Happy Root Beer – A Tale of Friendship, Adversity, and Root Beer

 Root Beer Books  3 Responses »
Jun 022012
 

When I first learned about this I knew immediately that I had to have it. With a 2 1/2 year old and a 7 month old, I spend a fair amount of time reading children’s books and was thus eager to work some root beer curriculum into their early development. Especially since my toddler son already knows and loves gourmet root beer as I’ll occasionally share a bottle of Seal of Approval brew with him, pouring an ounce or two into a child size A&W mug. Whenever he sees me drinking it he asks “roo bree?” It’s way cute. I also knew that he would therefore love the book since he could relate to the characters.

SPOILER ALERT! This book is the story of a bottle of Happy Root Beer, who becomes very sad when he is the last bottle on the shelf. He is rescued from his solitary gloom by a young boy with a newly acquired allowance. The new friends then live happily ever after. This is a wonderful tale that is surely destined to become a classic along the lines of Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar in my opinion. Why do you ask, because in addition to a loveable character (a bottle of root beer) and cute artwork, it teaches valuable life lessons that aren’t found in most other children’s books. First and foremost is that root beer should come in glass bottles. The importance of this cannot be overstated and this book makes it very clear, that Happy Root Beer is in bottles with crowns, hence glass bottles. Children reading this will be much more inclined to ask for “root beer like in the book” which can help fight Childhood Canned Root Beer Syndrome.

Another important lesson is the value of friendship, that a lifelong friend is worth your allowance, and that no one should be lonely. It also gives hope to all lonely children that they need not despair, for like the root beer, better days are ahead. And finally, that true happiness can be found in a bottle of root beer, the earlier learned the better. Therefore I am proud to give Happy Root Beer my Seal of Approval. If you have young children, you should get this book.


My son loves reading about Happy Root Beer

Even the baby likes a good root beer book




Vine Park Brewing Company River City Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  2 Responses »
May 302012
 

Quite a long name. And not to be confused with River City Root Beer. You’re probably wondering why it’s River City Root Beer when there’s nothing about River City on the label. I too am wondering such a thing. On their website it calls their root beer River City Root Beer but the label says otherwise so I put both. But these guys seem to want to make my life difficult anyhow. Their brew doesn’t even normally come with a label. I had to ask for one when I dropped by. They have a really small operation in St. Paul where they not only brew beer and root beer, but they let others come in and brew their own concoctions as well. I had been trying to get this one for awhile. I had a friend who lived near there and I asked her to bring me some if she came for a job interview over here. She was invited but ultimately got another job before she came. Then I finally got to go over there to give a seminar at U of M. Acquiring this was my third and final root beer objective for the trip, with the first being find a new draft only brewery root beer (Town Hall) and the second getting 50 bottles of Spring Lake Root Beer to take home with me. Sadly, despite all of my crumpled paper and bubble wrap. Several bottles of root beer were smashed in each of my three pieces of checked bags, including one of my two bottles. I hate to do a review with only one bottle, but I had no choice.

This has a nice full Body that is sweet and creamy and even a little spicy from clove I think. There is some delicious honey and wintergreen in there as well. The spices give a solid Bite that still goes down smooth. The Head builds to a decent height and is moderately frothy. It lingers long enough but there are much better. The Aftertaste is sweet vanilla with hints of wintergreen, honey and spices. It lingers just the right amount of time.

Wow, what a brew! I knew after about the third drink that it was getting the Seal. But where to rank it. I was torn between high 4, and low 4.5. Why did I have to lose the other bottle?!? I ultimately decided to give it the lower of my inclinations, to play it safe. Though, still being in the top 20 is hardly a punishment. Between Town Hall Brewery, Glewwe’s Castle Brewery, and Vine Park Brewery, they’ve got quite the trifecta of micro-brewed root beers. I just hope those people living in the Twin Cities appreciate how fortunate they are. See how it rates against other root beers.




Hosmer Mountain Sarsaparilla Root Beer

 Bottled Root Beers  No Responses »
May 022012
 

I like a diverse brand. Any brand that feels they need to make more than one root beer flavor makes the world a better place in my opinion (except for Journey but that’s another story). So I was pleased to find that Hosmer Mountain makes a sarsaparilla root beer as well as their regular. Note that isn’t a sarsaparilla. I don’t review sarsaparillas. They’re not root beers. This is a sarsaparilla root beer, much like Dang! That’s Good makes a butterscotch root beer, and Frostie makes a vanilla root beer. Though, my most recent experience with a sarsaparilla flavored root beer (Hartridge’s) didn’t turn out so well so I wasn’t sure what to expect for this one. Though this one is “bottled in the land of swift moving waters” so has to be good right?

It has a nice creamy Body with a distinct sarsaparilla flavor in addition to the more standard root beer flavors. The brown sugar is noticeable. The Bite is adequate without being overbearing from both spices and carbonation with the overall mouth feel very smooth. The Head is nice and tall. It fizzes down a tad faster than I prefer, but it still lasts plenty long. The Aftertaste is sticky wintergreen and vanilla with hints of sarsaparilla.

Yum! Though it has sarsaparilla, it’s still definitely a root beer and it’s definitely good. It seems that with this one they corrected all of the flaws of their regular root beer and then added that sarsaparilla to change things up a bit. And you know what, variety is nice. I look forward to more of this in the future. See how it rates against other root beers.




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