The Monthly Root Beer

2011 in review

Jay Parker — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:12:49 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Trader Joe’s Vintage Cola

Jay Parker — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:10:27 +0000

This cola doesn’t have caffeine. Huh? I seriously don’t get it. I thought that was part of the point of cola, right? I guess not. Anyway, this soda lacks that certain uniqueness that cane sugar Coke has, or the excellent distinguished flavor of Pig Iron Cola. There’s simply nothing special about this, although it was slightly reminiscent of Julmust. I wouldn’t buy this again, sorry.

http://traderjoes.com

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 2

Coke Fans See Red Over Seasonal White Cans (dailyfinance.com)
A & W Root Beer, Mission Statements and Marketing Strategies (graycatmarketing.wordpress.com)

Jones Pomegranate Cream Soda

Jay Parker — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:28:49 +0000

Photo Credit: JoeinSouthernCA (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joebehr/)

Yeah, I don’t know about this one, peoples. It was a “limited edition”, and perhaps for a reason. The caption on the bottle said that Jones “captured winter in a bottle”. That’s probably true if winter tastes like a sickly sweet overly creamy soda that barely tastes like the fruit it’s named after. My wife liked it and that’s never a good sign…

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 2

http://www.jonessoda.com/files/products-canned.php

http://www.jonessoda.com/files/products-glass.php

Contains: carbonated water, inverted cane sugar, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, phosporic acid, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (as preservatives).

The new wave of weird sodas (eatocracy.cnn.com)
Jones Soda introducing 16-oz. cans (bizjournals.com)
Sponsored Post: Hey Chicago, Jones Soda Wants YOUR Photo! (chicagoist.com)

Wild Bill’s Rocky Mountain Root Beer

Jay Parker — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 00:45:03 +0000

Awesome. I love it when this happens. When cool people who love root beer send me free root beer. In this case, it was the good folks at Wild Bill’s. It’s even better when it turns out to be good stuff and I don’t have to slag it in the interest of honest reviewing!

I wasn’t familiar with Wild Bill’s before now, and they’ve got a pretty cool back story (I’ll let you read it yourself – link below). It seems to be not yet widely available, and the guy I spoke to, Donald, says they’re working hard on distribution.

On to the soda: At first sip, it was smooth with a slight carbonated crispness. It’s full of unique yet understated rooty flavors, and the ingredients list details such exotics at quillaia, acacia and yucca. While these are not that uncommon in a quality root beer, quality root beers seem harder to come by these days. In some ways it reminds me of Dad’s root beer. I mean the good original Dad’s, not the HFCS stuff. I handed it to my wife for a sip and she said: “it all tastes like root beer to me, but this one has a nice interesting flavor that isn’t overwhelmingly sweet”. Guys, you have no idea how big a compliment that is.

All in all, a surprising pleasure, and one I’ll be returning to. Donald provided me a sampler of other flavors they make, and I’m looking forward to seeing if the others are as good as the root beer!

*Soda was provided by manufacturer for promotional review

http://www.wildbillssoda.com

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 8.5

I Am Root Beer, Comedy Short About a Man Who Wishes To Be Soda (laughingsquid.com)
A Great Root Beer Float On A Hot Summer Day (webnerhouse.com)
Ric Romero’s one-tank getaway: Temecula Valley (abclocal.go.com)
Great Debates: Barq’s vs A&W Root Beer (tbseblog.com)

Sioux City Root Beer

Jay Parker — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 18:43:53 +0000

While this is better than their Sarsaparilla, which was pretty weak and flavorless, it’s not too far off. This isn’t a bad root beer, it smells nice, has a really nice head, but it’s just simply average. It’s fairly watered down tasting, and there’s not much of a mouthfeel. The bottle is really cool, though, and has a nice almost embossed-looking etch of a gunslinger that made me go “pew-pew” in my head while drinking it.

http://www.whiterockbeverages.com/SiouxCity.cfm

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 4.5

Is root beer harmful to us humans (wiki.answers.com)
What does the rootbeer do in nazi zombies (wiki.answers.com)

Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer

Jay Parker — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 18:16:43 +0000

Pennsylvanians are a proud and stubborn bunch. I think they may have gotten that way from drinking this stuff. It tastes a bit like chewing on a tree. A heavily carbonated tree, but a tree nonetheless. This is an old recipe, but has shifted along the way to include high fructose corn syrup, and not too successfully in my opinion. This beverage is quite odd; it’s a bright reddish color, much like the red on the label and is super-sticky if you accidentally spray it all over your kitchen by dropping it. Or so I heard… It’s got 41g of sugar in one 12oz can, but isn’t very sweet at all, and to me, it smells like mineral spirits. You know, the stuff you use to clean paint brushes with.

You should probably try this if you see it anywhere, simply because it’s pretty unique, but I won’t be drinking it regularly.

http://www.daretogodutch.com/

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 5

Natural Brew Draft Root Beer

Jay Parker — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:18:42 +0000

I get all excited when I find natural sodas. I expect that they are going to be fantastic and flavorful and all healthy and stuff. I think Einstein said that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing again and again and expect a different result (I’m paraphrasing). I must be totally insane by now, because none of these natural sodas are cutting it for me. This brew advertises itself as being “brewed in small batches with a complex flavor of bourbon vanilla extract, anise, sarsaparilla, licorice root, birch oil, wintergreen oil and other natural flavors“.

I think in this case they might have benefited from a slightly simpler recipe. All these flavors together are pretty ambitious, and it just came out tasting kind of hollow and metallic. I had two of these and poured the second one out, if that tells you anything.

http://www.natural-brew.com

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 2

Frostop Orange & Creme

Jay Parker — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:00:06 +0000

I keep reviewing these non-root beer beverages for my own diversification’s sake. Also, because I hope to find a secret fantastic hidden soda I had never heard about before. As as a result, I scour a lot of discount and knock-off stores looking for oddities that might turn out to be hidden gems. This soda from Frostop isn’t one of them. All orange and very little (if any) creme left this beverage with a harsh sweetness that wasn’t pleasing to me at all. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve had, so it did have a few redeeming qualities. Perhaps it’s just that I don’t like orange drinks…

www.frostop.com

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 3

Bulldog Root Beer

Jay Parker — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:53:38 +0000

Everyone loves this root beer. By default, that makes me want to not like it, just to be contrarian. However, in this case, I’ve failed myself. Bulldog Root Beer is right up there with the best. I was a bit skeptical at first that it was bottled by Orca Beverages, as they seem to be hit or miss for me with the brands they fulfill bottling for. The flavor of this root beer was full and long lasting with a nice balance of honey and vanilla. Cane sugar and maltodextrin gave the beverage just the right sweetness and full mouth feel without being thick and overly sweet. The carbonation was strong enough to notice, but not overwhelming and lasted throughout the bottle (although the bottle didn’t last long). Nicely done, Bulldog! You’ve won a fan!

www.bulldogrootbeer.com

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 9.5

Taste Test: Root Beer (seriouseats.com)
Root beer XXX (saffronandhoney.wordpress.com)
“Lindsay Lohan Stays Sober With Root Beer” and related posts (imnotobsessed.com)

Americana

Jay Parker — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 03:02:31 +0000

I was surprised by this root beer. I got it as part of a a sampler pack of vintage sodas and quite frankly wasn’t expecting much. What I found was a pretty flavorful and robust root beer. I think this brew tastes a bit like old school A&W and has what I would describe as a “typical root beer taste”. By this, I mean that it’s a nice mix of sassafras, licorice and honey that will please most but carries a full flavor for a more *ahem* discerning palette. It was fairly sweet and carried a nice carbonation that wasn’t overwhelming. Definitely worth a try!

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 7.5

The Monthly Root Beer

2011 in review

Trader Joe’s Vintage Cola

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 2

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Jones Pomegranate Cream Soda

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 2

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Wild Bill’s Rocky Mountain Root Beer

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 8.5

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Sioux City Root Beer

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 4.5

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Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 5

Natural Brew Draft Root Beer

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 2

Frostop Orange & Creme

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 3

Bulldog Root Beer

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 9.5

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Americana

Monthly Root Beer Rating: 7.5