Seal of Approval – Page 25 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Steelhead Root Beer

Apr 242013

Steelhead Root Beer Bottle I’ve long passed up reviewing Steelhead because I thought it was identical to Bulldog Root Beer due to the fact that the website actually calls it their identical sister brand, which is a pretty good indicator that they are just relabeled. I prefer the Steelhead label though. It seems to take the classy look a level higher than Bulldog, plus they ditched the dogs and “The Original” thus escaping the cliches. Did I mention that I’m a sports fisher? I am and I have caught a few Steelhead in my day so that’s another plus. We need more fish themed root beers. So, during a root beer lull last year, I got curious and dug a little deeper. They aren’t bottled at the same location so I wondered if they would taste different like Cool Mountain and Chicago. So I bought some bottles and started side by side comparisons.

The Body is wonderful. Lots of honey, vanilla, and the other essential flavors. Sweet and creamy, the kind of flavor you could just snuggle up to if that were possible. The Bite is not much but sufficient. The whole thing has a very rich and smooth mouth feel from the maltodextrin. The Head is medium height and very foamy. It forms increasingly larger bubbles as it begins to fade and lasts a good while. The Aftertaste is of vanilla and honey and very pleasing though a little sticky.

If you go back you’ll notice that my description is nearly identical to Bulldog. Over several months of blind taste testing multiple batches of each, I could not tell them apart. The Head, however, is another story. The Steelhead has a superior Head, one that’s taller, lasts longer, and with a different consistency. While the Bulldog’s is short and frothy with small bubbles, the Steelhead’s is medium and foamy with larger bubbles that lingers several minutes longer. It’s enough to have it rank a little higher against its peers such that when presented with the choice between the two, I’ll take Steelhead every time. An email with the people at Orca Beverages (bottler of Bulldog) even confirms that the two recipes are slightly different and that the website is out of date. So they probably just toss a little extra foaming agent in the Steelhead. That works for me. See how it rates against other root beers.

Ozark Mountain Bottleworks Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Apr 032013

A newcomer to the world of gourmet root beer, Ozark Mountain Bottling works was founded just 4 years ago in 2009 in Branson, MO. If you go to their website you’ll see that they have five different flavors of soda, each with a different color label. The orange soda has an orange label, the grape’s is purple, the lemonade’s is pink (pink lemonade), and as you can see the root beer corresponds with this color scheme and is green, wait, what? Why is the root beer label green? Is does seem to break the pattern unless the root beer itself is green (which it isn’t). I can see no reason to have the root beer label green and not brown. I’ll just imagine that someone there was dying to have a green label but their spinach soda was shot down by the board. Since they didn’t want to hurt his feelings too bad they decided to put a green label on the root beer for him. They say on the site that they use 100% pure cane sugar and their brew is “designed to highlight the classic flavors of Root Beer and Sarsaparilla to create a unique taste unlike anything else on the market.”

The Body is minty and creamy complimenting a full sassafras flavor. The vanilla hints give it a nice rich texture and flavor. The Bite is subtle; just enough to let you know it’s there but not too much. The Head is huge and very frothy! It rivals the other top root beer Heads out there. It lasts a long time as well. The Aftertaste is rich wintergreen and vanilla with the slightest accents of caramel.

Yum, yum, yum! I love this root beer. It reminds me a lot of River City with that creamy minty goodness. Maybe they have a green label because of all the mint. Whatever the reason, I wish I had ordered more. See how it rates against other root beers.

Maine Root Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers 3 Responses »

Mar 272013

Maine Root Root Beer Bottle First off this has one of the most annoying names of any root beer I know. The company’s name is Maine Root, which will work well with any flavor other than root beer. While one could just chalk this up to an oversight on their part, Root Beer was the first flavor they offered. Clearly, with their attention on all natural, organic, free trade, and free-range (I’ll get to that later), they just couldn’t be bothered by not making their root beer redundant. It’s a forgivable offense, but will probably always keep them in the top 5 annoying root beer names (coming soon). Secondly, they have the amusing gimmick of Free-range Root Beer. That calls for all natural root beers that live (and are perhaps captured) in the wild. One of their stated goals is to fight corporate root beer, which I’ve seen before from that Flathead Lake Monster swill, but these people have a much better strategy.

The Body is crisp and well balanced. It is creamy with wintergreen surfacing after the initial contact. The Head is full and frothy. It lingers. It is less than the epic Head of a Henry’s, but sufficient for the most adamant connoisseur. There isn’t really much Bite. Though I like it smooth, some spices could improve it a bit. The Aftertaste is a creamy vanilla with hints of wintergreen.

This is a very delicious and well crafted brew. Overall it has all of the right flavors in the right proportions. It is very clean and crisp on account of the cane sugar and no preservatives. The lack of preservatives is wonderful as the slight soapiness or fruitiness that accompanies sodium benzoate or citric acid is gone, so all of the focus is on the wonderful mix of root beer goodness. They may be on to something with that whole Free-range business. I must say that this is the best all natural root beer I’ve had so far. The only drawback is the almost complete lack of bite and that something extra, like honey or cinnamon, to really seal the deal, however, I am still proud to give this root beer my Seal of Approval. See how it rates against other root beers.

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