Last week that esteemed root beer collector Vince was in town and had some brews to trade with me. He was staying near Saint Paul so I did a quick search and found that Saint Paul Brewing made their own root beer, so we could meet there and give it a try. I don’t know why Saint Paul Brewing calls it House Made Root Beer! with that exclamation point, but that’s what’s on their menu so I dutifully call it so. They also say that it is root beer with bite, so maybe it’ll be spicy. The brewery (brewing?) itself is made in the ruins of the old Hamm’s Brewery, which was closed in 1997. They’ve reinvigorated it and turned it into the sort of trendy place that’s all the rage these days. They even have a sweet pizza oven but I wasn’t there for pizza so we got our pints and gave it a try.
The Body has a very strong wintergreen flavor in the old fashioned style. There’s a bit of vanilla and a lot of spice. The Bite is sharp, which seems to be their goal. The Head is quite short, but it is there. The Aftertaste is bitter. Too much wintergreen so it ends quite bitter indeed.
Wow, a lot of Bite, but very bitter for a root beer. Maybe beer drinkers would appreciate that but I certainly did not. This isn’t really a brew I’d ever drink, not even with pizza. Which sadly, we didn’t have time to try due to tight schedule constraints. Maybe I’ll go back there some day, probably not, but at least it looks really cool.
Saint Paul Brewing
The root beer tap
The outside seating area with the pizza oven in the back of an old truck. It’s got atmosphere for sure.
Back in 2020, before my kitchen got broke and needed to be replaced, I bought this and some other condiments off of Amazon. Then my kitchen got dead and I had to wait some ages while it got fixed (much nicer at least) before I could get a nice rack of ribs and give this a try. Thankfully the best by date is still another 6 months out. Ass Kickin’ was originally a hot sauce, using a teenager type pun (of which I approve) by having an ass, kicking. My kids sure like it cause they love this story called Brighty of the Grand Canyon, it’s about an ass named Brighty, anyways. This is very mild, no heat at all, which is good I guess but kind of off brand. But what do I know. Anyways, we made some ribs and gave this a shot.
By itself this isn’t very good at all. The flavor is acidic with tomato and also really dark and smoky but the flavors aren’t balanced. You can’t really pick out the root beer but I didn’t really expect that since the sweet spices of a brew would mingle and be lost. When cooked on ribs the flavor improves quite a bit and the ribs with it weren’t bad, but there are many more BBQ sauces I’d rather have on my ribs.
So yeah, I’m not really a BBQ sauce expert to describe how it should be, but I know what I like and this isn’t it. I couldn’t imagine dipping anything in this sauce which is one of my favorite things to do with BBQ sauce. I like the consistency of this much more than the Sprecher sauce but the flavor is worse. Maybe it’d be better if it were spicy. I don’t know. Either way, avoid this please.
Root beer number 2 from The Soda Pop Bros! It’s a limited edition Maple Root Beer! Because what could be more Canadian than putting maple syrup in your root beer? Apologizing for your coworkers missing a meeting because of opening day of moose season (true story by the way)? Eating poutine at a hockey game while sipping a cup of Tim Horton’s? Being all dressed as a Mounty while eating All Dressed chips and a Coffee Crisp? Maybe but maybe not, because those Canucks love their root beer like their neighbors south of the border, and maple syrup is the glue that holds their country together. The only thing I really don’t get is the beaver. Like what’s a beaver got to do with maple syrup? Maybe they cut down maple trees for their dams? I don’t know, but it’s a cute beaver that somehow feels very Canadian. Anyways, root beer.
The Body has a rich maple syrup flavor on initial contact which is followed by vanilla and aged sarsaparilla. The flavors mix well. The Bite is mild and smooth with a good mouthfeel from the maple syrup. The Head is top notch. The Aftertaste is sarsaparilla and maple. The more you drink the more the maple diminishes and the sarsaparilla grows to almost taste fruity, sadly.
Dang, I wish that Aftertaste weren’t so strong of sarsaparilla. My first drink of this and I was like “Ah, now this is the stuff!” But as I drank more I was all “Is this the stuff?” and unfortunately by the end, I was like, “This is not quite the stuff”. But it’s still better than average, and I prefer it to their normal root beer. The fact they used real maple syrup rather than maple flavor really improves the mouthfeel. It’s definitely worth a try if you can find it. See how it rates against other root beers.
Root beer number 2 from 
