This was only the second gourmet root beer I ever had but was by far the most influential. I first found it when I was 12 or so at the local Safeway and quickly became the go-to when I needed a treat. A celebration, get a Henry’s. Need to drown my sorrows, get a Henry’s. Want an extra good root beer, get a Henry’s. It helped that Safeways were pretty much in every town and they’d sell Henry’s chilled as well as in six-packs. Gas stations started getting them too so it was a a nearly ubiquitous awesome brew. There were other gourmet root beers about, but none were as good. After my brother’s car accident I had at least one of these per day. After a month or two, I couldn’t drink anything that didn’t come from glass, and I soon began the quest to find the world’s best root beer. So how did my beloved Henry’s stack up?
Nice full, sweet Body with the perfect Head. It is one of the nicest Heads of any root beer. So much so that it is my standard Head to compare against other root beers. It’s rich and creamy with lovely vanilla and honey flavor complementing the sassafras. Wonderful Aftertaste, honey and vanilla lasting the perfect amount of time. There’s not a lot of Bite, but enough spice for me. It is very smooth and that’s how I prefer it most of the time.
This is pretty much my gourmet root beer standard. I’ve had many a brew from all over the world, but not many can even stand level to, let alone surpass this. There are plenty that are better in one category or another, but Henry Weinhard’s is so good on all of it that it makes it a tough brew to beat. I make sure to drink a Seal of Approval root beer after each review to “reset” the palate. Most of the time it’s Henry’s. It is safe to say that this is the most important root beer in my life. See how it rates against other root beers.
Argh! Another pirate themed root beer. I’d venture that the pirate theme is the second most popular root beer theme (with dog being the first unfortunately). This is brewed by the Drunk Monkey Brew Werks whose inability to spell ‘works’ properly could be from either the drunkenness or the monkey-ness. I’m not sure. Either way the fine 
Several months after I started reviewing root beers my friends and I drove from our tiny town to Seattle to watch our beloved Mariners lose a baseball game. I’m not sure if they actually lost, but statistically speaking, if I was at the game, they probably did. Outside of the ballpark was a mini-mart with several new root beer varieties including this one. The name is rather perplexing. Saying Sassafras Root Beer is like saying beef hamburgers or pork bacon, while true, it’s not generally something you have to mention. “Oh, our root beer is sassafras flavored …” well they’re ALL supposed to be sassafras flavored. I am also not sure where the Shenandoah comes from. The only other time I’ve seen that word is in Choir singing some song about being bound away across the wide Missouri, and this stuff is from Vermont so, yeah confusion abounds. 
