Haley and Annabelle’s Vanilla Rootbeer

i admit i am a sucker for stuff like this. so these 2 girls (Haley and Annabelle) decide to fund their college education by making and selling root beer after making some for one of their classes. it helps that their dad is a chef. they also donate a portion to a children’s hospital which is very kind.
the articles i read about them describe how they make it themselves, measuring and stirring and so on yet the bottle says it is bottled by Twig’s exclusively for them. perhaps the girls make the actual soda and Twig’s does only the bottling portion? that seems a little strange to me, but possible. i mean, do they cart big drums of the soda to the bottler’s? could be.
well, anyway, it also says “2008″ on the bottle so maybe the exact recipe will change each year or just the label will, who knows? i am reviewing this at the tail end of 2008 so don’t think i have let this sit just because it will be mid-’09 when this review is published.
if you like vanilla but don’t love it so much that you enjoy the Frostie Vanilla, this may be the root beer for you. the vanilla is definitely the most upfront flavor here but it is not overwhelming or intense. behind that there is a sharp herbal root beer taste going on that bites your tongue but soon lets go. so the flavor goes like this: smooth as you take it into your mouth, sharp as you swallow which rises up to a crescendo of sharp but then fades to a memory as the rich vanilla taste takes over and then backs off also.
i enjoy this drink but it is not the taste i love exactly. but it is good, don’t get me wrong. top 50 or so probably. at least for now. =)
they should really provide some means of ordering it since it is only available at like 3 places in Wisconsin and mail order might help get the girls to college a little easier at least.

Anthony’s Rating: 89
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

free root beer float!

yes, today (6/19/2009) only, A&W Restaurants are giving out free small root beer floats from 2 pm to 8 pm in honor of their 90th anniversary. so find your closest location and get one. then put on a hat and get another one. then try the fake moustache trick or maybe the blonde wig you have been hiding behind the cheese doodles and Bigg Mixx cereal.

dvd with me

oh wow, i keep on forgetting!! so a while back i was filmed for an episode of the History Channel’s Modern Marvels show about soft drinks. they had little idea when it would air or anything so i kept waiting for it to be on, telling my friends and family whenever i heard an approximate air date. first it was fall 2008, then early 2009, then maybe spring 2009. but apparently it aired already. in January or so. no one seems sure just when that happened. weird indeed. so i have yet to see it as they also have no idea when it will be re-aired. but you can buy a dvd of it here if you so desire.
i will have a copy eventually but i am tempted to buy it myself just so i can see it at last. if anyone out there has seen it, let me know, i am curious how it came out and how the 2 hours or so of footage got editted down. maybe i get 2 minutes or something, who knows… not me, that is what i am saying.
i will try to put some screen caps up when i do get it.
i also owe you guys a recording of that radio show i did too! ug, so much to do, so little time, so much time i waste.

WaNu Root Beer

ok, to give you a bit of a peek into the behind the scenes stuff here at anthony’s beer barrel, i have a database of a bunch of the data on the sodas i review and know of. by now i figure it should have all of the possible values for the ‘packaging’ and ’sweetener’ categories. but this soda made me add a new designation in both of them! weird bottle size, unusual sweetener. this is the first natural soda i can think of that comes in a plastic bottle. seems a little strange to me to proclaim as much as they do about what they do NOT contain but put it in plastic which could be leaching chemicals into it. perhaps. or perhaps not. i do like natural sodas, no preservatives, no gluten and so on, with an expiration date to boot. why they put vitamin C in here is beyond me, but i am getting 2/3rd of my daily allowance with this bottle. if i finish it. which i probably won’t.
you see, the problem with most all natural sodas is that they are not so good. this one is alright. i would describe it as if i made a root beer snow cone with well water that tastes a bit different but you know is good for you with minerals and junk that you made with some green tea syrup since you ran out of the root beer kind and which you then let melt entirely. which is to say it does not taste much like root beer but it does taste like hard water. i get an herbal taste, much like a tea with a strong back end taste on swallow. it is just too bland though overall. so although i appreciate very much the natural-ness and the organic cane juice and all of that, i wouldn’t recommend this to most people. it is ok but a drink should be better than just ok, shouldn’t it?

Anthony’s Rating: 39
Your Rating: 5
# of ratings:1

Seymour Beverage Root Beer

this was yet another of those very small bottlers whose sodas i never thought i would get to sample. i can’t say i have any plan to go to Wisconsin anytime soon sadly. so i was very glad when Jon O was able to trade this to me. it comes in an old school, crazy thick, generic, returnable for deposit bottle with the cap telling you the flavor within. i don’t think there are many sodas that come in a 7 oz bottle, but it is an interesting size. i guess IBC used to, i have not seen that size in a long while though so i assume it is no longer made. i am a little confused too as there are ingredient lists on both the bottle itself and the cap which are quite different from each other. plus nutrition info on the bottle. now, if this is a generic bottle used for all of their flavors, i don’t think they would be able to generalize that much so that all of them have the same number of calories and all.
although i do like this drink, it does not have a lot of flavor to it. if this was a blind taste test i don’t think i could tell you what flavor soda it is supposed to be even. let me try… nope, i am not sure. could be cherry, could be root beer, could be a mild orange even. not that it is bad, it is just unusual. maybe that is why they can have the same ingredients and junk for all of the sodas, they are just colored differently. interesting idea indeed. anyway, if you can imagine a combo of those three above mentioned drinks, then you have a good idea of what this tastes like. sweet and kind of fruity.

Anthony’s Rating: 71
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

Twig’s Root Beer

This is a brand i thought i may never get. they bottle their sodas in returnable glass bottles and are only distributed locally in Wisconsin. i actually feel quite bad that i probably will not be returning this bottle. perhaps i will send it back. they seem to very much rely on returns to remain financially solvent. i really admire brands like this, pressing on, doing what they love to do and know how to do well. it is a rare thing these days. i can understand why they don’t do mail order as they would lose those bottles from their circulation. plus these bottles are very thick, heavy glass so postage would be quite crazy. happily, Jon was willing to trade me a bottle for some stuff i could get over here. it is one of the coolest bottles i have come upon, so they do win points for that. i wish i had gotten to sample Hill Billy Beverages who originally made this glass bottle, but i assume they are gone for good. i don’t think i have come upon a 16 oz bottle this tall yet, other brands seem to go for the stability and stoutness of a fatter bottom instead of expanding upwards. i like this. since the bottom is so thick and heavy, it works just fine.
when i pop this open, the excellent smell makes me smile. traditional root beer scent but stronger than usual. there is not a lot of fizz upon opening but perhaps that changes once i drink a bit. the taste is excellent, lighter than many sodas i have had, yet still creamy enough with a little bite happening. nonetheless there is an aftertaste that i don’t like. it almost reminds me of a diet soda aftertaste but on a much smaller scale, kind of a pull at your stomach from the back of your throat if that makes sense. if it were not for that, this would probably be in my top 10 or 15 but as it is, it gets dragged down a bit. alas. i really enjoy that this is not as heavy as is typical, yet the flavor is very full. there is a unique taste here, perhaps cinnamon, brown cinnamon that is, not red.

Anthony’s Rating: 89
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

Weeping Radish Root Beer

i had wanted to get some of this for quite a while, one day i was clicking on my own links and wanted list and so on and noticed that they offered mail order. i immediately placed that order! even if it turned out to cost around $3 a bottle. oh well. their bottle is actually a 1 Pint, 0.9 Fl Oz size. which i would think would translate to some exact size as that seems silly to me. but perhaps it is more common in the beer world where Weeping Radish are more present. i am too lazy to add a new size catagory to my database so i will just list it as 1 pint. hope that is ok with you all. if not, oh well, tough cheeses.
now this here is a 100% natural soda so i have to keep it refrigerated as there are no preservatives. i don’t think any of the other all natural sodas can make that claim. or would want to as it very much would limit their distribution i would imagine. it also fills up my root beer fridge with this giant bottles. alas.
wow, this is a really good soda! perhaps since it is from root beer extract it is exactly what a root beer should taste like, to me. i think i would like it to be a little bit sweeter but it is still very solid and one of the best i have ever had. there is a very strong licorice taste here so if that is not up your alley, steer clear. that gives it a hearty kick and sets your mouth a-buzzin’. i am not sure how i feel about the fact that they use extract. i suppose it depends where that comes from. if they make it themselves then i am very much for it. but if they buy some commercial product which anyone can get, then i am somewhat opposed as i could just do that myself. i will go with the assumption that they make it and treat that ingredient as the mysterious “natural flavors” which appears on pretty much all sodas now in existence.
this would make an interesting float i would say. the sharp taste would work well with the creamy sweet ice cream. i may have to try that soon.

Anthony’s Rating: 97
Your Rating: 68
# of ratings:4