I don’t think that any root beer came more ballyhooed than Virgil’s. I was only in high school, yet everyone who had tried it went on about how good it was. Well, everyone who didn’t seem to know anything about fine root beer that is. It was also winner of the NASFT (National Association for the Specialty Food Trade) “Outstanding Beverage”, which they have been putting on their labels for as long as I’ve seen them. Virgil’s originally was brewed in North England, also a place that doesn’t rank high on the “knows about fine root beer” list of places (Philadelphia, Southern California, and the Twin Cities are places that rank at the top). So anyway. Many a folk who weren’t really into root beer were telling me about this brew that won an award from people who aren’t really into root beer which was made by people who don’t really know a lot about root beer. It of course had to be the greatest.
This has a very complex flavor with all sorts of things that in my opinion have no business being in root beer in the quantities they use. However it has an alright Body but the absence of sassafras is very noticeable. The Aftertaste is of anise (one ingredient that I feel has no business being a prominent flavor in root beer). The Head could be much better, and there is not much Bite.
Yeah, um, I don’t really like it at all. You’d think with all of their “superb blend of Spice & Herbs gathered the world over” that they’d drop by the ol’ US of A and pick up some sassafras. Maybe throw some honey in there as well, that’d make it much better. I suppose when rated against the other British root beers it is the best and it really isn’t terrible. The big shame is that they also sell nifty party kegs (which no one else does) but it doesn’t taste any better out of them. I wish it did because that concept is awesome. Oh well. See how it rates against other root beers.
I got this as a birthday present from my wife, a six-month late birthday present, but it’s the thought that counts. Actually it wasn’t her fault. You see, this used to be called Wang Gang Nearly Famous Root Beer. She knew I needed that and ordered it. But the supplier was out of stock, as well as every other place that sold it, so she couldn’t give me anything (though she got a refund). Finally, one day, I found someplace that actually had it, but when it arrived it was Unkle Munkey’s Nearly Famous Root Beer. The label and ingredients and nutritional info are all the same. I don’t know why they changed their name. The only problem I can find with the name Wang Gang is if you have the maturity of a highschooler. Granted, if I had a gang, I probably wouldn’t call it the Wang Gang. Then again, maybe Unkle Munkey took over Wang’s gang, in some epic kung-fu battle no less. We may never know. The label itself has all the text inside of braces (or curly brackets if you prefer) like some Java or C++ function. I half expect to see a semicolon at the end of each line of text as well, but no. Maybe they had no intention of invoking computer programing (or at least not a language that I am familiar with) but that’s the vibe I get from the bottle. I’m not sure how to take the “Nearly Famous” portion of the name. Is it a joke, or some dark prophecy that they’ll never quite amount to root beer fame? That depends on their quality. 
If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you know how much I like zombie stuff. This stemmed from playing Humans vs. Zombies Tag in grad school and then hanging out with all of my Zombie Tag friends. Therefore, I was overjoyed to see that Caprice Brands had made 
