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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!

Phillips Soda Works Captain Electro’s Intergalactic Root Beer

This is one of my white whales. or at least it WAS until Akira came through and sent me some along with a bunch of other awesome sodas! I love the name, i mean, no other root beer is 'Intergalactic!' the label is among the top five of all time as well, with a 50s feel to it. the fonts and colors and illustration all work perfectly together, in my opinion. and the bottle is completely unique as well, with some sort of flaming comet and 'Phillips' embossed on the bottom of the neck. so very cool. with all of that i some what expect to be let down by the actual soda. it can't possible live up to the greatness of the package, can it?
but it does! great Caesar's ghost, this is yummy! I can't say I have had anything like this really before either. i taste vanilla, licorice, some clove and cinnamon along with other spices I can't quite place. it is spicy yet creamy and smooth and glorious. now i wish i could have more and more of this delicious soda. curse you, distance and cost! although then i might drink too much soda and lose my svelte figure, ruining minutes of hard work.

Anthony's Rating: 98
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Hummingbird Hill Root Beer

This was another trade result from Eric. I had never heard of this brand so it was quite exciting. although looking at their website they also have a Birch Root Beer and a Sarsaparilla so my work with them is not nearly done. the artwork is endearingly simple and probably made in house. if not, i would want a refund as anyone that professionally uses Comic Sans as a font should not get paid much. the bizarre shadow thing going on with the brand name is somewhat confusing and looks strange as well. but no matter.
so i took a sip and it foamed way over the top, spilling foam all over my desk and keyboard. i have never had that happen before i must admit. I now must be careful when I drink it further. although I must admit i don't really want to drink it much more as it is a terrible soda. i don't say that lightly. especially about the small, homemade brands. but this is awful. it is very yeasty tasting. it has little to no discernible root beer flavor, which is fine if the flavor that is there is good. i think my tongue is going numb. granted, i have had much worse sodas than this, but this is pretty far down there on the list. at least the list of good sodas. it is high up on the bad soda list, which is the same list in reverse of course. I do hope the other flavors in their line are better, i suspect the people of Washington state have some pretty solid sodas choices and they may not chose this one more than once.
Ingredients:carbonated water, sugar, natural and artificial flavors, caramel, vanilla, citric acid

Anthony's Rating: 22
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Sky Valley Organic Root Beer

I tried to trade for a bottle of this with the awesome Sagi S, but it came open or something in transit and I received a half empty bottle. but then it was realized that Whole Foods stores were carrying it so I went to the closest one and got a four pack for myself. now, I have had some salted root beers, some butterscotch root beers and some other weird varieties that i expect to have a high sodium content, but this is by far the highest. why? I have no idea really. maybe it balances out the vinegar but why is there vinegar in here? i mean really, why? who decided that was the way to go? well, maybe you can't taste it, let's see…
hhhmm, yeah i don't really taste the vinegar. i don't taste root beer either, but that is something different. i do taste the vanilla a little. i also taste the salt but not as much as i thought i would. i want to like one of these organic brews, i know it is possible to make it both organic and tasty, but this one fails pretty badly as well. it just tastes "off." and I don't mean the bug spray or the band. it is kind of bitter yet the vanilla makes it a little creamy.
Ingredients:carbonated water, organic cane sugar, organic caramel color, organic vanilla extract, natural flavor, sea salt, organic apple cider vinegar, citric acid

Anthony's Rating: 42
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Blue Sky Root Beer Encore

now this is a soda I have been after for years. I knew it existed and I could get it through mail order sources, but I did not really want to spend mail order prices to get a canned root beer. particularly with the sub-par sodas I have had thus far from Blue Sky, it seemed wasteful. I just knew I would encounter it somewhere out in the world where I would not have to buy a whole case or whatever. And find it I did! Richmond, VA was the scene of the find. I actually found the other Blue Sky Root Beer I was questing for at the same time, so it was a very happy day.
I must admit I find it a bit strange that this company does both a 'natural' and an 'organic' root beer plus a ginseng root beer, but it is fine by me, more sodas to review! it is made by Hansen's actually, whether that is good or bad I can't say. but it is again different from their Hansen's Creamy Root Beer. this one is all certified organic and uses cane juice or cane sugar depending on which part of the can you read, although I suppose they can be the same thing anyway. they also proclaim all over it that it contains no fruit juice. i would doubt anyone would think it does, but hey, can't hurt to make sure, right? I also am a little surprised that they put caramel color in here, seeing as how it has been linked to health issues. but 99.9% of root beers have it, so it is not unusual, just not needed really, especially in a drink touting its healthfulness.
upon tasting this, i can see why they specify that it contains so fruit juice, since it tastes like it might. and in this case, that flavor works. wow, i am surprised, i like this. it is different and still comes off as a root beer and is still tasty. it is pretty light tasting and quite sweet. 43 grams of sugar is actually a LOT and that comes through. the taste is refreshing almost, fruity yet rooty. it is a shame this is not more available as it is good. now if only their other sodas stacked up to this one….

Ingredients:filtered carbonated water, organic cane juice, natural root beer flavor, caramel color and citric acid

Anthony's Rating: 80
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