Trader Joe's Vintage Root Beer

Just like all the hybrids parked outside of Trader Joe's, their own root beer is a hybrid of its own. Now in the past I have been known to speak out against birch beer, and being from Pennsylvania, I feel like I'm allowed to do that as we know our birch beer. Verdict: all birch beer is bad. Well, at least I think so. 

Trader Joe's Vintage Root Beer is like a car, but it wouldn't be a vintage, it would be a hybrid. Oh, I already used that comparison. What I mean is it would be a hybrid of root and birch beer. That's not necessarily a bad thing in this case. In fact, I actually quite like it. You know I do too cause you peeked at the score below. Shame on you.

While I'm the type to prefer a light carbonation, this has a slightly heavier one, but it feels foamier, which is more appropriate for root beer, so I'm okay with that too. Ingredients include wintergreen, birch, anise, sassafras, and tahitian vanilla extract. Cane sugar too, of course. You can certainly taste all those flavors. Although the wintergreen comes before the birch, as I said, the birch really stands out the most.

Unlike their cola, Trader Joe's Vintage Root Beer is worth more than a try. Although in their stores it is on price parity with Virgil's, it's unique enough to give it a shot. If you're a huge fan of birch beer, you may even like it better than I did, considering my disdain for birch.

-Mike

Virgil's Zero Root Beer

After a heinous review of Lime Crush which should have received a rating of "Buy Stock in the Company," I knew it was time I came back, if anything to at least start a review mentioning the heinous-ness of the score for Lime Crush. 

Anyhoo, what better way than with a Virgil's product? Sadly it's diet, and sadly it's made with stevia. In fact I'm 99% sure it is their old diet, just renamed, however an old nutrition facts label shows their older diet root beer to have 2 carbs and this has zero, so maybe it was tinkered with a bit.

It might have also been easier to tell if they're different by the ingredients label, but just like their diet, this is very sparse with "spices" being the vague connection to their actually-listed spices on the non-diet products.

We never wrote up a review of the diet, it was just mentioned on the popcast (remember that?) and not in a positive light. Well, different or not, it's still bad. If I can say anything positive, it's that it's good for a diet root beer, which I suppose isn't saying much at all. Also the clouds and sky on the label appear to be more heavenly, giving more proof to my theory that the image on all of the Virgil's labels is God serving root beer to children in heaven.

-Mike

Waialua Soda Works Root Beer

Time to take a trip back to Hawaii.  I'm sure you've heard the phrase "when in Hawaii, do as the Hawaiians do." I'm pretty sure it's that.  Anyway, if I'm going to be in Hawaii (at least in my mind) I should drink beverages that I would, but Hawaiian.  I thought I did a decent job choosing Lilikoi, that's very Hawaiian, but why not see what Hawaiians can do to a mainland drink such as, oh, root beer?

It's alright.  Like before, I appreciate their ingredients.  Cane sugar along with Maui natural white cane sugar.  Giving it a variety of sugar is a fantastic idea to me.  Along with that some Hawaiian vanilla extract.  You can't get a more Hawaiian root beer than this.

Sadly it has a bit of a birch beer taste to it.  I know that some people can't distinguish between the two, and I guess I can see that, but I'm from Pennsylvania and we know our birch beer!

Also it has a little smokey flavor.  That may seem ridiculous, but I tasted it on each bottle I had.  Very unusual, not in a bad way, and hardly noticable, but interesting and unique when you do notice.

-Mike

Deerfield Root Beer

So Dan Dub passed on the Deerfield line of products to us, a line of sodas available at Walgreens which contain no HFCS, and that's always a good thing.  Unfortunately I can't say the same for this root beer.

At the start the flavor is pretty average.  Then comes the subtle hint of beer, actual beer.  My first reaction, as with any strange taste in a soda, is to try it again.  Yep, beer, or at least some sort of fermentation.  Next I check the expiration date.  Still nine months till it expires.  Quite unusual.

Honestly even if that taste wasn't there this wouldn't get anything beyond buy a bottle, which is about $2.00 per.  It's average, and there is stuff out there like Jones which you can get much more for your money, which is surprising since this is a generic root beer from a Walgreens.  The aftertaste kills the whole experience, and because of that it drops a rank.

-Mike

Jones' Root Beer

Let's break down the two parts of this drink.  First there's the "Jones" part.  This means it's good, it's reasonably priced, but it doesn't use high fructose corn syrup.  Secondly, there’s the "root beer" part.  This means its root beer.  So this is a good tasting root beer that is reasonably priced and doesn't use high fructose corn syrup.

To go more in-depth to the taste, it's a very sweet root beer, and you can really taste the difference of having cane sugar in it.  It just adds an extra hint of flavor that you can't get from HFCS.  If I had to think of anything negative about it, I'd say that the sweetness almost overshadows the root beer flavor, but just by the slightest bit.

I like these products because they're like the gap between the really fine sodas that cost a lot and your cheaper, HFCS-loaded beverages.  So if you want a gentle entry to the world of finer sodas, especially if you want to get a large quantity of it for a group, here you go. 

-Mike

Bundaberg Australian Root Beer

Our world spanning travels to seek out the best root beer brings us this week to Australia.  Actually I'm still at home in my pajamas, but with this cool bottle of Bundaberg Root Beer in my hand, it's like I'm there.  I also have a "'Crocodile' Dundee" marathon on.  That's not true, actually I said that just so I could use the double quotes around "Crocodile."  

Speaking of "'Crocodile' Dundee" (see I did it again) do you remember the scene where Michael J. "Mick" "Crocodile" Dundee (portrayed by Paul Hogan) has a knife pulled out on him and he says "that's not a knife...this is a knife" and pulls out a giant Australian-sized knife?  Well, the flavor of this root beer is that big knife to the small knives of other root beers.

Actually I don't know if that's true either, I just wanted to use the analogy, and it gave me a chance to use the double quotes again.  Flavor, though, is the, well, interesting point of this beverage.  As you may have seen or heard us debate on Popcast Episode 4, Bundaberg has a flavor unlike anything else.  It's not bad, in fact it's good.  Just pinpointing everything that is in it and describing the final results that hit your tongue is difficult.  

It contains sarsaparilla root and flavor, vanilla bean, licorice and molasses.  The sarsaparilla root and flavor is what provides the traditional root beer taste here, which is almost a cameo rather than the featured player.  The vanilla bean, licorice and molasses sort of combine to a smooth, almost bitey sweetness that I've never tasted before in a beverage.  This is the same part that we both agree almost tastes like there is the slightest hint of lemon.  Again, there is no lemon, but there is no other way to describe it.

This is easily the most difficult beverage I've had to review.  Easy to drink, difficult to describe.  Wow that's a good line.  Don't you dare take that my line, Bundaberg!  I suppose it's too late.  I suppose I'd be honored.  Or honoured.  One more Australian thing for you:  Yahoo Serious.  That is all.

-Mike

Napa Valley Soda Co. Root Beer

Ah, the Napa Valley.  Lush fields, rolling hills, the wine, and of course the root beer.  Well, not so much the root beer.

Oh a quest for some strange soda, I found myself in Big Lots (aka Ollie's) and was a little disappointed at their slim selection of drinks.  Back when I was growing up in Pennsylvania and Big Lots was introduced to our area, each location had different sodas from the other, and always had plenty of interesting selections.  Sadly those days seem to be over, or at least it was the day I showed up.  They did have one interesting looking soda though, and that's Napa Valley Soda Co.'s Root Beer.

Now as I stated in the first sentence Napa Valley is well known for many other things, most especially the wine.  I thought this product might be crafted with the same skill, dedication and attention to detail that their most famous drink is.  Nope.

This is pretty much A&W in a fancy bottle.  The ingredients are your normal list of chemicals that you'll get from any 50 cent root beer out of a vending machine outside of a Wal-Mart.  It's not bad by any means, but it is a little disturbing to see a company trying to disguise an average root beer inside a bottle.  "Gourmet" it says on the front of the bottle.  Not so much.

-Mike

Oogave Esteban's Rootbeer

For our sixth Oogave review, we take a look at their Root Beer...er Rootbeer.  I won't question the lack of space between the words. Not only do we take a look at it, we also taste it.

This is our second attempt at reviewing it, actually.  The first time around we just kind of looked at each other and questioned what was going on here.  It's different, but it's good.  Something was going on in it and we couldn't figure out what.  I'm going to cave in and chalk up the "different" to the organic agave nectar.  Even though it's in their other products, it stands out here.  This isn't a bad thing, in fact it gives the drink a uniqueness that other root beers don't have.

Using one of our favorite descriptive words, it's very clean, but has a heavier root beer taste than other sodas we've labeled "clean."

So overall, not surprisingly, it's very good.  We look forward to any more flavors that the fine folks at Oogave decide to put out because for now we've gone through all six of their varieties.

-Mike

Abita Springs Root Beer

If you ever want me to hunt down a particular drink, say it's better than the highest rated equivalent soda.  For example, someone who I trust told me that while Virgil's Root Beer was excellent, Abita Springs Root Beer was better.  Needless to say I was shocked, and sort of excited, because while I love Virgil's and their products, I always hope for something out there to be better.

Unfortunatly, this is not better.  In fact there are many root beers out there which are much better than this one.  It's just really dull, not that sweet.  Very generic.  Read the ingredients and tell me where they went wrong:  carbonated water, cane sugar (according to the front of the label, pure Louisiana cane sugar at that), caramel color, root beer flavor, phosphoric acid.  Now, my guess is the problem is all about the "root beer flavor."  That's very generic sounding, like they went through this process at trying to make a decent root beer and decided that the most important part should be picked up at the grocery store where you can get "root beer flavor" in the baking aisle.  Again I'll stress that this isn't bad, but it's not great either.  An average root beer. 

So the search continues...

-Mike E.

Sprecher Root Beer Soda

Sorry for the delay kids, I went to the wrong place.

Time for some more Sprecher. Remember Sprecher Orange Dream? Nope? Then you're not a true fan of "TSJ." Real fans may proceed.

As you recall, their Orange beverage was pretty tasty, so this time we have Sprecher Root Beer Soda. Not root beer, root beer soda. Either way I haven't done a root beer in a while and figured I would.

Wow so this is very, very smooth and quite creamy. I'm downing it pretty quickly, and this is a 16oz. bottle, not one of those 12oz. deals. Very sweet, good flavour. Almost a sweeter A&W. Pretty clean too, not much of a "stickiness" to it.  The head on it is ridiculous, if you're one of those people that care about such things. 

I'd get it again. It was about a buck fifty for one of these bottles. Good bottle too, some crazy looking crow drinking it. Yeah I know we're doing cheap sodas this year but hey, I had to fancy it up a bit for the new site.

-Mike

Kutztown Sarsaparilla

When I walked into the grocery store this week I saw cases upon cases of Kutztown beverages. Since their root beer was only mediocre I decided to just walk on by. Thankfully on my way out I took one more look and saw their sarsaparilla. Now I've never had sarsaparilla, although I've always just assumed root beer was the same thing. Considering they sell root beer I figured there must be a difference.

It turns out the difference is sassafras. While original "root beers" used sassafras root, now it's more artificial flavouring or spice combinations. This beverage happens to use sarsaparilla oil.

So what's it taste like? If you took one sip and set it down you'd say "root beer." Taking more sips though reveals a very intersting flavour, one that is best described as someone pouring root beer, cola, and maybe a little bit of birch beer in it. Thankfully just a bit of birch beer as I'm not a big fan.

As a cola fan though, the combination with root beer is interesting to me. It's a unique flavour if you give it a chance and worth trying. Way to redeem yourself, Pennsylvania.

-Mike

Kutztown Root Beer

"When you're bad for something mighty good, reach for a foamy mug of Kutztown Root Beer. Tastes chust like old-fashioned, 'cause you know we make it that way. Drink 'til you ouch, there's more back!"

I swear this is what the back of the bottle says.

I bought this thinking that my Pennsylvania brethren would get their act together and produce a quality product. Nope.

The first ingredient on the bottle is "triple-filtered carbonated water," which makes sense because that's what you taste the most, water. It's a very dull root beer flavour going on here. In fact the best way to describe it is A&W from a fountain with too much water, not enough syrup. Sad.

Another negative is that the sweetness (supposedly provided by "pure cane sugar") is a little off tasting. Not as off as that Root Beer Float thing reviewed earlier, but still strange.

One positive I can say about this is that "triple-filtered" must me "not really that carbonated water," which is nice. A lot of root beers are just way too carbonated.

All in all though, it's not horrible. If this was cheap or on sale I could see myself buying it...but it'd have to be a heck of a sale.

I've been to Kutztown before, I'm not sure why, but I'm sure I'll never be again. If someday I do end up there, I'll be sure to hang my head in shame.

-Mike

A&W Root Beer Float

I'm a big fan of the root beer float, especially blended. Give me a glass of root beer with some ice cream and before taking one sip I will spend minutes stirring until it's one complete mixture. Thank goodness for Sonic, the only place I know of that does it for you. The idea of the root beer float in a bottle has always been a dream of mine since I was a kid, so I had to take a chance on the new A&W Float.

I say I was taking a chance because you're getting four bottles for about $8. Unfortunately, it's not worth a buck. First of all, there's no carbonation to this drink, and when you blend root beer and vanilla ice cream, there's still the tingle of carbonation. Second, the texture. It's like they wanted to get the thickness of a blended float but alas that's something that you just can't duplicate in a bottle, so they ended up with a syrupy mess when they really should have went with the crisp texture of the root beer instead. Finally, the vanilla flavor. This is where the drink truly fails. It just overall tastes really rancid, almost like it was made with milk that sat out for a while. All this leads to a horrible aftertaste.

The bottle promises "Rich, creamy, and so delicious you won't believe that it comes in a bottle." Well, they missed all three of these points. It's hard for me to find a soda beverage that I don't like, but this is it. I haven't been able to finish one of these. Still I hope that someday my dream of a root beer float in a bottle will come true. I will say that the only redeeming thing about this drink is I have a feeling that the awful vanilla flavor may work with the sister drink to this, the Sunkist Float. Also nice bottle.

-Mike