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Hello and welcome to the oldest, largest and frankly the best root beer reviewing site in the world! i also throw in birch beer and sarsaparilla review while i am at it. once in a while i even detour into other branches of the root beer tree, such as spruce beer, dandelion & burdock and the like. a new soda review publishes every monday with the occasional random post or review of root beer related stuff. feel free to submit your own ratings, check out the rankings from me and other visitors, see what sodas are available near you and more. anthony (me) started reviewing sodas in ’96 but has always loved the delicious joy of root beer and birch beer.

A-Treat Birch Beer

i got a keg of this for my friend mike’s birthday several years ago and it was quite tasty so i was excited to get to try it again. yup, tastes about the same. very very minty, wintergreen. yummy. i love wintergreen. the funny thing about getting a keg of root beer was we had like a month to get it back to them before we lost the deposit so it stayed in mike’s room for the whole time and was always good. never finished it i don’t think. oh well. anyhow, this is pretty good. a little over carbonated maybe but that is not so bad. this is probably the best soda i have had in a can.
Anthony’s Rating: 91
User’s Rating: 86
# of ratings:48
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Acme Birch Beer

very curious that it is red… sadly it is not too much like the only other red birch beer i have had, Boylan’s Creamy Red. this stuff has some weird sort of menthol smell / taste that is kind of subtle but still rather annoying. and it ruins a decent taste otherwise.
Anthony’s Rating: 28
User’s Rating: 50
# of ratings:52
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AJ Stephans Pure Cane Sugar Birch Beer

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
Ingredients:pure carbonated water, cane sugar, flavor, sodium benzoate (preservative)

Anthony’s Rating: 90
User’s Rating: 78
# of ratings:25
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Big Ben’s Blue Birch Beer

this is a first indeed, a blue birch beer! they actually have 4 kinds of birch beer but i was only able to find 2 of them on this journey so hopefully i can find the others some other time. anyway, i do not know if the blue really changes anything except the color of my stomach. i was hoping for a blue tongue but i think i’d have to hold it in my mouth longer. i think it is just coloring as the labels and ingredients seem identical (“… red #30 or blue #1 except white.”) but whatever. i like their 12 oz returnable bottles, reusing the bottles from past PA soda companies, mainly A-Treat but also Towne Club, which i have not seen in years! makes sense, bottles can be expensive, especially nice thick ones like this. so it is pretty tasty actually. wintergreen with a good sweetness level. the wintergreen seems slightly off, it is not biting like i would hope/expect, it is more of a slow developing, lingering taste.
Anthony’s Rating: 83
User’s Rating: 80
# of ratings:18
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Big Ben’s Golden Birch Beer

so i had to add a whole new category for this soda. that would be the second one for this company, whose blue birch beer was also unique. as the ingredient list on all five (5) of their birch beers are the same, they probably are actually all the exact same thing with colorings added. but perhaps not, what do i know? i could ask but that would ruin it all.
the labels on all of them are the same and have this patriotic, flag theme. i can see that for the red, white and blue birches, but for the golden and dark birch it makes less sense beyond the cost savings.
this one is more the color of a ginger beer, golden indeed. over the past week or so i have tried the other colors and i really do think they taste at least a little different. this one is a bit sweeter and slightly less minty than the white but more so than the dark. i would say it is very similar to the red. i have not had the blue in years so i can’t quite make that comparison. the wintergreen taste is very upfront though. so if you like wintergreen lifesavers, you will probably like this. sadly it does not spark in the dark like they do though. it is a very solid birch beer. get some of any of them if you come across it. this one only comes in the 20 oz plastic bottle though so it may be tougher to find. or just mailorder, their rates are very good.
Ingredients:carbonated water, sugar and/or corn sweetener, natural and artificially flavored, caramel, red #40 or blue#1 except white

Anthony’s Rating: 83
User’s Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
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Big Ben’s Red Birch Beer

usually red birch beers come in a brown glass bottle for whatever reason. because of that, i often have to figure out it is actually red or if it is really brown in there. but this one leaves nothing to the imagination at all. it is definitely red. very red. so red that later, when i am not thinking about what i drank today i will pee and get a little scared for a second. probably not, but maybe. that happens with beets though. it makes one wonder just where all this dye goes instead of out of me. hhhmmmm.
the taste here is probably the same as the white, brown, golden and blue, but i will pretend it is different. this one seems a bit more watery. the main taste is a solid wintergreen. my friend who sits across from me at work tried this, never having had birch beer before and he said it tastes like mouthwash. which is not so far off i suppose, just much sweeter. if you like that and always have to stop your urge to swallow after swishing instead of spitting in the sink, this is up your alley. it even has the total lack of carbonation of mouthwash. i actually quite enjoy wintergreen myself so i am ok with all of this.
Ingredients:carbonated water, sugar and/or corn sweetener, natural and artificially flavored, caramel, red #40 or blue#1 except white

Anthony’s Rating: 82
User’s Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
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Big Ben’s White Birch Beer

alright, so onto the white birch! i am sure it is my imagination but it does taste slightly different. more crisp and slightly sweeter. or maybe not… could have just been the soda settling a little bit as the top of both actually was tastier than the bottom. kind of silly to review this i suppose as it is exactly the same as the Blue Birch but without the color. i could copy and paste but that seems just as silly. well, whatever. kind of minty, kind of sweet. the mint taste is a little weird. not bad. not amazing.
Anthony’s Rating: 83
User’s Rating: 77
# of ratings:12
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Boylan’s Creamy Red Birch Beer

probably my favorite bottled birch beer. creamier than half and half, smoother than a baby’s tummy and tasty as anything you’ve ever had. the vanilla makes it just go down SO easy. incredible to make floats with as you may have guessed. and it is from the finest state in the US of A, New Jersey! aw yeh, what more could you ask? ok, fine it is RED! how rad is that?! answer me! plus it is on fountain at the 7-11 right by my house, aw yeh! 64 oz for $1.34, gotta love that!
Ingredients:carbonated water, cane sugar, pure birch oils, natural flavors, vanilla, natural yucca extract, vanillin, citric acid, caramel color, red 40, sodium benzoate (preserves freshness)

Anthony’s Rating: 96
User’s Rating: 82
# of ratings:347
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Boylan’s Original Birch Beer

i love this stuff too. it has a flavor that is very similiar to their Creamy Red variety, but this one has a little mint tinge to it, making it more of an authetic birch beer. still pretty creamy and great for making a float. this may be the finest birch beer ever made. from the big NJ of course.
Ingredients:carbonated water, cane sugar, pure birch oils, natural flavors, caramel color, natural yucca extract, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preserves freshness)

Anthony’s Rating: 95
User’s Rating: 78
# of ratings:210
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Briar’s Cane Sugar Premium Red Birch Beer

this was also at the grocery store that day. in contrast though, it is not at all superior to the regularly sweetened variety of Briar’s birch beer. it is much too carbonated and it has a slightly bitter taste, when there is a taste at all. it may very well be that i am affected by only sleeping an hour in the past 34 hours, but i have not had my taste buds be affected by such actions. i am not saying it is bad but it just tastes slightly sweet, slightly wintergreen and that is all. alas… cool, heavy bottle though.
Ingredients:carbonated water, sugar, caramel color, sodium benzoate (a preservative), citric acid, natural and artificial flavor

Anthony’s Rating: 78
User’s Rating: 82
# of ratings:10
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