I ordered this online a few years back as part of a variety pack. I can’t remember the circumstances very well, probably just another pack of 12 bottles and 4 varieties while I was an undergrad at BYU. I chose it for no particular reason, there were lots of brews back then that I needed. I’d always try to grab at least one that I though would be good and one I thought looked terrible and then ones that were cheap, with this being one of the cheap ones. The bottle is pretty simple but does have a nice label. It is actually produced by White Rock Beverages, one of America’s oldest beverage companies from 1871 or something. It’s also Kosher which is actually pretty easy to achieve with a soda but important if you’re in a place like New York with a large Jewish population.
The Body is very hollow and watery. It is sweet with a candy flavor, but it doesn’t really taste like root beer. The Bite is nonexistent and neither is the Head. In fact, this root beer is almost completely flat. The Aftertaste is weak and fruity with a hint of cream.
This stuff is not good, like really, not good at all. I also wonder where the root beer flavor went. It’s like they were trying to make 8 ounces of root beer stretch across a 12 ounce bottle using only water and citric acid. Note that I didn’t say carbonated water. They even advertise low carbonation so perhaps my theory is not far off the mark. To be fair, it didn’t make me gag, but I wouldn’t touch it again. See how it rates against other root beers.
So back in March I found myself in Salt Lake City again to give another seminar on electric vehicles. This time it was at the University of Utah. I’d hit the area pretty hard back in February but was certain that there was some gourmet root beer left to be found. Sure enough, a devoted web search revealed Red Rock Brewery where they make their own root beer and cream soda. As soon as I landed and got the rental car, I knew where I was heading. I took a seat at the bar and ordered a pint, no ice, lots of foam.
I’d like to start by saying that this is not my root beer. True, I am Eric. Yes, I’m pretty famous and if I made a root beer it would no doubt reach new levels of root beer fame. But, this isn’t my root beer. This is made by some other Eric whose original drink seemed to be Eric’s Famous Cola, some energy drink cola thing. Keeping along those same lines he expanded to Eric’s Energy Company and made a root beer with lots of caffeine, guarana, kola nut, and other “quality” ingredients seldom found in root beer. And it’s microbrewed evidently. The label has a nice metallic shine but other than that and sharing a name with a famous root beer connoisseur, it actually is pretty frightening to me. Mostly because energy drink root beers are seldom pleasant. This one lives up to the expectations brilliantly.