Aug 042021
 

The Soda Pop Bros Root Beer Bottle One of my root beer friends on social media runs a craft soda shop in Windsor Ontario, The Soda Pop Bros. In addition to their large selection and soda delivery, they worked to develop their own line, which includes two flavors of root beer. He was so kind as to send me some samples to review. Sadly he mixed up the boxes and accidentally sent what was intended for another reviewer to me, but I still got some of each of his root beers. I decided I’d start with the plain, er, ordinary, er, original, that’s it, root beer! I like their label, it’s got a classic vibe and isn’t too busy. One other interesting thing, it has 2% of the daily allowance of calcium and 10% of potassium. I’m not sure why that is, but extra nutrients isn’t a bad thing at all. Maybe it’s mineral water? Or maybe they just want electrolytes for hydrating root beer? Not sure, but I hope to love it.

The Body is sweet with sassafras and vanilla flavors. There’s a faint sarsaparilla that builds over time. Overall the flavor is nice and clean and simple. The Bite is mild though it isn’t smooth. The Head is wonderfully tall and frothy and you shouldn’t try to build it because then it’s too much and takes forever to fizz down. The Aftertaste is that sarsaparilla, which is pleasant.

It’s good. I’ll say that, but nothing really stands out, except the head, and the potassium. Need that potassium. So while I won’t give this one the Seal, it is better than average and is worth a try. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three and a half kegs




Jul 072021
 

A mug of Minnetonka Drive-in Root Beer For Father’s Day weekend my wife asked me if there was any sort of celebrating I wanted to do. I had two things in mind, fishing and root beer. Luckily for me I knew of a place I could accomplish both (so I thought). Just 15 minutes south of where I live I had discovered the Minnetonka Drive-In in Spring Park, nearly smack in the middle of Lake Minnetonka. They make their own root beer, and surely there’d be some public fishing pier. So we set off to fish and found the only fishing pier on the map (that I could find in Google) was completely inundated with duckweed, lily pads, and other weeds making fishing entirely impossible. But at least we could get to the drive in. The Minnetonka Drive-In was opened in 1961 as a family business. The classic root beer stand is still owned and operated by one of the children of the original founder. He started working there at age 9, washing glass gallon jugs for root beer. I love a family business root beer stand story. They have random mugs to serve their root beer, some unmarked, some A&W, according to the server, they just acquired them wherever they could. There’s lots of picnic tables and they have car service as well. Since I don’t eat in my Model 3, I just ordered inside and went to a table in the shade, since it was a beautiful day.

The Body has that classic root beer flavor with a hint of vanilla. It’s plenty sweet, but it is also just a bit mild, like it could use to be a bit stronger. The Bite is a little spicy while low on the carbonation side. The Head is short and foams away too quickly. The Aftertaste is some sweet vanilla.

It’s overall tasty, but just kind of lacking in all departments, but the core flavors are still really good, so I still give it an above average, high 3. I almost want to go a little higher, but reading my own review doesn’t justify. Three is good from The Root Beer Gourmet after all. The food there is quality. I had their signature Minnetonka Twin burger with onion rings and slaw and cheese curds. I forgot to order bacon with it sadly. Some of the family got some ribs and other fish and chips. It was all really good. I recommend dropping by if you’re in the area.

Three kegs




The Minnetonka Drive In

The Minnetonka Drive In

A Minnetonka Twin burger with onion rings and root beer. Quite the delicious meal.

Jun 022021
 

Todd Bosley's World Famous Root Beer Barrel I take issue with the name of this root beer. I know it’s cliche to call your product world famous, but if the people who’s primary reason for existence have a hard time learning about your product, it isn’t world famous. Small gripe I know, but of all the “world famous” type products I’ve ever heard of, this is probably the most obscure. I heard about it from anthony who found it trawling Amazon. The label also screams private label, but anthony assures me that when he reached out to the Great and Glorious Todd he said they have their own special recipe. I will believe him, GinsengUp does do custom recipes. I have another gripe about this brew. It came mailed to me using USPS Flat Rate padded envelopes as the padding in the box they used to package it. Seriously? They were too cheap to buy bubble wrap? Decided to raid the local post office after hours for the “free” envelopes whose cost is baked into the packaging and just use it to stuff your root beer mailing box. It rather sours me on them as a company. They can of course redeem themselves completely with a good brew.

The Body is sweet with a bit of vanilla, some sarsaparilla and a bit of sour. It’s rather generic other than that and the sour doesn’t help. The Bite is prickly from carbonation with a sudsy mouthfeel. There’s but little spice. The Head is tall and frothy, full points there. The Aftertaste is faint sour and sarsaparilla.

Meh. It’s okay, nothing special. That sour in the brew ruins it like their behavior sours my opinion of them overall. So yeah, skip this, if for no other reason than to support your local post office. But I must admit, in a pinch, it’s drinkable. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three kegs