Avery’s Root Beer

i found out about this company probably a year or two ago. as i drive through Connecticut a couple times a year i figured i would make a side trip at some point and go to their bottling works. but i have not yet done so. thus when this root beer was offered up as part of my big trade with Jon, i picked it. nonetheless i will still go up with to get the rest of their soda line as they have a birch beer and sarsaparilla as well as a diet root and diet birch. so for four new sodas to try, it is definitely worthwhile!
i like the style of this brand too, very old-timey and cool. all of the labels are the same and flavors are distinguished by the bottle caps which also have the ingredient list.
the beverage as a whole though is good. but it does not do a ton for me. yeah, it is tasty and superior to your big market, mass produced soda, but it does not really set itself apart. this could be one of about 10 sodas in a blind taste test. that is not really a bad thing mind you, yet i am trying to distinguish sodas from each other a bit more. there is a very distinct lack of any head or foam although the carbonation level is good. the sweetness level is good, not overly done. flavor-wise, like i have been saying, it is good but i can’t get any more descriptive than shrugging and saying “yup, it is a very yummy root beer.” i would definitely get more as i do like it. i think this review came off as bad but there is no reason not to drink this instead of 95% of the root beers out there.
Ingredients:carbonated water, sugar or corn syrup sweetener, caramel color, artificial and natural flavors, citric acid, gum acacia, preserved with sodium benzoate

Anthony’s Rating: 90
User’s Rating: 88
# of ratings:6
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the wheel of time turns, weaving me in

based on some suggestions i have made a couple of changes around here.
the biggest i guess is that the category pages are in alphabetical order instead of date order. that is, if you click on “sarsaparilla reviews” over on the right there you will get the reviews in alphabetical order instead of seeing the newest reviews first. that seemed to make more sense.
i also think i am about done, for now, with the Availibility page. my googling skills have found me a lot of sodas, about 250 actually, that i have never had. so i guess when people ask me now if i have tried them all, i have a better answer. granted most of these are not bottled so it makes it crazy hard to have them, but i suppose it is a challenge.

one thing that quite surprised me, looking at the category stuff more closely, was the numbers in each. the number of Birch Beers and Sarsaparillas are nearly identical. weird. i really would think Birch Beers were a decent amount more plentiful. but perhaps that is a function of me living in the geographic area where that is the case. most Birch Beers i have found have been from the PA, NJ, CT areas. Sarsaparillas are much more plentiful in the western US i suppose although there are some scattered throughout the nation and a few in other parts of the world (UK, Australia, Philippines, Costa Rica) where there is no root beer.

anyway, i am trying to catch up on reviews but not go so fast that i will run out of stuff quickly. i think i have about 15 sodas in queue in my fridge right now, give or take. after that i am not quite sure what else i can get. so there may be a big lull after February. but there is that whole big list in my sidebar there of sodas i need and would gladly pay postage and obtaining costs on. so anyone in Nova Scotia (hint hint) i could make it worth your while!

alright, back to other stuff.
any comments, suggestions, complaints, let me know.

Chautauqua Root Beer

so i am almost through with the sodas i obtained in my recent trade with Jon. well, ok, maybe i have 3 left, that is a lot. i thought for a bit that this might be my last one but no, it is not. so never mind.
the presentation on this soda is very nice. very good use of color, pretty good fonts and a naked girl with a headband and heels wearing a barrel holding a foaming mug and a bottle, what more could one want from their soda? ok, the girl thing is kind of random but i do mean it that i like their design otherwise.
no one seems quite sure if this drink is still being made or not. there is no mention of it on their website and they have not answered my emails. perhaps no day that mystery will be solved.
i certainly do hope it is still being made though, after tasting it. there is a definitely cinnamon flavor to it that i am very much enjoying. i mean the brown cinnamon, like you put on toast, not the red cinnamon, like Big Red. the taste of this root beer stands out to me, i can’t recall any others that have this much cinnamon flavor while still being very recognizable as root beer. it is very rare indeed that i find root beers i really love and which i would order a case of in a heartbeat, but i would do that for both this and the RugRat root beer of last week. i may just have to go to this “Lakewood, NY” place myself and investigate!
Anthony’s Rating: 95
User’s Rating: 100
# of ratings:3
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Cooperstown Brewing Co World Series Sarsaparilla

alright, so they don’t want to tell us what they sweeten this with… very sneaky Cooperstown! i would think the “natural & imitation flavors” listing would hide their secret recipe well enough. i don’t know if sugar counts as a natural flavor, it is possible. i don’t see why not, it is a flavor of sorts and it is natural or imitation. nonetheless, perhaps they actually don’t sweeten it at all. after tasting it, that may in fact be true. whoa, this is probably the most bitter soda i have ever had! it is honestly quite bad. the flavor is harsh and does not make my taste buds sing. instead i think they are hiding, hoping for some chocolate or something. i do enjoy some bitter things i will admit, but i suppose beverages are not something i like when they fall in that sub-genre. sweet? yes, sign me up! salty? ok, i will give it a try! bitter? uuuummmm, probably not. it just does not even taste like sarsaparilla or root beer in any way, to me. since i am the only one drinking this, that is all you get unless you want to ingest this yourself or someone else on the intertubes reviews it.
so, in summary, if you enjoy bitter, kind of sharp yet watery drinks, race to Cooperstown and buy up their stock as this may be for you. it is definitely not for me.
Anthony’s Rating: 20
User’s Rating: 34
# of ratings:3
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