Virgil's Root Beer

Video is from 8/12/2022. The original written review from 3/25/2008 is below.

Tastes so pure, it must be made in heaven.... oh how freaking true that is. I passed by Virgil's several times in my local shopping facility. Every time I passed it I would look and see the cost, close to $8 with tax. With your $8 you get 4 twelve oz bottles, and that to me is insane. It was so insane to me that I had to show my friend Mike. We took a look at the packaging and noticed that it had taken home the award for 'Outstanding Beverage' at the International Fancy Food and Confection Show in '94, '96, and '97. Outstanding Beverage, not outstanding Root Beer. Mike being the crazy dare devil that he is bought some.

We took it back to my apartment to enjoy it with some pizza, and a bad movie (Transformers, but I digress) so we threw em in the freezer to chill. Now you may wonder, "Hey, why not just throw some ice in a glass and pour it over that". You will never see me use ice when reviewing these drinks. I strongly believe that ice dilutes the true flavor of a drink, and would definitely be blasphemous in this case. While it was chilling we read the ingredients:

Virgil's Ingredients List

Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer contains these key all-natural ingredients:

carbonated water

unbleached cane sugar

Along with these natural herbs and spices (including point of origin):

anise from Spain

licorice from France

vanilla (bourbon) from Madagascar

cinnamon from Ceylon

clove from Indonesia

wintergreen from China

sweet birch from the southern US

molasses from the US

nutmeg from Indonesia

pimento berry oil from Jamaica

balsam oil from Peru

cassia oil from China

Needless to say, that's a pretty impressive ingredient list. We were especially intrigued by the wintergreen. After the bottles had chilled I took mine out, opened it and sniffed it. The aroma was amazing. I know that sounds like something you'd hear about wine, but it really was the best Root Beer I'd ever had, and all I'd done was smell it. I took my first sip, it was the cleanest root beer I'd ever experienced. It doesn't leave a syrupy taste in your mouth, and the aftertaste is non-existent. In fact I compare the after taste to almost a mountain spring water... basically Virgil's is the most refreshing soda I've ever had, and the reason we started this site. I took a bite of pizza, pepperoni, and noticed that my palate was now permiated with pungent pepperoni. (I like alliterations, what can I say) I took a swig of Virgil's to see how it reacted with the taste, and it cleansed my palate... a root beer cleansed my palate... that is insane. Over all I highly recommend Virgil's root beer to anyone. Yes it costs $8 with tax included, and that's one reason it's kept from being a perfect beverage, but still go out and try it.

~Aaron