Seldom do you find an organic root beer. Even rarer is one that isn’t some diet abomination. A friend, The Root Beer Tracker found this and we set up a trade. After he mailed it I realized that I could have just bought it at Whole Foods and saved myself some shipping, oh well, I got to share some root beer love. The brew itself is made by Sky Valley Foods in Danville, VA. They have slightly lower than average sugar but are by no means a diet. The bottle is rather plain, with not much other than the bear and the name. Plus they mention it’s organic, twice. Three times if you count the USDA Organic seal. Five if you count the back of the label. Nine if you count the ingredients as well. And 10 if you count their website. Basically they want to make sure that anywhere you look you’ll see at least three mentions of organic, in case there was any doubt. I personally couldn’t care less about organic, but I do care about taste and Head and whatnot.
The Body is not very sweet. There’s vanilla and a decent core with some slight licorice notes, but then there is some strange aged, fruity, sour, flavor that surfaces. Perusing the ingredients shows apple cider vinegar, which fits the flavor perfectly. Why would they do that? There really is no Bite to speak of. None whatsoever, a big gaping hole is all there is. For the lack of Bite, it is only sort of smooth. The Head is decent, both with height and staying power. The Aftertaste is vanilla and apple cider vinegar. Again, why would they do that?
Seriously, they lost me with apple cider vinegar. I can’t think of anyone, who, drinking a root beer, thought to themselves, “you know what this needs, some apple cider vinegar” Yet that’s what they’ve made. It really just messes the whole thing up. It’d be okay without that, but with it, no good at all. Just stay clear of this one. See how it rates against other root beers.
Two weeks ago I was back in Chicago and there was only one root beer that was on my mind. The root beer was one I’d tried to get before, I’d gone to the restaurant and ordered it. They said they didn’t have it but another tap room might. So, just to be sure I called the tap root and they confirmed they had it. But, when I showed up, the bar tender said they didn’t and sorry, next time I should ask to speak to the bar tender. This, of course, did not leave me feeling happy about the Two Brothers Brewery. They said they were out because their brewing equipment for the root beer was under repairs. Also that the root beer is actually brewed over a period of 21 days, yet there’s no alcohol so I think that means they take all of the ingredients minus the sugars and start brewing and don’t add yeast or something. However it works that’s what they say they do and they make a cinnamon root beer which made me hope it was like the old Myers Avenue Red. Anyways, when I landed I gave them a call to confirm that they did have their root beer, and then I drove down and ordered some.
Surprise! There’s another Maple Island Brewing root beer! I didn’t even know myself until I showed up. I mean, I’d discovered the brewery the first time I went to Stillwater and was walking around, and then brought my family back to try it (and walk around) and then I discover they make not one, but two different root beers! If this review came out of nowhere for you guys, that’s how I felt, no foreshadowing, no preparation, just more root beer. As their website says, “[their] name is Maple Island, isn’t it? Gotta have a maple-flavored rootbeer.” I wholeheartedly agree, and also realize that if I’d spent a bit more time actually researching them I probably wouldn’t have been surprised. But whatever. I figured the best way to solve this problem was to review their root beer, walk through the downtown and do the shoppings and stair climbings, and then end right back where we started and have the maple, which is what we proceeded to do.
