Reading Draft Root Beer

this was another kind mailing from a reader who saw i needed something and sent it! what a wonderful world we live in sometimes. their website is down which makes me a little worried about their current status but i do hope they are still around and just are so busy making soda that their website expired or something. i always wonder with companies like this, that proclaim “…since 1921″ or whatever if they really have been making it continuously since then or that it was made for a decade or so and then restarted last year or whatever. although this one is “Handcrafted since 1921″ which does not rule out some lapses in that time but merely that it was never machine crafted. or foot crafted for that matter.
this soda is pretty good though i will say. i don’t like the aftertaste/endnotes on it though, it almost feels like a diet thing for a few seconds which is just bad. but before that point it is tasty enough if a little bit generic. the cane sugar taste is there, a slightly burnt carmel-ish hint along with the expected herbs and spices. it is not overly sweet or bitter or anything along those lines. it just is a good root beer. not excellent but better than most others in the world. i feel it would work well in a float as it is not so creamy on its own, the ice cream would definitely enhance it. i am very curious about this company’s other offerings as they have several varieties of birch beer too, one of which i was also sent and will get to soon!

Anthony’s Rating: 81
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

Sarsi Light Sarsaparilla

so this actually does not say “sarsaparilla” anywhere on it at all, but i am well aware that regular Sarsi is indeed a sarsaparilla thus this must be too. or i think it must be, which is pretty much the same thing. i have only come across one other diet sarsaparilla and that one does not even mention it is diet, so perhaps there is some obscure regulation in the beverage world that declares the words “diet” and “sarsaparilla” cannot appear right next to each other. granted, the other one is from the UK and this one is from the Philippines which are doubt are governed by the same laws in any way. it is also a little weird that no American company makes a diet sarsaparilla.
so anyway, the regular Sarsi is in fact rather gross so my expectations for a diet version are so very low that i have put off reviewing this drink for months. but i may as well get it over with. pop the tab… it actually smells rather tasty! hhhmmm, curious indeed. a very herbal scent with a heavy licorice concentration is definitely present. wait a second, this actually tastes decent too! it just cannot be, a diet sarsaparilla from the Philippines that is not bad?! where am i and what have you done with my world?! it is not great or anything but i like it better than their regular soda which is wacko! it is quite unique tasty and that strong licorice smell is in the taste too. if i had to have a diet drink, i guess i might pick this one. if i could ever find it again, it seems quite elusive. but then again i don’t really try to find it much anyway. but if you are force to not have sugar and want a different beverage, try this one.

Anthony’s Rating: 52
Your Rating: 100
# of ratings:1

kindness of the soda world

a year or so ago i had noticed the existence of a seemingly very rad place, Pops 66 that supposedly had over 500 kinds of soda. it is a gas station, restaurant, soda ranch, shake shop and more, all housed in a very rad structure. and it is in Oklahoma… very far from me on the east coast. i figured it would be like some of the other “soda bar” type places that i will probably never get to, very exciting but just too far away. never mind that this one had a decent amount of root beers i had never had! then i got an email from someone telling me about them again and a root beer they had gotten there. i figured i may as well write and ask if i could mail order the stuff i did not have. i mean, what could it hurt, right?
i also figured they would say no as it is a pain to do that, something totally different from their usual duties. but i received a very prompt reply that they would be happy to! holy hyenas and butter! people really rock sometimes.
i guess it goes to show me that you have to actually do something to get anywhere or anything.
anyway, you are lucky if you are nearby OK and get to go here.
so now i will have six more sodas to review!! hooray! two were even on my “Wanted” list on the right there.

update 8/19 - ok so they did not have a 3 of the 6 i had wanted so they substituted 3 that i have never even heard of! now that right there is a feat i think as i do really try to be aware of all existing bottled root beers. this is exciting indeed! thanks Pops 66!

root beer snobery in the christian music world

so it seems this band that was on some show has a lead singer dude who is a root beer snob. and he called me “the man” in this interview which i find quite amusing.
i must admit i do not have 26 or 27 kinds of root beer in my root beer fridge. and my fridge came from my old job since we were going to throw it away. and it is not a full size deal, just one of the bigger dorm type ones. i may have 12 or 15 kinds in there though if that helps your image of me.
i actually did not think Steelhead was still made, very cool to know it is as i quite liked it. nice.

to make this a bit less self indulgent i will ask a question of the masses: i recently got a can of Iron Beer, the “national beverage of Cuba” and i am unsure if it qualifies as something in the root beer realm. any have it and want to offer their opinion? i know i am seeking spruce beer as that definitely fits in with the supposedly tree piece flavored sodas. and i think i would review dandelion and burdock if i ever got any since that sort of falls in that area too, but this one is more an outlier. i probably will since it is close enough for me.

next up in reviews are: Reading Draft Root Beer and White Birch Beer, A&W Float, St Arnold’s Root Beer and then i will probably explore some of the bigger diet sodas i have skipped, A&W, Barq’s, etc. i think i have a couple more random cans in my fridge too.
but i am getting low so if you have any leads, please share!
that is all, carry on.

Steaz Organic Sparkling Green Tea Root Beer

ok for YEARS i have thought that this was Steap Green Tea Root Beer. but it is NOT! i actually was sent it in the mail from a very kind reader. i of course checked my archives and basement to see if i had reviewed it, but i had not! so now i am. although i feel bad that i could have bought it and this generous fellow mailed it to me. oh well, silly me i suppose. although i am not actually sure it is really not the same company as they look remarkably similar in design and of course the concept is the same. oh well.
i am not sure how this qualifies as root beer at all to be honest here. sure, it is brown and carbonated and in a glass bottle but it could just as easily be called apple juice or cola. there is no root beer flavor present. there is also not a lot of resemblance to the green tea flavor i am used to either although that is more present than any sort of root beer-ness. i am curious what is in the mugs shown on the label, it is certainly not this stuff.
this is not me putting it down really, i actually like it as a beverage. it is sweeter than i expected and fruity which i did not at all plan for. but it is not creamy or rich, it is more similar to fruity iced tea than to soda. which makes it somewhat lighter of a beverage.
this drink is definitely unique and not like any other existing root beer i will admit and it is kind of tasty which is better than some of the crappy sodas that are unique. i am curious too how much actual green tea benefit i am getting from this. ok, after checking the website it says there is about 1 gram in a bottle or about the amount in one cup of tea. which is not awful or great. along with that comes about 15mg of caffeine too though, making it one of the only caffinated root beers, even if it is much less than the other caffinated soft drinks.

Anthony’s Rating: 69
Your Rating: 50
# of ratings:3

Dang! That’s Good Butterscotch Root Beer

ah, my first ever butterscotch root beer! although i suspect there are no other ones out there so it may very well be my last too. i actually did review this, sort of, for the cameras of the History Channel, so if you do catch the episode i am on, this is the mystery root beer which i cannot say the name of. but as i said above, how many butterscotch root beers are there out there anyway?!
don’t get me wrong here, i very much enjoy those butterscoth candies in the yellow wrapper that my grandmother would get from the grocery store but no one ever believed she paid for as she was very frugal and buying loose candies would be quite the extravagance indeed! perhaps she paid what she thought they were worth or what they went for in her day, putting a nickel in the sample payment box and taking a handful in her overly large purse. it actually does not say how many you get for that 5 cents, now then does it young man?! just “Samples: 5 cents.” but that is neither here nor there. except that this soda tastes just like those things, melted down and liquefied. i suppose there is a slight root beer taste in there too, but on the whole it is an insanely sweet, somewhat carbonated version of those candies.
i will admit i do like it for a few swigs but even i find it hard to get through a whole bottle. it is just too sweet. i suppose though that you could just have their regular root beer if you are not in the mood for this, but i must judge it against the world of root beers that i have thrust it into, not as a sub genre of its own. i think i gave this a higher grade on the air but i did not drink all that much of it that day, so i have lowered it down. it is an interesting novelty item and i am glad it exists but it is not a great drink.

Anthony’s Rating: 71
Your Rating: 70
# of ratings:4