Grand Teton Brewing Company - Root Beer

I was approached by the fine people at Grand Teton Brewing Company to review their line of sodas.  There were four flavors in all, thus giving me the difficult decision on what to try first.  Thankfully they have a root beer as I feel you can almost always judge a company on how serious they take their root beer.  You see root beer is a beverage that can be made unique with effort, and with even more effort it can stand away from the crowd.  The use of interesting ingredients often sets one apart from the other.  That said I don’t know if Grand Teton has used any of those ingredients because they’ve chosen to list them as “Natural and Artificial Flavors”.  Fortunately it does say that it’s made with Sugar and Spring Water, two ingredients that should help this experience. 

The label itself is brown with their logo on it.  The logo consists of what a quick Google search confirms are the Grand Tetons.  How embarrassing would that have been if it was Old Smokey… awkward.  There is also a river running from said Grand Tetons that a moose has wandered next to.  Here is where you might insert a Monty Python and the Holy Grail joke.  Grand Teton Brewing Company’s bottle also mentions that it’s a Kettle Brewed Soda.  I’m not sure how that factors into the taste, but I do know that kettle chips are delicious versions of chips so maybe the same is true for soda.  Don’t quote me on that… unless it’s on a very popular website that will get us thousands upon thousands of hits, thrusting us into the upper echelon of internet stardom.  Enough babble, time for drinking.

Grand Teton Root Beer has a very rooty aroma that reminds me a bit of Moxie.  I’m sure, without even tasting it, that Grand Teton Root Beer will not taste like Moxie though.  Huzzah!  With that said the scent that flows from the top of this bottle is faint and doesn’t give me much of a clue as to what this will taste like.  Only one way to find out!

Wow, that has more carbonation than I’m used to root beer having.  The root beer itself isn’t that rich or creamy, but I’m not saddened by this.  The strong carbonation gives it a coke like kick to the back of your throat, setting it apart from most other root beer experiences.  The flavor you initially experience is root beer barrel candy, but not as strong.  The finish to Grand Teton Root Beer is most certainly licorice.  This will keep it from being a lot of folks beverage of choice, but fortunately for me I like licorice.  Is this out of this world amazing root beer?  No, not really, but it is better than your average fare.  Grand Teton Root Beer gives you a mouth feel that is unique to its type and a flavor that any licorice lover will like.  I really wish I knew that benefit kettle brewing had on this soda, but I guess that’s going to have to be a life lesson for another day.

~A

(This beverage was supplied to us by the Grand Teton Brewing Company)

Twist enjoyed this so much he licked part of the label off.