When I first heard about this I jokingly thought that they were trying to one up Triple XXX since ‘A’ is arguably a better letter than ‘X’. Then I learned that indeed, Triple AAA was an offshoot of by some ex-Triple XXX employees (quadruple XXX?) who wanted to make their own root beer, and better than that Triple XXX stuff they had so previously been affiliated with. To drive the point home, they called it Triple AAA, because ‘A’ is better than ‘X’. They went on to have Triple AAA thirst stations (root beer stands) and generally mimic everything else Triple XXX did. Wow! Who would have thought my joke would have been spot on. Unfortunately, about 38 years ago, Triple AAA finally kicked the can and was thus outlasted by their rivals, who still managed to hold on to one final root beer stand and one offshoot unaffiliated stand that still kind of was a Triple XXX stand. However, since the Root Beer Revival is underway, the fine people at Bricktown Candy Co. decided it was time to resurrect their favorite childhood beverage as best they could considering the original recipe died with the founder. They claim they’ve got it tasting exactly like they remember and I can only guess that it’s right. They did have help from a relative of the founder so inside secrets were surely shared. According to the label, this is “Sweetened With Pure Cane Sugar” until you look at the ingredients on the side of the label which list high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient (and no cane sugar I might add). I’m not sure which of the two I’m to believe but since I don’t really care about that anyways, I’ll let it go for now.
The Body has a solid sassafras flavor with some creamy vanilla. Other than that though, it is rather simple, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is a nice little spice Bite that comes in after the initial contact but it is still very smooth. The Head is very tall, but it fizzes down very quickly, so it loses some points for that. The Aftertaste is more sassafras and vanilla that lasts awhile and has some bitter hints at the end.
Not bad. Not bad at all. It does have a old-fashioned root beer stand flavor to it. I like it, but not really enough. It just doesn’t quite do it for me and the lack of frothy Head sealed its fate. I wouldn’t mind having it again, but I wouldn’t specifically seek it out. I will say though, that I feel the root beer world is better off with it, and it did rate better than Triple XXX. See how it rates against other root beers.
