Seal of Approval – Page 26 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Brownie Caramel Cream Root Beer

Mar 132013

This was a root beer I was not excited at all to drink. While a caramel cream root beer is very intriguing, a brownie caramel cream root beer sounds terrible. I just can’t imagine putting chocolate in root beer and having it come out in any way good. I suppose Brownie might just be the name and have nothing to do with the flavor, but there’s a lot more wrong with this. There’s the Peter Pan wannabe ordering you to “Drink” his pixie concoction all framed on a what looks like a Chinese knockoff Pepsi logo. Is that even legal? Aren’t they violating at least two trademarks with that? Perhaps side text on the bottle gives some explanation. “With a Sprite on the label, it’s easy to see how this mischievous and delicious blend of root beer & caramel came about” … What? No, no, NO! That makes no sense at all, and now they’ve gone and violated a third trademark. Can it get any worse? “CONTAINS MILK” … Words fail me.

The Body has a very rich sassafras flavor that gives way to luscious caramel and cream that thankfully tastes nothing like brownies. It’s absolutely delicious. There is a prickly carbonation Bite but not much in the spice department, rather, it is nice and smooth. The Head is medium height but fizzes away in less than a minute unfortunately. The Aftertaste is more rich caramel and cream that lasts just long enough to make you want more but not so long as to be annoying when you can’t get it.

Well, I wasn’t prepared for that. I really love this flavor. I love creamy caramel flavored root beers and this takes it to a whole new level. You can really get lost in that caramel and never want to come back. It seems that the milk comes from real cream, but it works like I’d never imagined. Sweet and rich and smooth and lovely. This blew me away. The Head is disappointing but just barely good enough. I guess you can’t judge a root beer by it’s label. See how it rates against other root beers.

Bulldog Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers 2 Responses »

Feb 202013

Bulldog Root Beer Bottle This isn’t your regular gourmet root beer. It’s one of those few that are actually brewed using the highest quality ingredients (according to their site) such as cane sugar, real vanilla, and honey. The label itself is rather classy but falls victim to far too many root beer cliches. First is the dogs. So many root beers with dogs on the label. This one takes it a bit further since the entire brewery is named after a dog. The two dogs do have names, Barley and Hops, but so do most of the other dog root beers. Also, Bulldog sports “The Original”, a tag line whose disappearance from labels would bring nothing but immense joy, along with “Handcrafted” which isn’t nearly as overused but still too prevalent. Their bold “Unleash the Taste” (pun I’m sure is intended), though, is a nice and very appropriate slogan.

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 frothy but not much, not flat by any means just less than is desirable. The Aftertaste is of vanilla and honey and very pleasing though a little sticky.

When I took the first drink I exclaimed “Oh wow!” This is one of the best tasting root beers that I have ever had the pleasure to drink. “Unleash the Taste” indeed! I don’t care what their label is like, I’ll drink this stuff whenever I can get it. It’s really a shame about that Head, if it were tall and extra frothy this may have made it into the highest echelon of root beer rankings. However, I am still very proud to award it my Seal of Approval. See how it rates against other root beers.

H-E-B Old Fashioned Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers 1 Response »

Jan 302013

I love my coworkers. They’re always willing to bring me back root beers from their trips. This one was brought back from Texas by my esteemed colleague Jimmy Jeff, who has family there and goes often. H-E-B is a grocery store chain in Texas and northern Mexico. The fact that they not only have their own root beer in glass bottles, but have one of the coolest and completely original bottles puts them in a class above almost any other grocery chain in existence in my opinion. An added bonus, if you like being bilingual, is that the label is also in Spanish, which sets this also in a class of its own since all other root beers I’ve encountered with bi-lingual labeling did so in French and English (to keep the Québécois happy). So they’ve got about everything going for them up to this point. How is the brew itself?

The Body has a rich medium sassafras flavor that is creamy with vanilla hints surfacing. There are nice caramel overtones as well. The Bite is well balanced between spice and carbonation while not being overly strong. The Head is tall and moderately frothy though it fizzes down faster than I prefer. The Aftertaste is a light vanilla and caramel flavor that turns slightly bitter at the end before vanishing. The bitterness doesn’t build though, so it doesn’t affect the rest of the brew the more you drink. It’s kind of like eating bread dipped in olive oil, the slight bitter notes at the end.

Yum. I like it. It’s got the right attributes and still has a unique flavor. Is it good enough for the Seal though? I was right on the line with this so I drank a third bottle (because I had one) and freezer chilled it to see if it gets better or worse in the frosty mug. I normally don’t need a third bottle, and usually don’t have one but this one was just so on the line between 3.5 and 4 I figured it could help. The head turned incredible and everything else was just as rich and developed as before. I was convinced. The Seal of Approval it is. I really want to go visit an H-E-B now. If this is the quality of their store brand root beer, I wonder what other treasures they’ve got there. See how it rates against other root beers.

Older Entries Newer Entries