XXX Root Beer Drive-in Root Beer

 Root Beer Stand Root Beers  2 Responses »
Jun 172012
 

Not to be confused with the bottled Triple XXX Root Beer, though this stand in Issaquah, WA originally started as such, it currently has no affiliation. The owner himself said that what they serve is completely different. The actual official name of the place is still giving me much grief, the website calls it a Triple XXX Root Beer Drive-in, but the sign itself refers to only XXX Root Beer as does their flyer and menu, and then some places they call it Triple X. I wish people would make things easier for me to categorize by being consistent with their names. And then there’s the question of how do I classify the root beer itself. It isn’t bottled, nor from a growler, nor keg, but is it draft even though it uses a soda fountain system of mixing the soda water with the syrup as it’s poured? I wish there was a gourmet root beer standards committee or something. Oh well. In lieu of such a committee I’m calling it a “Root Beer Stand Root Beer” and now consider all root beer stand brews, as long as they come in frosty mugs, gourmet! (This means of course that I’ll now have to drop by an A&W restaurant one of these days and review it too). I’d known about this place for several years and would always drive past it on the highway in between Seattle and my parents house in Eastern Washington, yet I never seemed to find the time to drop by to test out their brew. Finally, this last week on Saturday, we went for a Father’s Day present for me. First of all, it is a really cool root beer drive-in/stand, as the pictures below will attest to. In addition to sporting the last traditional XXX Barrel sign, which happens to be the largest Plexiglas lighted sign in the West, it is stuffed full of nostalgic artifacts from the golden age of root beer stands. When I walked in sporting my A&W shirt, the owner said that it should be hanging on the wall with the other artifacts. Pretty cool, though my shirt isn’t anywhere near that old. He said that they still use the original 1930 recipe with pure cane sugar. It comes in two sizes, a frosted mug (I’d say about 20 oz) and a super size frosted mug (30+ oz I think). They also make you pay more for it if you don’t want to commit sacrilege and water down your root beer with ice. I of course, needed a super size mug.

The Body is very sweet and full and creamy. It has a caramel flavor to it that almost tastes like honey complementing the sassafras, hints of vanilla, and spices. The spices give it a solid Bite when mixed with the carbonation fizz but it is still smooth. The Head is pretty lacking, however. The mugs they brought out for me and my wife had no Head at all. When asked they said that they pour it that way to maximize the root beer in the glass. Fair enough, but I want a Head. They then proceeded to pour another mug and show me that yes indeed it has a Head, though it is only about an inch and a half and fizzes away quickly. It could be much better, but it isn’t fatal. The Aftertaste is a light vanilla and caramel flavor with hints of the sassafras and spices.

Yum, this is good root beer. It is unique for sure, and I can’t think of another root beer I’ve had that tastes quite like it. It is great to sip by itself or great with their food. Did I mention their food yet? Wow, they have some incredible greasy, messy, amazing food there. For instance, the burger that I ordered ended up being larger than my son’s head and was absolutely fabulous as was the chicken thing my wife got. Their floats look pretty epic too, with Darigold soft serve and whipped cream. They even have the most glorious warning sign about nothing they serve being good for you and since your eating so many calories anyways, skip the diet coke and get a root beer. I couldn’t agree more. So this root beer and this stand, get my Seal of Approval (though barely on account of that Head). I look forward to dropping by again.

The Plexiglas Barrel Sign

How's that for lunch?

As I said, the burger is bigger than my son's head

Just a sample of some of the artifacts

Some root beer floats at the bar.

You know you wanted a closer look at them.

The Best Warning Sign Ever!




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.




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