Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog – Page 142 – The blog of the gourmet root beer site.

Triple XXX Root Beer

Apr 162014

Triple XXX Root Beer Bottle After reading my XXX Root Beer review and my Triple AAA Root Beer review I knew you were wondering what things I had to say about Triple XXX, the root beer that started all of this mess. It was awhile ago that I came across a six pack of this. The first thing that got me hung up about this brew was the name. Did they mean Triple X, but wanted to make sure you really got it so they called it Triple XXX? It seemed redundant but yes, it really was called Triple XXX and not Triple X. So does Triple XXX = 9X, X^9, or 3X^3? Does it mean this root beer has some connection to the adult entertainment industry (as an aside I’ve really thought about registering www.gourmetrootbeer.xxx and having it redirect to this post)? According to their website, XXX used to mean good, so the owners thought that Triple XXX is three times as good, or something. Who knows. The label makes me happy, simple, metallic, and retro. Though they changed it since I drank this.

I drank more bottles of this root beer than normal and every time I got something different. The Body was sometimes sweet and full, sometimes watery and lacking. The Bite was sometimes harsh, sometimes smooth. The Head was never very frothy but ranged between nonexistent and not bad. It always fizzed away quickly though. The Aftertaste was sometimes (see a pattern here?) very nice and of vanilla, and sometimes very weak.

Ok, what’s up with that? Whatever happened to quality control and process consistency? I have strict standards and try to recreate the exact same drinking situation with each review but this one was all over the place throughout the whole six pack. The inconsistency of it all was appalling. “Tastes like root beer used to taste”? Really, it seems like they can’t remember and tried several things. Though sometimes the root beer was really good, I just can’t in good faith call the brew drinkable when I’m not sure what it’ll be. So sorry Triple XXX, you get a two and a half. See how it rates against other root beers.

Dublin Texas Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Apr 092014

Dublin Texas Root Beer Bottle I first heard about the Dublin Bottling Works when news of the lawsuit and the end of Dublin Dr Pepper broke. While I was sympathetic towards the plight of those who loved the drink, would miss the drink, or whose livelihoods depended on the drink, I didn’t like the drink. Or rather, I don’t like Dr Pepper or any of the imitations and never had, so I really couldn’t lament much even though I’ve never tried that particular version of it. But Dublin Bottling Works, being from Texas, won’t let The Man keep them down, and have replaced their Dublin Dr Pepper with Dublin Texas Root Beer. Now this is a very positive thing in my opinion. Replacing I flavor I don’t like with one I do. It’s not like they’re strangers to root beer either, they used to bottle Triple XXX. I’m not sure if they still do, but now they have their own original root beer. Since it was a new product launch, they were kind enough to send me a six pack for review.

The Body is sweet and a little creamy and full of the standard root beer flavors, so much so that it borders being generic tasting. It’s a little on the dark side as well. The Bite is prickly from carbonation but lacking in spice. The Head is tall but fizzes down at an average speed, faster than I feel it should. The Aftertaste is a sort of sticky caramel almost vanilla flavor.

Pretty good, but it doesn’t really have anything extra to really make me swoon. It is a solid brew for a barbeque or a float, but not quite sipping variety. But a good all around root beer like this is sure to be successful enough, even if it’s not my favorite. See how it rates against other root beers.

Waialua Soda Works Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Apr 022014

Waialua Root Beer Bottle This is the first and only root beer that I’ve had so far from Hawaii. That begs the question of whether I’ve had a root beer from every state. Without looking back at the 200 odd brews I’ve tried at this point I can definitively say ‘no’. That’s because I have as of yet utterly failed to procure anything from Alaska. It’s up there, but I can’t get it. Someday … But anyhow, Waialua, since it’s from Hawaii, it has a hula girl on the label. Good. If it didn’t there would be problems for sure. There’s some other stuff there like “finest Hawaiian quality” and some squiggly lines at the bottom which may or may not be Japanese or some other Asian script, but who cares, there’s a hula girl and that is all that needs to be looked at. A curious thing about this is the sweetener used. They use “cane sugar” and “Maui natural white cane sugar”, the difference between those two is difficult to grasp. Since Hawaii is a sugar exporting state, I doubt they’re bringing in Brazilian sugar for this brew. So why not just call it all Hawaiian cane sugar? We may never know.

The Body was weak and not very flavorful, you could taste the right stuff but you had to look very hard to find it. The Bite was nothing special. The Head was large but not frothy at all. It fizzed away in several seconds. The Aftertaste was a very weak vanilla flavor that was almost instantly gone after it appeared.

So, way watered down. Maybe if they put two to three times the flavor it would be something worth talking about, however, as it was, when I finished drinking it, I looked down at my empty glass asking myself, what did I just drink? If it hadn’t said root beer on the label, I wouldn’t have known. See how it rates against other root beers.

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