A & Dubs Root Beer

 Root Beer Stand Root Beers  No Responses »
Sep 012021
 

A mug of A & Dubs Root Beer Back in June I took a day off to make another small three day Minnesota road trip. Plan was Duluth to Ely and back. Since I’d already been root beer hunting in Duluth, I wasn’t planning on finding anything. Yet, the day before I tried “root beer duluth”s into Google and found a drive in called A & Dubs. They seemed to have root beer, so I gave them a call and they said yes, they make there own. Well, I knew where I was headed for dinner then. The little drive in was originally an A&W some 60 years ago but they decided not to renew the franchise at some point and just strike out on their own, with their own root beer recipe. They changed the name to A & Dubs, which is about the least creative thing to name your former A&W since the drive in named “The Drive In”. It’s a proper drive in with car service and 3 booths inside (closed sadly for Covid) and two picnic tables outside and offers the standard drive-in fare of burgers, dogs, chicken baskets and the like. Their sign says “Home of the Power Platter” which is a burger root beer combo meal. So that’s what I got.

The Body is sweet with a classic root beer stand sassafras flavor and some creamy vanilla. It’s a little mild though not too weak. The Bite is spicy yet smooth in carbonation and finish. The Head is short but very foamy and lasts awhile. The Aftertaste is a very mild sassafras and vanilla.

This is pretty good root beer. Stronger than the last drive in I went to but still a little too mild to get the Seal. Their Power Burger was much smaller than I expected with a name like that but was tasty enough. I’ve had better, but I go to a lot of these types of places. Over all I’d say there’s nothing particularly special or unique about this place compared to similar root beer stands, yet, it’s the only one of its kind in Duluth, so I can see why it’s still going strong. The waitresses were very friendly and gave good service. It’s still family owned too, so it’s worth dropping by if your in the area and looking for that classic drive in flavor. Just make sure to bring some cash, as they don’t accept cards at all.

Three and a half kegs




The A & Dubs Drive In. And my sweet sweet Model 3 blue (best road trip car ever)

The A & Dubs menu

The menu on the side.

The Power Platter

The Power Platter. Tasty, but kind of unimpressive given then name.

Barq’s Frozen Root Beer & Vanilla Ice Cream Float

 Root Beer Frozen Treats  No Responses »
Aug 182021
 

Barq's Root Beer Float Tubes

My wife was shopping at Aldi for some ice cream treats and grabbed these cause they looked good and she knows I need moar content. I’d known about them for awhile but could never find them. I realize that I’m actually quite bad at tracking down things that aren’t root beer proper, and thus for over a year these had eluded me. Anyways, these are equal parts Barq’s Root Beer slushy thing and vanilla ice cream. They actually use Barq’s syrup and thus reading the ingredients reveals caffeine. I think these are the only caffeinated ice cream thing I’ve ever seen/had. They are in little conical type tubes that you squeeze from the bottom as you eat.

There’s a strong root beer flavor with that classic Barq’s taste. They definitely didn’t skimp on it. The vanilla ice cream is rich with a strong vanilla flavor as well, the combination of the two gives a wonderful root beer float experience.

This is by far the best root beer float frozen treat I’ve had. These things are delicious. Barq’s Root Beer float in a tube, I can’t recommend it enough, unless you absolutely need a decaffeinated ice cream treat. But at only 3 ounces a tube, and only half of that root beer, the caffeine is pretty trivial. Either way, I can’t recommend these enough. Get ’em if you see ’em.




Soda Pop Bros. Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
Aug 042021
 

The Soda Pop Bros Root Beer Bottle One of my root beer friends on social media runs a craft soda shop in Windsor Ontario, The Soda Pop Bros. In addition to their large selection and soda delivery, they worked to develop their own line, which includes two flavors of root beer. He was so kind as to send me some samples to review. Sadly he mixed up the boxes and accidentally sent what was intended for another reviewer to me, but I still got some of each of his root beers. I decided I’d start with the plain, er, ordinary, er, original, that’s it, root beer! I like their label, it’s got a classic vibe and isn’t too busy. One other interesting thing, it has 2% of the daily allowance of calcium and 10% of potassium. I’m not sure why that is, but extra nutrients isn’t a bad thing at all. Maybe it’s mineral water? Or maybe they just want electrolytes for hydrating root beer? Not sure, but I hope to love it.

The Body is sweet with sassafras and vanilla flavors. There’s a faint sarsaparilla that builds over time. Overall the flavor is nice and clean and simple. The Bite is mild though it isn’t smooth. The Head is wonderfully tall and frothy and you shouldn’t try to build it because then it’s too much and takes forever to fizz down. The Aftertaste is that sarsaparilla, which is pleasant.

It’s good. I’ll say that, but nothing really stands out, except the head, and the potassium. Need that potassium. So while I won’t give this one the Seal, it is better than average and is worth a try. See how it rates against other root beers.

Three and a half kegs




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