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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Forest Park Root Beer

December 24, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 3:30 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: NJ Obtained in: Trenton, NJ
Head: Medium Sweetener: sugar
Caffeine: No

also a vanity soda, but quite a good one. creamy, sweet and a bit of an anise taste. mostly though it is just a solid root beer. a good flavor that would go well with ice cream or pizza or almost anything else i’d imagine. alright, so i guess it is hard to right about the good sodas also. it is just good, there is not a whole lot else to expound upon… look for it with a different label in your neck of the woods.
Anthony’s Rating: 88
Your Rating: 83
# of ratings:37

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Forest Park Birch Beer

December 24, 2002
Filed under: birch beers reviews — anthony @ 3:27 pm
Type: White Birch Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: NJ Obtained in: Trenton, NJ
Head: Large Sweetener: cane sugar
Caffeine: No

i am assuming this is another vanity labeled product, much like Private Label or Clearwater. this one though seems to be made with better ingredients including real cane sugar, anise, clove, sweet birch, wintergreen & vanilla. you can taste them all too which makes for a quite tasty brew. the wintergreen is not overwhelming either, none of it is really, just adding a little piece to the overall taste. the anise / wintergreen combination is an interesting one that works alright but might be pushing it a bit. interesting and pretty tasty, but not exactly what my taste buds prefer most of all. although a birch beer that is creamy is interesting. yummy.
Anthony’s Rating: 86
Your Rating: 84
# of ratings:81

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Villa (UK) 330 Sarsaparilla

December 23, 2002
Filed under: sarsaparilla reviews — anthony @ 4:18 pm
Type: Sarsaparilla Comes In: 330ml plastic bottle
Available: UK Obtained in: mail from Sam!
Head: Medium Sweetener: sugar, aspartame (NutraSweet), saccharin
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.villadrinks.co.uk/brands/v33/v33_index.html

ok, so $am emailed me a bit ago and told me of a new drink he had found, offering to send me a sample. i, of course, wanted some, so it came over the pond, many thanks to Sam once again! well, let me try it first… ok, well, now i see a trend as this tastes similar to the Free Natural root beer. that is, it is fruity, rather bubble gum-like, although this is not nearly as bad as either of the Free Natural brews, this is still quite bad. and why ruin the fine sugar taste with both saccharin AND aspertame?! that makes no sense, if it is a diet drink, put no sugar, if it is not a diet drink don’t put artificial sweeteners. or maybe i just don’t get English regulations or something. could be some plan to not let the population get as fat as some Americans. but it adds the awful aftertaste of those artificial sweeteners without really taking away much as far as calories go. anyway, avoid this one too, especially is you want something that taste remotely like sarsaparilla.
Anthony’s Rating: 13
Your Rating: 34
# of ratings:6

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Sparky’s Fresh Draft Root Beer

December 21, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 7:22 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 22oz glass bottle
Available: CA, online Obtained in: mail from company
Head: Medium Sweetener: cane sugar, honey
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.sparkysrootbeer.com/

woo hoo, is this good! the honey is at just the right levels and it has a very slight birchy / wintergreen taste. perhaps that is one of the “botanical extracts” or something. not to say it tastes like a birch beer at all since this is a root beer taste. there are some other spices present that give it a bit of an edge, a kick, a bite if you will, i would guess anise is present. one of the best root beers i have ever had. they take the traditional “root beer taste” and add exactly what is needed to improve on it.
so it seems like the Knox family (who brew this stuff) sent out samples to a few other root beer reviewing sites, so i was reading what they thought of it just now. of course people disagree (Spike!) but i am right on this one, trust me.
Anthony’s Rating: 95
Your Rating: 86
# of ratings:398

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Walgreens Root Beer

December 21, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 4:22 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 20 oz plastic bottle
Available: AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY, everywhere Obtained in: Bound Brook, NJ
Head: Small Sweetener: high fructose corn syrup
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.walgreens.com

this is a decent soda. a bit stronger of a taste than your usual generic rootbeer, it is almost herbal. although that could just be that it is going bad for being a couple months old. i will get another bottle and find out later today. for some reason, i delay drinking the generic, store brands longer than the glass bottled, micro brews. probably since this kind of thing is cheaper and there is a Walgreens everywhere so i can get another bottle very easily. so yeh, decent soda, a real lack of carbonation though. a bit too syrupy sweet too. ok, so i got a new bottle, it is about the same with a bit more carbonation.
Anthony’s Rating: 36
Your Rating: 45
# of ratings:26

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Top Pop Root Beer

December 21, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 3:08 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 2L plastic bottle
Available: NJ Obtained in: not sure
Head: Medium Sweetener: high fructose corn syrup
Caffeine: No

it is root beer, how different could it be? ok, enough trying to be funny anthony. my point really is that this is generic in price and taste. tastes like you’d expect, much like A&W, or any store brand really. not a bad thing, just not the best thing. people say it is hardest to write about the good things, but i think the bad and good are about as easy to write about. the mediocre things are the really tough ones.
Anthony’s Rating: 63
Your Rating: 83
# of ratings:4

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Trader Joe’s Organic Root Beer

December 18, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 3:02 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 1L glass bottle
Available: AZ, CA, CT, IL, IN, MD, MA, NV, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, VA, WA Obtained in: store in Boston, MA
Head: Small Sweetener: cane sugar
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.traderjoes.com

a gift this time from my friend Mike M, also a Boston Root Beer Crew representative. he laughed as he pulled this out of the fridge for me. i mean, why make a bottle this weird looking and still have it be such a doppy size?! 1 Liter, who cares about that?! oh well, anyway… the bottle shape makes it easy to hold i guess although it comes out of the bottle strangely. honestly i don’t taste a lot here. faintly i can taste the anise and wintergreen but the cane sugar, or sweetener, i don’t really taste distinctly. it has a bit of a “rootbeer” taste with a slight little sharp tinge but not too much. decent soda but nothing special.
Anthony’s Rating: 44
Your Rating: 55
# of ratings:13

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Mercury Brewing Company Birch Beer

December 18, 2002
Filed under: birch beers reviews — anthony @ 3:01 pm
Type: White Birch Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: MA Obtained in: Boston, MA
Head: Tiny Sweetener: cane sugar
Caffeine: No
Website: http://mercurybrewing.com/

well, if you have to explain that something is soda pop on the label i become slightly wary. the obtaining of this soda was quite a journey too as my friend roberta drove me to several stores which were supposed to carry it but only one had the birch beer and none had the root beer. oh well, next time i go to boston, which is next week anyhow! so anyway, this is not good at all. slightly bitter and that is about the only taste. i like the label and all but this is not a good soda. not offensively bad either, just a slightly more tasty seltzer. actually if you like that weirdo seltzer taste but toned down, you will like this as that is exactly what it tastes like.
Anthony’s Rating: 35
Your Rating: 68
# of ratings:8

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Bulldog Handcrafted Root Beer

December 9, 2002
Filed under: root beer reviews — anthony @ 5:14 pm
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle, On Tap
Available: AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, NC, OH, OK, OR, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI Obtained in: sent by company
Head: Medium Sweetener: cane sugar, honey, maltodextrin
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.bulldogrootbeer.com/

so this root beer IS actually bottled and distributed in Oregon but you can get it in the Bulldog brewpubs too. it is slightly strange that there are 3 different sweeteners but whatever. in any case, this is an excellent soda. creamy, smooth, sweet with a hint of honey. actually i think it is one of the only brews that pulls off having honey in it well. i love honey but often it comes off as almost rancid. not here though at all. it tastes fresh and good. wow, this may just be one of the best root beers i have ever had! i think someone has at last dethroned Boylan’s Creamy Red at the top spot. whoa. not overly carbonated or too foamy or anything of the sort. i have to try this in a frosted mug, the next bottle is dedicated to that task. so get this if at all possible. now to try and arrange some sort of daily delivery for me!
UPDATE: word is that this WILL soon be distro’ed nationally! hoorah!!
Anthony’s Rating: 98
Your Rating: 87
# of ratings:362

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AJ Stephans Pure Cane Sugar Birch Beer

December 8, 2002
Filed under: birch beers reviews — anthony @ 4:46 pm
Type: White Birch Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: CA, MA, OK, online Obtained in: Boston, MA by Mike M
Head: Small Sweetener: cane sugar
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.ajstephans.com/

ok, so this is the final AJ Stephans product i know of. although i have a feeling there is a cooresponding “Olde/Old Style Birch Beer” out there somewhere. (does anyone else find it odd that the Sarsaparilla is “olde style” while the root beer is “old style?” at least keep the “o” or drop it consistantly.) ok, so anyway.. my first reaction to the initial sips i took was “yum, this is good, subtle birch-ness, not too fizzy” but that sometimes fades too soon. after a few more sips it seems to have accumulated on my tongue enough that the taste sticks around. and you know what? i like it a lot. crisp, refreshing, sweet but not insanely so. a hint of mint that, if anything, is a little TOO subtle. but defintely one of the better birch beers i have had
Anthony’s Rating: 90
Your Rating: 75
# of ratings:21

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