Where should I start with this? Julmust is a pretty unique beverage to Sweden. Swedes go absolutely apeshit for this stuff and it’s only available at Christmas, when it outsells Coke by a wide margin. The name comes from a combination of Swedish words; Jul=Christmas, must=juice. Julmust=Christmas Juice, remember that one, dear readers. Strangely, it is available at Easter too, but it’s called Påskmust. Some people say that påskmust is a bit lighter in flavor, but frankly, the only difference I can tell is that it has yellow chickies on the label instead of the fat man with the beard.
My wife, who happens to be Swedish, loves this drink and gets excited like a little kid every year when it’s available (Swedes also like Glögg and surströmming, but that’s a whole other article). We did come to an understanding that she probably enjoys Julmust in the way that I enjoy root beer and that we would probably never understand that about each other, and that it was OK that way. Every year I try it again to see if my impression changes and every year I have the same reaction:
Who opened a bottle of Dr. Pepper, left it on the counter for three days opened and then gave it to me?
I can see some theoretical parallels to root beer in that Julmust is made with hops and barley malt extracts as well as a pretty secret blend of spices, but despite all claims, there is no comparison. If you want to try it, you can find Nygårda at your closest IKEA. There are several other varieties in Sweden, but this one is pretty much the standard.
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 3 (sorry, honey)
Oh boy, Cheerwine! It occurred to me as I saw a bottle of “retro” Cheerwine in the grocery store (12 oz glass bottle, cane sugar) that most of you probably don’t know this soft drink. It’s a native of North Carolina and produced not far from where I live. The Carolina Beverage Company that produces it doesn’t seem to care much about spreading the good word too far outside the Carolinas, and that’s fine by us, it just means more at home.
This soft drink is a highly carbonated wild cherry flavored beverage that has a bracing taste and is a bit bitter. Many people say that it’s overly sweet, but I find that to be specific to the high fructose corn syrup variety. I will concede that it does taste a bit artificial. I can’t really compare Cheerwine to anything else, I’ve never tasted anything like it, yet it’s always been around me and never seemed odd. If you can get your hands on it, it makes a fantastic homemade ice cream! Last year, Cheerwine partnered up with Krispy Kreme to make Cheerwine filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts that almost sent us North Carolinians over the edge with salivation.
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 8.5
Hmmm, yes. Curious indeed. I’ve enjoyed other Fentiman’s beverages, particularly the Dandelion and Burdock. This cola is a throwback to what you sort of expect cola tasted like before the big cola companies like Coke and Pepsi dominated the flavor. It’s eccentric, it’s “botanically brewed”, it’s a bit flowery; sort of what you think hibiscus might taste like if you chewed it a little… There are definitely hints of ginger, and it isn’t too sweet. Trace amounts of alcohol exist from the natural brewing and fermentation process, sort of a nice by-product of actual yeast brewing in a soft drink if you ask me.
The drink comes in a nicely shaped and “antiquey” 9.3 oz bottle. In fact, now that I think about it, the whole thing screams: niche throwback product, but their sodas are just too good to be limited to that. Give Fentiman’s a try next time you’re at your specialty store, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
http://www.drinkfentimans.com
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 7
Well, I’m pleased to say that this root beer is much improved over its counterpart “Root Beer Encore“. Although, I’m not sure it warranted said encore. Basically, this is a “natural” soda, which means it doesn’t have much flavor, but probably won’t directly contribute to your early death. As far as natural root beers go, this was one of the better ones, but it’s a far cry from the pure deliciousness of those slightly less healthy root beers I prefer. It’s still a whole crapload better than that other natural root beer Zevia nonsense…
Anyway, the taste was a lot like soda water with a little bit of vanilla and root beer flavoring. not bad, but not great.
http://www.drinkbluesky.com/
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 4
You know, I really want to like these Izze drinks, I’ve tried a lot of their flavors, but frankly, I just don’t. They’re not flavorful enough for me and just too watery. This one looked interesting and is basically apple juice, birch extract, carbonated water and sucrose. However, it, like it’s cousins, just didn’t have very much flavor or carbonation, and left me wishing it had more bang to it. My wife liked it, but my comment was: “it tastes like someone took a bottle of Perrier, dropped some sugar in it, left the cap off and leaned it against a birch tree for a day or so”. No thanks.
http://www.izze.com
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 2
I seem to be much more successful finding root beers at discount stores than anywhere else. Anyway, I found this one at Aldi. It’s a draft style root beer made with cane sugar. In keeping with a typical draft style, it’s not very carbonated, and it’s pretty smooth. Taste-wise, this was surprising. It was almost more like a cream soda than a root beer, and had no bite. It was very creamy, almost like there was some heavy cream in the soda along with a healthy dose of vanilla. Not bad, but missing most of the typical flavor notes of root beer.
This seems to be another of those root beers that are made by a brewery, but when I go the website on the bottle, there is no mention whatsoever of the root beer. Maybe they’ve stopped making it? Weird…
http://www.coldspringbrewery.com
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 5
As
a refresher to the readers of this blog, I didn’t really like Thomas Kemper‘s root beer all that much, but everything else I’ve tried from this craft soda maker is a clear winner. Their Orange Cream soda was fantastic, and the Black Cherry follows suit. The first sip hit with a brisk, surprising sour and almost biting strong black cherry flavor. This impression was quickly offset a bit by the honey used to sweeten the soda. It’s a very true flavor to the fruit it’s named after, and almost makes me thing they squeezed a bunch of black cherries, added some hney and cane sugar and brewed it a bit. The rich and full flavor lasted throughout the soda without ever becoming too sweet or thick. This is natural soda at it’s best, and I’m looking forward to trying more of their flavors.
www.tksoda.com
Monthly Root Beer Rating:9
I picked this soda up at World Market. They occasionally have interesting sodas and other curiosities. I had seen this many times and decided to give it a try. Apparently, the Pig Iron is a barbecue joint in Seattle claiming to be very authentic to southern barbecue. Now, being from NC, and currently living very close to the epicenter of the world’s best barbecue (Lexington, NC), I’m a bit skeptical. But, one thing I can verify is that they make a damn fine cola.
Simply put, this tastes like Coke should taste. It tastes like I remember Coke tasting when I was a kid. It tastes not too differently from those magical Mexican Cokes you can find periodically here and there that are made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. My only complaints were that it was slightly too sweet and thick in mouthfeel. Very enjoyable for a cola and I would definitely drink again.
http://www.pigironbbg.net
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 8
Another find at the Dixie Classic Fair in Winston Salem, NC was the RICHardson’s Root Beer booth. RIChardson’s is a classic root beer that you don’t see much any more. The stand I bought mine from kept the root beer in one of the original casks (pictured to the left). While not as gimmicky an experience as Hillbilly Bob’s, this was by far the superior root beer. The vendor sold root beer in $.50, $1.50 and $2.50 cups. Served without ice, and freshly pulled out of the keg, the root beer was smooth and creamy. Not very complex, but it reminded me of original A&W when you could still buy it on draft from A&W stores. It was very tasty and lightly chilled, hitting the spot on a day that was just beginning to warm up. This will be a booth I visit every year at the fair…
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 8.5
Hillbilly Bob - Photo credit, hillbillybobsoda.com
I found this booth at the Dixie Classic Fair this past weekend! The fair was a veritable cornucopia of homemade root beer, and of course I had to try at least two. Hillbilly Bob’s definitely had the most colorful presence, as shown in the picture here. A little research taught me that Hillbilly Bob’s is a local business to Charlotte, NC and sets up stands like this at many fairs and other public events in western NC. The root beer is served draft style in cans, the type of cans that you buy soup in, just not used yet. It’s a neat little trick, and a pretty cool drinking experience. They also make and serve Cream Soda, Black Cherry and Grape sodas. All sodas are handmade with pure cane sugar.
Now, as for the root beer; first, the guy scooped the can into a big cooler chest of ice (a big mistake to me), and then wouldn’t give me just root beer without ice after I asked. So, I was a little pissed, considering a can of root beer costs $5. Anyway, the taste was pretty heavily carbonated, and kind of light with a cutting crisp flavor. I always find that the flavor is deadened when there’s a lot of ice. So, it was a nice refreshing drink on a hot day, but I really would have rather tasted the root beer. This was a nice and unique experience, and if I see Hillbilly Bob’s again, I’ll give them another shot to give me a can without ice…
www.hillbillybobsoda.com
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 7
Where should I start with this? Julmust is a pretty unique beverage to Sweden. Swedes go absolutely apeshit for this stuff and it’s only available at Christmas, when it outsells Coke by a wide margin. The name comes from a combination of Swedish words; Jul=Christmas, must=juice. Julmust=Christmas Juice, remember that one, dear readers. Strangely, it is available at Easter too, but it’s called Påskmust. Some people say that påskmust is a bit lighter in flavor, but frankly, the only difference I can tell is that it has yellow chickies on the label instead of the fat man with the beard.
Recent Comments