Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog – Page 126 – The blog of the gourmet root beer site.

Haley and Annabelle’s Vanilla Root Beer

Feb 112015

Haley and Annabelle's Vanilla Root Beer Bottle There’s a lot for me to like about this root beer without even trying it. For one the inspiration for these girls to start their own root beer came out of a party at their French Immersion School. I love French. Then they use Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla, and I lived in Madagascar. Then there’s the fact that it’s a vanilla root beer, one of my favorite kinds. They launched this brew as a way to pay for the girls’ college. While noticing the picture on the label of the girls in front of the Eiffel Tower, I’m going to have to say that if you’re short on college funds, trips to France generally don’t help. But some people want their college and their trips to Paris, and if a new brand of root beer is the ticket to both then who am I to complain. Now these aren’t the first siblings I’ve encountered using their own root beer to get to college, as D-n-A use the same gimmick. I wonder if they’ve ever met? What if they do meet in the same college and Alphonse (my name for the A in D-n-A) and Annabelle fall in love? Then they could combine their recipes to make Double AA Root Beer to rival/defeat Triple AAA Root Beer! One can only hope.

The Body is rich and creamy with a ton of luscious bourbon vanilla flavor. This perfectly complements a solid root beer core. There isn’t a lot of Bite on this one; they’re going for silky smooth. I do prefer a bit of spice, but the smooth is always good. The Head is tall and frothy like it should be. It foams up right to the top of my 20 ounce mug and hangs around for awhile. The Aftertaste is lots more bourbon vanilla that lasts awhile. I do love that.

Yummy! This is an amazing root beer. Such sweet, smooth, Bourbon Vanilla flavor. I’ve never had that flavor in a root beer save my own home brew. If you are a vanilla lover, this root beer is definitely for you. I’m proud to give this my Seal of Approval. D-n-A got one too … I think those boys should definitely meet these girls. See how it rates against other root beers.

Cool Mountain Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Feb 072015

Cool Mountain Root Beer Bottle I ordered this online a long, long time ago, in a state far far away … At least I think I did. I’m pretty sure I was living in Utah at the time. When I got it was was very impressed with the Indian chief fellow on it. I’m not sure why they choose to put that picture on the bottle, but I just went with it. Fast forward to the present when I was going through my extensive bottle collection and writing blog reviews of all of those old school brews. And, um, well, I lost the bottle. I don’t know where it is. I went through box after box and found every other root beer bottle I’d ever reviewed. I don’t know what happened. I can’t believe that I would have just lost this one, but evidently I did. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Consolation prize, they still make Cool Mountain Root Beer, and they sell it at The Root Beer Store, so I went out and bought a bottle. According to the owner this has the same recipe as Chicago Draft Style Root Beer, but they are bottled at different locations which leads to a different flavor. This time they actually have a picture of a rather cool looking mountain so everything makes more sense. The shiny purple background is also a nice touch, but I still think the chief was cooler … cooler mountain.

This has a strong, sticky Body. There’s kind of a “dark” flavor to it. It has a very solid Bite. The Head is acceptable, but it bubbles away quickly. The Aftertaste is anise-ish which is rather icky to me.

When I drank it, there was an explosion of flavor in my mouth. The problem, it just doesn’t stop exploding. It’s alright I suppose, good enough if you really just need a root beer and there’s nothing else around. See how it rates against other root beers.

The Groovy Taste Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Feb 042015

The Groovy Taste Root Beer Bottle A gourmet root beer from Indonesia. It’s always good to have connections, and I have many. This one came from a student of mine (did you know that I’m an affiliate professor?). He was going home over the Christmas break, to Indonesia. I told him to get me some of this, which he promised to bring. And sure enough, he did. Joshua, you are the greatest student ever. This is made by KMI (Kreasi Mas Indah) Beverages. They started in 2008 and are located on the West Java, they have two carbonated soda brands, this root beer and some soda water, also “In addition to beverage product, [they] have personal care division with products Tabashi Bar Soap”. Because why not? Their bottle is small, only 250 ml compared to the standard 355 in this country. The label is simple and classic for a root beer.

The Body is sweet and creamy with a medium strength generic root beer flavor. The Bite is very mild with little spice but adequate carbonation. It’s smooth so I can’t complain much, just for lack of spice. The Head is extremely tall and frothy. It couldn’t really be any better. The Aftertaste is a pleasant vanilla and cane sugar flavor.

Very nice. Very nice indeed. This non-North American root beer tastes like a proper creamy root beer. I’ve never had that before. No strange fruity, weird herbal, or extra sour. Just creamy, sweet root beer goodness. It’s still rather generic, though, if I were in foreign lands and really craving a root beer, this would be good enough, unlike anything else I’ve ever tried from abroad. It also has that extra good Head giving bonus points. See how it rates against other root beers.

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