot on this bottle is Patty Parlor, which I learned from their merch page. They also have a Betty Birch for their birch beer. Their merch also features a shirt which says “F*CK WATER DRINK ROOT BEER”, which, I mean, a little crass but also, yes. Anyhow, I’m not 100% sure what their parlor and their parlor girls are supposed mean, Google gave me some definitions which maybe fit… But they’re all tattooed and playing cards and stuff so I’m guessing this parlor of theirs is smoke filled with scantily clad, tattooed women and people playing cards. And you drink root beer there. Nailed it. Anyways. They make root beer so I like them for that.

The Body is sweet with a caramel cane sugar flavor and vanilla notes. The flavor is clean but rather plain, lacking the complexity you find in most root beers. There is very little Bite but the feel isn’t very smooth either. The Head is excellent, it’s tall and frothy but also doesn’t build too high nor last too long. The Aftertaste is rich vanilla, which builds the more you drink, almost like a root beer float vanilla.

Hmm, this is tasty but rather plain. It’s like a cheeseburger with nothing but meat cheese and ketchup. Good, but can be improved upon with more complexity of flavor. So is this the best root beer I’ll ever slam down my gullet? No. Is it even Seal of Approval? Also no. But it is yummy, it just needs more depth. See how it rates against other root beers.

Minnesota Northern Draft Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Feb 022022

A root beer from last summer’s Ely road trip adventure. It was actually a serendipitous find as I had to stop unexpectedly in Beaver Bay and there I noticed an ice cream shop so I decided to check it out and low and behold, there was this root beer in a cooler. I’d never heard of it before which is crazy that there would be a bottled root beer hidden in my own state and hidden from the root beer community at large. The label said Ely Soda Works, a division of Basswood Trading Co. So, my last day in Ely, I dropped by Basswood to find out more. They said it’s a unique recipe soda line that is bottled for them in Michigan. Searching the web reveals at one time they also had a butterscotch root beer but that’s no longer made, sadly. The label is interesting. There’s a moose and a deer looking at the northern lights while wearing flannel pajamas. I mean, I guess that’s northern Minnesota for you. I’ve only visited but seems appropriate.

The Body is sweet with some vanilla and spice and a typical creamy root beer flavor. Albeit it does feel a little hollow. The Bite is okay from said spice, but doesn’t really have a smooth finish but it isn’t harsh. The Head is tall, but not too tall, with large bubbles. The Aftertaste is a little minty, but then gone.

So this is pretty decent, but a little hollow. I like it well enough to drink it with some food up in Ely if I were at a restaurant or something but not really Seal stuff. Really the only reason to seek it out is if you’re a collector like myself. Especially since it’s distribution is very limited. Still very cool that the small town of Ely, home to Dorthy’s Isle of Pines Root Beer also has this. See how it rates against other root beers.

Older Entries Newer Entries