welcome to anthony's root beer barrel! here anthony reviews root beers, birch beers & sarsaparillas, randomly rambles about the topic and probably some more stuff. so check it all out, feel free to comment on reviews or rate brews yourself.

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Wil’s Old Fashioned Premium Draft Root Beer

January 31, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 6:40 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 20 oz plastic bottle, 2L plastic bottle
Available: NY Obtained in: Fredonia, NY
Head: Tiny Sweetener: high fructose corn syrup
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.wilsonfarms.com

another weird beverage. from the website, it seemed this was just available at the Wilson Farms stores but then i got this at Top’s supermarket near Buffalo, NY. they had 2 liter bottles of the birch beer and diet root beer but i did not want to lug those around for the rest of my vacation so i will have to get them some other way. yeh. this is a very fruity tasting root beer. which is unusual for a store root beer. watery too almost. i don’t like it much. now i feel silly for carrying the 6 pack around in my luggage for a week. i should have just bought 1 2 liter of each and tried them there in Fredonia and dumped the rest out. alas.
Anthony’s Rating: 62
Your Rating: 84
# of ratings:42

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Kay Koola Premium Root Beer

January 30, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 2:40 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: NJ, RI, online Obtained in: mail order from Kay Koola
Head: Huge Sweetener: cane sugar
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.kay-koola.com/

i’m not quite sure how to list this beverage. i mean, i bought it from kay-koola.com but it is bottled by the Empire Bottling Company and distributed by Joseph World Beverage Co. and it say’s “Joe Wold’s Original Soda Fountain Flavors” on it. but i still think the company is Kay-Koola, so i will leave it like that. whatever. i really need to keep a record of the nutrition info of these things. this puppy has 42g of carbohydrates, which is insane, that is like 2 Balance bars. weird. it has a slightly different taste to it, you can definitely taste the cane sugar here along with a slightly bitter flavor that i can’t place. it is good and i may just travel to this place in NJ that has it someday. but it is not incredible.
Anthony’s Rating: 81
Your Rating: 73
# of ratings:14

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Tops Market Root Beer

January 22, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 2:22 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12 oz can
Available: NY Obtained in: Dunkirk, NY
Head: Medium Sweetener: high fructose corn syrup
Caffeine: No
Website: http://topsmarkets.com

see, if i had had this about 5 years ago, i would have raved about it, a store root beer with yucca extract and acacia! that is pretty cool. and it tastes very good too. just like a root beer barrel candy in fact. which, at this point in time, is a bit too sweet for me. i do still like it a lot though, probably it is the best store brand soda i have had, but it is a bit generic and not really truely standing. although that is probably just an excuse to not rate a canned, store root beer very high.
Anthony’s Rating: 83
Your Rating: 54
# of ratings:13

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AJ Stephans Olde Style Sarsaparilla

January 21, 2002
Filed under: sarsaparilla reviews — anthony @ 4:48 pm
Type: Sarsaparilla Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: MA, OK, online Obtained in: mail from popsoda.com
Head: Tiny Sweetener: cane sugar
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.ajstephans.com/

ya know, i have been to Boston a lot and i have never seen this soda. in fact, i have a whole bunch of friends who live there who i think would have at least told me about it had they seen it. so why it proclaims “Boston” on the label is a mystery to me. they claim “since 1926″ on it too so it cannot be that it is brand new or something. whatever. it is a darn fine soda. probably the best sarsaparilla i have ever had. it has a slight wintergreen hint to it along with a nice little herbal taste that does not at all overpower the real flavor. this company makes a root beer and a birch beer too so i will now have to find them. or send my friends on a mission.
Anthony’s Rating: 94
Your Rating: 72
# of ratings:49

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After The Fall All Natural Diet Root Beer Spritzer

January 19, 2002
Filed under: diet root beer reviews — anthony @ 4:42 pm
Type: Diet Root Beer Comes In: 12 oz can
Available: discontinued Obtained in: Atlanta, GA
Head: Tiny Sweetener: fruit extract
Caffeine: No

alright, so i got a 6 pack of this stuff when i was visiting people in Atlanta. it was at one of those natural grocery stores. i tried a couple of cans there but brought a couple home to try too. why, i do not know. especially now when i try it again. this is SO bad. granted it has no artificial sweeteners which is a plus. which means no cancer or brain tumor or liver damage risk i guess. but it tastes just like this medicine i used to have to have to take as a child to control my coughing from the asthma. the after taste is actually decent. it is that initial kick that stinks up the joint. it does sort of taste like some tropical fruit gone wrong.
Anthony’s Rating: 11
Your Rating: 36
# of ratings:16

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Adirondack Waist Watcher Diet Root Beer

January 17, 2002
Filed under: diet root beer reviews — anthony @ 4:51 pm
Type: Diet Root Beer Comes In: 12 oz can
Available: CT, DE, FL, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT, VA, WV Obtained in: Poughkeepsie, NY
Head: Small Sweetener: aspartame (NutraSweet)
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.adirondackbeverages.com/

ok, so i have had this for like 3 years in my refrigerator and just noticed it. i am a bit wary to drink it, but i shall, for you, my loyal readers. ok, it sucks. very high carbonation, which seems to be the case often for diet sodas. probably in a futile attempt to mask the awful diet sweetener taste. have i mentioned that i hate diet sodas lately? cuz i do. especially root beers. they taste nothing like root beer. this one especially. it is more of a very fizzy seltzer with a very faint root beer hint. whatever, i am dumping the rest of this out.
Anthony’s Rating: 15
Your Rating: 54
# of ratings:11

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Flathead Lake Monster Rootbeer

January 16, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 3:25 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: MT, online Obtained in: mail order from Seattle Specialty Beverages
Head: Tiny Sweetener: sugar
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.flatheadlakemonster.com/

the carbonation is very low in this soda. the taste is not as low but it is more of a “natural” root beer taste. perhaps that stems from the use of real sugar. it is not so much a bad taste, it is just not all the yummy. perhaps it is too sweet or something as a body could feel a little ill after finishing a bottle of the brew. i like it to sip and probably to drink with some food, but standing alone, it falls a little short.
Anthony’s Rating: 65
Your Rating: 75
# of ratings:16

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Sodawerks Sass-parilla

January 8, 2002
Filed under: sarsaparilla reviews — anthony @ 7:16 pm
Type: Sarsaparilla Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: PA, online Obtained in: mailorder from popsoda.com
Head: Small Sweetener: sugar
Caffeine: No

well, i think i may have gotten a bum bottle of this. and since it is so pricey to mail order i only got the one. oh well. i will assume this is how it is supposed to be. i’ve probably seen this before in fact but since it looks so much like the root beer bottle i overlooked it. or maybe not. who knows? i will check next time i am at the place i got the other 2 bottles. once again the taste is hard to find. even less subtle than the root beer in fact. just sweet really with a slight taste of something. i guess it could be some sort of root taste. it is not an offensive taste, it is just bland and sweet.
Anthony’s Rating: 49
Your Rating: 42
# of ratings:1

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Hot Rod Magazine Root Beer

January 8, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 2:20 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 11oz glass bottle
Available: discontinued Obtained in: mailorder from popsoda.com
Head: Large Sweetener: high fructose corn syrup
Caffeine: Yes

alright, so there are about 4 caffeinated root beers in the world that i now know of. this one is kind of reddish and has guarana from Brazil. oh boy! it is actually not bad. the taste is mellow, slightly fruit, like juicy fruit gum in fact. this surprised me as i thought they’d go for some outrageous, in your face flavor. a smooth drink. if i had to drink a caffeinated root beer, i’d probably pick this one. especially since Pirate’s Keg does not have caffeine anymore. also, why is it in an 11 (ELEVEN) ounce bottle?! weird. i suspect it is a 12 oz bottle but that would be lies in advertising so maybe not…
Anthony’s Rating: 79
Your Rating: 73
# of ratings:22

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Hosmer Mountain Root Beer

January 6, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 5:48 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: CT, online Obtained in: mailorder from popsoda.com
Head: Large Sweetener: high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.hosmersoda.com/

brown sugar in a root beer? hhmmm, a fine idea i’d say, before i taste this concoction. and it comes off pretty well in actuality also. it is a distinct taste. i think i would have opted for no corn syrup myself as this soda is a bit syrup-y. perhaps they tried it other ways though. the carbonation is a little high too. it is not bad at all on the whole and i like that they have a different sort of zing to it.
Anthony’s Rating: 83
Your Rating: 85
# of ratings:48

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