Crim City is a rough place. Where kingpins and their henchmen pull major heists, brawlers fill the alleys, and renegades cause all sorts of damage while ensuring someone else gets the blame. The Crim City Police Department always has their hands full but they never seem to make any progress at all. This Gotham of a town is ironically the creation of Canadians, who have grown tired of all the politeness, moose, and maple syrup that adorns their cities. They have also grown tired of large scale commercial sodas, which are so bland and artificial, and thus have launched a rough and tough, all natural, exciting soda company to combat the blasé flavors and branding of the commercial establishment. Their root beer is the renegade of the group. They were kind enough to let me order some direct, though shipping from Canuckistan (I’m not the only one who calls Canada that right?) is rather steep. They also make energy drinks under the brand of Beaver Buzz with the tagline “Dam Good” and included one for me because that’s the sort of nice guys they are.
The Body is nice and sweet with a light flavor profile. There’s some caramel and vanilla notes with spices. The Bite is harsh but has some nice spice to it. The Head is medium height and duration. The Aftertaste is the faintest caramel traces that are gone quickly.
This is nice. It’s a light brew, but the flavors are all good. I’d prefer it to be stronger, but maybe that’s the renegade’s way, cooler than strong. It’s not quite Seal material, but it’s better than average. See how it rates against other root beers.
Another flavored brew. This time it’s a birch root beer. Not a birch beer. Technically this says “Birch Rootbeer”, which, if you are getting deep into the semantics of things you’d try and say isn’t really a root beer, but luckily the proper semantic definition has been established by the Standards Committee of the International Association of Gourmet Root Beer (IAGRB). It is in Standard NC 023.2-2007. I’ll only summarize it, because it costs a lot of money to buy those standards. Basically a root beer is defined as combinations of ‘root’ and ‘beer’, such as root beer, rootbeer, root bear, root beir, as well as translations such as cerveja de rais, cerveza de raiz, bière de racine, racinette, etc. Additionally, other flavors that proceed the term root beer do not disqualify it from being a root beer while flavors afterwards may do so, such as root beer and chocolate or root beer float. Got it? Good. Now on to Hummingbird Hill. I didn’t like their 
For the past 37 years, Roscoe’s Root Beer and Ribs has been operating seasonally in Rochester Minnesota. Originally an A&W, the Rosses purchased it in 1982 and made it into their own root beer stand. Over the decades it’s become an iconic place with legendary food, such as their ribs, burgers, and jojos. But, this is their last fall. They’ve finally decided to call it quits, and since the little root beer stand is on their property, the idea of selling it is too much for them. Another iconic, unique, American root beer stand bites the dust. And so, even though I just moved in to a new house, and am very busy unpacking, I knew I had to make the hour and 40 minute trek down to Rochester this past Saturday, to try this brew that will be so sorely missed by the community. My wife asked if such a journey was really worth it. I said that if it would be worth it for anyone, then it would be me, someone who’s spent nearly 20 years searching for new root beers. Plus I haven’t done a root beer stand review in ages. It was pouring rain, but I would not be deterred. Root beer and ribs were ordered.
