Welcome!

November 14, 2011
Filed under: random junk — anthony @ 12:56 pm

Hello and welcome to the oldest, largest and frankly the best root beer reviewing site in the world! over 625 brands reviewed so far! i also throw in birch beer and sarsaparilla reviews occasionally while i am at it since to me, they are the same genre. once in a while i even detour into other branches of the root beer tree, such as spruce beer, dandelion & burdock and the like. a new review publishes every week on Monday with the random post or review of root beer related stuff every once in a while. feel free to submit your own ratings, check out the rankings from me and other visitors, see what sodas are available near you and more. make a float, tap a keg or mix some extract up and enjoy!

anthony (me) started reviewing root beer related drinks in '96 but has always loved the delicious joy of root beer and birch beer and just kept it going ever since. if you have any suggestions of features you'd like to see or sodas you want reviewed, let me know!

 
 

Rocket Fizz Labrador Soda Root Beer Butterscotch

February 11, 2019
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 8:00 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: AK, AZ, CA, CO, FL, IL, IN, MO, NE, NJ, NC, OH, OR, TN, TX, UT, VA

Obtained in: trade with Sagi
Head: Large Sweetener: cane sugar
Calories: 170 Sodium: 25mg
Carbs: 43g Sugar: 42g
Caffeine: No
Website: http://rocketfizz.com

so Rocket Fizz is at it again! more root beers from them. very cool. i hope they keep it going as much as possible. I am a little uncertain whether they are really all different
or not, but i believe they are. and if you believe you can achieve ALL. the bass master general decrees it. i suppose they had to get in on the dog theme root beers and why not
add to the butterscotch root beers too while they are at it? usually with the animal theme sodas, there is one animal it is based on or raising money for or whatever. but here, it is the
whole breed of Labradors i suppose.
i have drank almost half of this bottle and must say there is really no even hint of butterscotch. i would think a 'root beer butterscotch' would be even more butterscotch than a butterscotch root beer. but i am wrong, yet again. seems to happen often. the lack of butterscotchiness aside, i do like this soda. there isn't much special about it when you get down to it, but when you just want a solid root beer, this is one of those. excellent carbonation level, quite sweet but not sticky, it goes down smooth. it is all natural and also 'champion of the usa' as well supposedly! i'd not sure what that applies to, the soda? labradors? some sort of bullet as that is what it is printed to look like the words appear on? the world may never know the answer.
Ingredients:spring water, pure cane sugar, citric acid, caramel color & natural flavors


Anthony's Rating: 84
User's Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
Log in to save your ratings and personal root beer list!

enter YOUR rating (1-100 1=worst 100=best) for this soda:

 
 

Summit Craft Root Beer

January 14, 2019
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 5:00 am
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: NJ

Obtained in: at Aldi store
Head: Medium Sweetener: cane sugar
Calories: 140 Sodium: 35mg
Carbs: 35g Sugar: 35g
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.aldi.us

this right here is the third offering from Summit, which seems to be a brand sold only at Aldi. strangely none of them seem to last long either. this one was very very hard to obtain actually. I went to eight different Aldi stores and kept finding the cola but finally i came upon one four pack of cola with one single bottle of root beer in it. the annoying thing is that i was trying to get some extras for others and failed at that endeavor. this was only available for a short time apparently and by the time i knew about it, it was too late i suppose.
hopefully this is better than the other two root beers they have done. let me find out. hhhmm, it is kind of watery. i'd expand on that and say it is not exactly too tasty or flavorful. so i suppose it is indeed not better than their old sodas. i can tell it is root beer, for sure, but there is not much else there or even a strong flavor. it is sweet enough and reasonably smooth although that may also just be low carbonation. there is a decent head, but that is just window dressing really but that is more surprising given the low bubble content. in the end i am glad i did not get more for myself but still annoyed i did not get some for my friends.
Ingredients:triple filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors, caramel color


Anthony's Rating: 70
User's Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
Log in to save your ratings and personal root beer list!

enter YOUR rating (1-100 1=worst 100=best) for this soda:

 
 

Hires Big H Root Beer Extract

December 31, 2018
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 5:00 am
Type: Root Beer Comes In: On Tap, extract
Available: UT, online

Obtained in: mailorder
Head: None Sweetener: unknown
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.hiresbigh.com/

it has been a while since i reviewed an extract. i bought or obtained a few a while back but never made them. i was house shopping, packing, moving and other junk. but now I got a couple more for christmas and such and i am running low on regular sodas so i feel more compelled to actually mix up some of these and mix in reviews of them.
i honestly don't know what to call this one. it is made by a drive in called 'Hires Big H' which I am not quite sure has an connection to the Hires company any longer and may never have has one, but I would assume once it did. the extract though is called 'Big H Root Beer Extract' so I suppose i should call it that but i choose not to as it is more interesting to add the 'Hires' in there.
i made up the recipe in a scaled down version using my seltzer bottle carbonater which i do not think i used quite correctly as it has been some time since it was used as mentioned about 1/2 inch above. so i did not use dry ice as they suggest. and i did not use cold water since then the sugar would never dissolve and that seems silly to me.
the taste is pretty solid, it does not do anything unusual or crazy but that seems tricky in an extract. plus you want an extract to taste like traditional root beer. this accomplishes that well. the sassafras main taste is accompanied by a caramel flavor and a creamy smooth flow. if i were to make root beer baked goods or ice cream or something, this would be a good choice I'd say. it serves its purpose well.
Ingredients:Water, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Propylene Glycol, Arabic Gum S.D., Sodium Benzoate (Preservative)


Anthony's Rating: 80
User's Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
Log in to save your ratings and personal root beer list!

enter YOUR rating (1-100 1=worst 100=best) for this soda:

 
 

Teddy’s Diet Root Beer

December 10, 2018
Filed under: diet root beers — anthony @ 5:00 am
Type: Diet Root Beer Comes In: 1L plastic bottle
Available: CA, WA

Obtained in: dollar store
Head: Medium Sweetener: sucralose/splenda
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.teddysrootbeer.com

this has actually sat in my fridge for quite some time. i guess subconsciously i was putting off the review. i mean it is diet AND basically generic. those two things individually do not inspire excitement and confidence so together there is little expectations for this drink. add in the fact that this is probably past its prime and this will be a quick review. haha. it is available mainly at Dollar stores and
so yeah, no fizz at all when i twist off the plastic top. not the best start. hhhhmmm, it is rather watery but i don't get the diet aftertaste. curious indeed. right, it is watery, not a lot of flavor here. it is more like a slightly root beer flavored sweet water. i don't think carbonation would save it but it would help so i will just assume it usually has some and add a couple points. i am perplexed why my mouth does not taste like i licked some nails, this is weird. in a good way i suppose. it certainly isn't a good soda, i will make that clear. if you do have to have a diet soda and don't like the taste or aftertaste of artificial sweeteners, then this might be a good option for you. i do wish it did taste better overall though.
Ingredients:carbonated water, natural and artificial flavor, caramel color, , sodium benzoate (preservative), gum arabic, sucralose, phosphoric acid


Anthony's Rating: 38
User's Rating: 88
# of ratings:29
Log in to save your ratings and personal root beer list!

enter YOUR rating (1-100 1=worst 100=best) for this soda: