Root Beer Reviews – Page 89 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Harpoon Root Beer

Dec 232015

Harpoon Root Beer Bottle One day as I’m checking my special, root beer email account, I get a message out of nowhere from a fellow named Jake, asking me if I wanted to try Harpoon Root Beer from the Harpoon Brewery and he could send me a sample if I did. Now this is what I need more of in my inbox, every single day. It’s pretty much the litmus test on whether or not it’s a great day. “Have you received an unsolicited offer to sample gourmet root beer today?” “Yes? Then today is a GREAT day!” Sadly, when I got said root beer, the seals on the bottles had broken. That put me in the awkward position of having to send them an email saying that while their root beer smelled really good I couldn’t actually drink it because it broke in transit and could they please send me some more. Luckily, they were good natured sorts so they sent me some more. This time the brews were intact.

The Body is rich and creamy, full of all the essential flavors. It has got so much of them that it is a little syrupy, but I like that. You can taste the lack of preservatives. The body is accompanied by a mild Bite that just tingles the tongue a bit. The Head is weak, sadly, but frothy and doesn’t just fizz away. The Aftertaste is creamy and rich as well but doesn’t linger too long.

This is one of the best root beers I have ever tasted, but the lack of an amazing head kept this one out of the highest echelon. Sadly, they’ve since stopped making it for reasons unknown which is a real shame. A brew like this will be sorely missed. See how it rates against other root beers.

Round Barn Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 162015

Round Barn Root Beer Bottle In the tiny town of Arcadia, OK, on Route 66, there exists a place called Pops. There, on the iconic route, they’ve got it all; a restaurant, a landmark, a soda ranch, and a website that actually works. Their soda ranch boasts over 600 flavors, a good 1/6 of that coming from various root beers, birch beers, sarsaparillas, and associated diets. Very impressive. Not wanting to stop there, they decided to get their own flavor of root beer and contracted with the Huebert Brewing Company to make it for them. They decided to buck the whole Route 66 trend and instead named their root beer after some round barn. The picture is on the bottle and everything. In a town of less than 300 people, I can accept that a big ol’ round barn may just be defining feature of the place. The Wikipedia article on Arcadia confirms this as it has exactly one photo in it which is nearly identical to the label picture, same angle and everything. Curiously, the article doesn’t mention anything about said round barn, so maybe it’s just for looks or something.

The Body is rather bland. It’s really REALLY sweet and syrupy but only a medium flavor profile. It’s a tad creamy with the slightest shadow of wintergreen, but you really have to look hard. There’s also a fruity hint. There is the slightest spice Bite but not much in the carbonation department. That all fizzes up to build a very nice Head that’s tall and lingers awhile, though it’s not a high froth Head. The Aftertaste is sticky corn syrup that turns bitter.

So about a week before I tried this I got an email from someone claiming my review of Henry Weinhard’s was wrong because it uses HFCS and that tastes inferior to sugar and as the primary ingredient it would have the most pronounced flavor. I responded that the sugar doesn’t make the brew and other ingredients can have much stronger flavors. This brew, however, fits exactly what he was getting at. It has a very high 47g of HFCS and that is by far the dominant flavor. Really this tastes like moderately flavored corn syrup drink, like if you watered down some Aunt Jemima. I’m not a big fan. See how it rates against other root beers.

Old No. 3 Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 092015

Old No. 3 Root Beer Bottle What’s with all the old number root beers lately. I mean, two in two weeks? What’s that anthony thinking, sending me only old number stuff. I want some fresh root beer. This is made by the Milwaukee Brewing Company. So proud are they of their concoction, that no mention of it can be found on their website at all, even using the search. The only way I know its the same place is because the url on the bottle, which doesn’t actually work. But the MKE logo is the same. Yup. This root beer is clearly one of their favorite products. It’s also a tribute to firemen. It’s hard to tell on the label, because it wraps around, but there’s a fireman on the left side spraying water on the fire in the middle. The text on the right say’s how it’s a tribute to firemen everywhere. Kind of makes me wonder, if they like firemen so much, why don’t they tell anyone about the root beer they made for them? There also is no explanation of why it’s called Old No. 3.

The Body is very sweet and rich and creamy. There’s lots of vanilla and a sort of caramel flavor. The Bite is very nice. There is just enough spice burn to feel after a few seconds but not too much. The carbonation level is also perfect. The Head is good; medium height and lingers throughout the entire drinking experience. The Aftertaste is rich vanilla with some spiced caramel.

Delicious, delicious. This has pretty much everything I like in a root beer. So why all of the hush hush? A brew like this is one that you shout about from the roof tops for all the world to know about. I’ll have to let them know how good it is. Maybe they don’t know. See how it rates against other root beers.

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