Real Soda in Real Bottles Girlan Pink Birch Beer

i got this as a replacement for something else i hoped to get from Pops66 which was not in stock. but i have no complaints at all about that! a pink birch beer! interesting. it is brought to you by the fine folks who do real soda in real bottles. i can’t say i understand the concept too much, or the design but they are extremely nice people over there. so the label proclaims “brings out the little flower in you” and “Mama Cornalano’s Jersey Girl recipe” and it has a german sort of bird insignia in the birch tree pictured. i do very much like that they printed “REAL CANE SUGAR” on the bottle itself where many companies print bottling dates or whatever.
i went into this review thinking this would taste like birch beer, even remotely and that the pink was just a fun gimmick. but no, it tastes like what you expect pink soda to taste like, which is what everyone? yup, bubblegum! i do very much enjoy bubblegum. in gum. not in soda. or liquid in general. unless it is that gum that squirts out a liquid center when you bite it, but that is actually “in gum” too when it comes down to it. for me, there is no trace of anything to do with birch beer here. maybe this is some sort of statement on how “birch beer” can be a very loose label and you can make it taste like almost anything and still call it “birch beer?” i don’t think so. the bubblegum-ness is interesting i suppose as i don’t think i have had other bubblegum flavored sodas, but it is also gross. sorry Danny at Real Soda, but i must be honest here. i don’t like it. it is not offensively bad though, it is drinkable. although i am torn as to the best way to drink it: slowly so i don’t overwhelm my belly or quickly to just get it down. it is incredibly sweet and almost sticky, even sweeter than i like, which is pretty crazy. i wanted to enjoy this but i just don’t.
they also make “Lurch Birch” which i will be getting to soon. that one is the “left coast recipe” and i think more traditional. if this is supposed to be the east coast style beverage then i am almost enraged. birch beer is an east coast thing, twisting and messing with flavors, combining weird junk is a west coast thing. so i would vote to switch the designations on these two brews. oh well.
and isn’t red #40 a major carcinogen? uh oh….

Anthony’s Rating: 30
Your Rating: 7
# of ratings:1

my TV debut

9/23 - well, i was on once before at least, around 1985 when sticker collecting was huge and they sent a camera crew to Michelle Trujillo or Lisa Solozo’s house to film a bunch of kids trading stickers and junk. or i think i was on that. i could be wrong.

anyway, the “soft drink” episode of Modern Marvels will air on the History Channel next monday, 9/29/08 at 8 pm EST. it sounds jam packed with stuff so i am not sure at all how much of my footage made it but we shall see. tune in and see my smiling mug in motion as i discuss something or other about root beer.

UPDATE 9/29 so the show will NOT air tonight, it is now scheduled for 10/4/08 probably. but i don’t see it on the history channel schedule for that day so i guess we will see. sorry to anyone who tunes in tonight and it is not on. oh well. just have to wait.

UPDATE 10/27 ok so the show will be on “early 2009″ now. ug. oh well. i wait. sorry for the lack of updates for all of you waiting to see it too.

Saint Arnold Root Beer

ah, another soda which i have been thwarted in my efforts to obtain for quite some time now! finally mine to taste! it is quite frustrating to get multiple emails to the effect of “hey anthony, Saint Arnold Root Beer roxxxXx! get some in Texas!” not that i mind at all getting such emails. i do appreciate it but knowing that there is a soda out there i have not had and may not ever have if it stops being made as so many others have been before i get a chance to go someplace i have no plan to go to.
the label here reminds me much more of a regular beer label than of a soda label. it lacks the usual orange, brown & white color scheme so prevelant in root beer advertising and packaging. in fact i may not even notice this beverage in a local cooler on first glance if it were near the alcohol/pop border. but that is not a bad thing, just a different thing.
that different trend continues in the actual flavor of this root beer. there is some underlying taste here that i cannot place. overall it has a very wintergreen flavor with a rooty, herbal undertone that makes it much heartier than a birch beer which is more typically the soda to taste of wintergreen. i do like the mouth feel of the cane sugar, it adds character to this drink. well, MORE character as it seems to have a lot on it own. i am enjoying the root beer here in my hand but i am not totally loving it. there is a fine line between a very good root beer and an amazing one and this just does not get into that latter category but is for sure in the former. plus the cap says “yummy root beer”. i quite enjoy truth in advertising i must say. yummy indeed.

Anthony’s Rating: 87
Your Rating: 100
# of ratings:1

Empire Bottling Works Spruce Beer

alright, so i finally have a bottle of the long sought after Spruce Beer!! it is a different branch off the root beer tree, using spruce roots and bark for its flavoring, which is seemingly popular in eastern Canada mostly. pretty much every review or opinion on this genre seems negative, that it tastes like drinking Pine-Sol cleanser or licking a pine cone. thus i am expecting the worst here. which may actually help its cause.
so the initial scent is indeed quite pine-like, which is to be expected i think from a SPRUCE beer, being in the evergreen family and all. the first taste… hhhmmmm, interesting. i can definitely see the Pine-Sol reference but it is not as bad as that sounds. it is almost similar to a spicy ginger beer to me. well, between that and a birch beer i suppose. but definitely that sharp, very upfront mouth feel that spicy ginger beers have. it is a unique taste to be certain. i would not want this every day just as i would not want a lot of things every day but i would enjoy this occasionally. it is quite well carbonated so that sharp edge keeps on coming back and slicing opening your mouth pieces. this is almost harsh, it goes down rough and makes you recognize that you are drinking it. at least if you are not used to it, you can’t just casually sip this in a distracted way while you meditate or something, it takes your attention and holds it while you sip and swallow and burp up the gasses. i don’t see this ever catching up big at all, it is weird. but then again, a lot of soda flavors are weird (Dr Pepper anyone?) yet make it big. get some major marketing behind this stuff and it could be huge!
so yeah, it is kinda sweet, pine-esque, a little spicy and very hard to ignore or put down. and sort of tasty.

Anthony’s Rating: 75
Your Rating: 92
# of ratings:1