Old Fashioned – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

JD’s Old Fashioned Root Beer

Sep 202017

JD's Old Fashioned Root Beer Bottle This brew hails from Dallas Wisconsin. A woman by the name of Jen makes it just as a hobby to do in her spare time, much like me who drinks root beer and writes about it in his spare time. I’m sure the ‘J’ in JD is for Jen but I’m not sure where the ‘D’ comes from. It doesn’t appear, from my Paypal receipt, to be her last name and her Facebook page is a little light on the details. If you’re not from the Dallas, WI area, getting this is rather problematic. As it is just a hobby of hers, it’s sold mainly at farmers markets and some craft breweries. None of which are overly accommodating for mail orders. However, if you are a patient fellow, you just might be able to get some mailed out from J herself. It has a simple little label that reminds me of Spring Lake Root Beer, and is most likely just printed out on her computer at home.

The Body is dark and spicy with some caramel and vanilla undertones. Licorice and features prominently. The Bite is spicy but not carbonated enough for my liking. The Head is very short yet foamy. It’s just there isn’t enough carbonation to build a proper Head. It is gone too quickly. The Aftertaste is licorice and some wintergreen that turns a little bitter.

This is alright, but not quite good enough for me to want again. I’m just not a fan of that dark licorice flavor, though the light vanilla and caramel help quite a bit, the final deciding factor was the dismal Head. I suspect I may have gotten a bad batch, but I’ve got to review it as I see it, not as how I think it was mean to be. See how it rates against other root beers.

Central Coast Brewing Company Old Fashioned Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Mar 112015

Central Coast Brewing Company Old Fashioned Root Beer Bottle This one’s pretty unique is that it comes from a small brewery and it’s actually bottled. Many, many breweries make their own root beer, but few of them go to the trouble of bottling it. Even fewer put it in only 22 ounce bottles so it’s of epic root beer proportions. I’ve had exactly one other type of root beer in a 22 ounce bottle at the time of writing this, also from California coincidentally. I heard about it from another website and sent them an email asking to order some. I waited for a long time and gave up on them. Then a couple of months later they responded saying that my email was in their spam folder. That’s the problem with putting the website url in my signature I’m sure. Oh well. I got a six-pack which is pretty massive. On reading the label I noticed that it said “No Preservatives – Keep Refrigerated” Which is also something you seldom encounter with a root beer. It was nice though because my wife only likes to drink natural, non-preserved root beer, so I could share some of each bottle with her. My mug is only 20 ounces after all and though the ingredients and nutritional information isn’t labeled anywhere, I figured it’s close enough to being all natural.

The Body is somewhat rich with a full sassafras flavor complimented by some light vanilla and wintergreen hints. The Bite is very nice with a bit of spice that I can’t place and some carbonation burn. The Head is very tall but only moderately frothy. It fizzes down quickly but the last bit lingers awhile. The Aftertaste is light vanilla and wintergreen that vanishes seconds after you swallow. It’s the biggest flaw in this I feel.

This is pretty middle of the road as far as root beers go. It doesn’t really take any chances in the flavor department so probably the majority of root beer fans will find it pleasant enough. Though it’s an all around solid brew, it doesn’t really move me the way my favorites do. See how it rates against other root beers.

Health Valley Old Fashioned Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Oct 012014

Health Valley Old Fashioned Root Beer Bottle This was one of the very first glass bottled root beers that I ever tried. Probably the sixth if I can remember that well. The amazing thing was that it was in my hometown, a small city of around 5,000 people. It was just sitting there at Safeway but it was in the “Health Food” section. Remember back in the 1990’s before organic and all natural got all trendy? There was a “Health Food” section. I’d never thought to look for root beers there which is why I’d missed it. Granted I’d only been looking for root beers for a few months at that point so I hadn’t thought to look in a lot of places. Anyhow, it was my dad who found it and brought some home so we could try it. They also had a Sarsaparilla and it was then that I decided that if it wasn’t called specifically “Root Beer” or some close phonetic variation thereof I wasn’t going to review it. Health Valley later renamed their Sarsaparilla to Sarsaparilla Root Beer but forgot to tell me so I never got to try it. Interestingly they sweetened this with fructose which you’d never see in any “health food” nowadays.

This is all right at first but an absence of vanilla ruins the Body and the Aftertaste. It’s also not very sweet. The Aftertaste is a strange herbal flavor and there is not much Bite at all. Head is mediocre at best.

Yeah, this stuff is pretty nasty. Which I’m sure has nothing to do with the fact that it was discontinued a few years back (before I realized I needed to try their renamed Sarsaparilla Root Beer). To its credit it isn’t super vile like some other strange herbal brews, but the as a whole is very much not good. See how it rates against other root beers.

Older Entries