so i finally broke down and decided i was not going to just find Kutztown White Birch Beer in my travels and that i needed to mail order some. of course i did some searching to get the best price. shipping bottles of soda is quite costly and small companies are usually not too keen on sending free review samples out. most often it is cheapest to buy right from the company but in this case i happened to find another site that sold the desired soda. plus they carried this one too! whoa, a local home brew! crazy! and very cool too of course. i do worry a bit about the fermentation level as it is yeast carbonated, but i won’t get overly concerned about it. as an even cooler bonus, they had shoo fly pies! i love me some shoo fly pie! the one i got was mediocre i will admit though. hopefully it did not set a precedent for stuff purchased in the same order.

anyway, getting to the drink at hand… after a few sips of this, i just can’t bring myself to drink much more. it is just so overwhelmingly yeasty. i don’t like yeast carbonated drinks as much as other carbonation methods it seems anyway but this takes it to another level. perhaps that is historically what root beer was like but it is not what my mouth buds like. i don’t even taste the root beer flavor. i really REALLY want to like this and support a homebrewer and so on but i can’t. it is gross. perhaps it is just this bottle. i do have another at home i will sample too. perhaps it is the shipping time made it carbonate more. or perhaps i should be mixing it up more as there is a lot of sediment on the bottom. i think that would make it even yeastier though. oh well, can’t win em all! the head is pretty nice, that is a bonus. the aftertaste does not linger terribly long either, so that is another plus i suppose.
Ingredients:water, sugar, root beer extract, yeast

Anthony’s Rating: 6
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i am not sure what to file this under. it is the current (as of 11/2010 when i am writing this) store brand for Stop & Shop and Giant food stores and perhaps other food store chains. this seems to have succeeded the Main St branded stuff. i was hesitant to even review this, but what the hey, why not? it may be the same as the Main St one really, but i don’t know that for sure. since i have a policy against reviewing vanity labeled stuff multiple times, i feel like that rule should apply to reviewing any soda that is exactly the same more than once. but i don’t want to put it under Giant or Stop & Shop (even though i put the Main St and its predecessor, the Select stuff under Main St, i know, get over it, database nerd talk is losing me readers). thus i am just calling this “Foodhold” as that is the maker. yeah, that works. not that anyone is ever going to come here wondering what i thought of the root beer they get at their Giant Store and find this, so it is sort of a secret of sorts. sshhhh…
this is a store brand generic soda. obviously. even by those standards, this is not very good. i am trying to figure out what my issue is with it and it seems multi-fold. the carbonation is harsh for one thing, too much and too sharp. the flavor is just off also, too sickly sweet in a bad way. the more i drink of this, the less i like it. it comes off as a not thick root beer syrup to me. which almost sounds appealing to my sweet tooth but is not in reality.
Ingredients:carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, potassium benzoate (a preservative), natural and artificial flavor and citric acid

Anthony’s Rating: 51
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this is one i have always been meaning to order. i put it off since i always thought it was just Cool Mountain Root Beer in a new bottle. i am still not sure it is not that but i will go on the thought that they are different. Cool Mountain does own this brand and they don’t make their own root beer anymore though so take that as you will. i should probably put them both under the Evolution Brands flag to tie them together somehow but i am lazy right now i suppose. mostly though that is confusing to users.

i have not had Cool Mountain root beer in many years but tasting this and reading my review of that, i would say they are indeed different formulations. ok, good. this is not so watery. it is more heavy, almost thick and syrupy. i am not saying it is too sweet because it is not, the sweetness is just fine. it just feels heavy in my mouth, not light and refreshing so much as solid. not overpowering either. it is ok, pretty much the expected taste with that heavy mouth feel. the label design is pretty solid, different at least, i will give them that. the metallic brown ink is a nice touch. among the chicago area root beers, this falls short, Sprecher, Goose Island and Berghoff are all better. this just does not set itself apart in any way. it just is. which is ok but i hoped for better.
Ingredients:filtered water, pure cane sugar, natural and artificial flavor, caramel color, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate as a preservative

Anthony’s Rating: 71
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i really don’t go to Aldi stores much. in fact, the two times i have gone have both been to get random root beers that readers told me they found there. it always strikes me as a weird place, like it is a sort of club store, such as Costco, where i am supposed to be a member and know the secret ways to shop there. or maybe i am just weird and paranoid or something myself. anyway, both times i went to Aldi, in addition to the glass bottled microbrew i had gone there to get, they also had a seeming store brand, last time it was Sweet Valley and this time it is this one. now it has not been all that long between visits, maybe a year or so, keep that in mind as i ramble for a moment or two. from what i can gather this soda is only sold at Aldi. it proclaims itself as “New & Improved!” so unless it is really Sweet Valley in disguise, they new and improved it might quickly, since like i said, it was a short time ago. the old and un-improved recipe must have been really bad. but perhaps they came out of the valley and reached the summit of flavor. tee hee. but then again, Sweet Valley could have been around for many years, unknown to me and i just happened to frequent the store at the right times.

now the message on the side of the can also has me confused: “to those seeking fun and refreshment or performance-driven energy, Summit is the quality brand of colas and carbonated beverages that brings flavor and function to fit your lifestyle.” i just don’t even know where to start with that. are colas not carbonated beverages? is this supposed to appeal more to people who refer to all soda as “cola?” what sort of performance driven energy will this give me? i run and cycle a good amount so perhaps i should replace my usual pre- or during drink to this if it is so wonderful. i don’t think it would fit my lifestyle as promised though, carbonated beverages in the water bottle are often a bad combo.

so does it taste good? it is decent. generic mostly. the carbonation is not as harsh as some generic sodas. the flavor is lacking. it is decently sweet but there not really much to it. i would say it is in fact a little better than the Sweet Valley, but i still would get many other sodas first, even store brands and definitely some mainstream ones.
Ingredients:carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, natural and artificial flavors, and potassium benzoate (a preservative)

Anthony’s Rating: 65
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ug, this is the most disgusting thing i have ever smelled or tasted. i was hoping it would be at least reasonably tasty as i hear a lot of how great kombucha is for you. but if this is what it tastes like, i am astounded that anyone would consume this, for any reason at all. if you are unfamiliar with kombucha, it is basically a fermented tea with yeast and bacteria and enzymes and junk. i would say it tastes kind of like that sounds. a rotten, basically disgusting mess. wow, people really drink this? i just can’t believe how horrible this tastes. it is like someone threw up vinegar and seltzer and you decided to bottle that. i took two sips and that was one too many. perhaps even two too many. holy slugs and snails! we have a new low ladies and gentlemen!
Ingredients:organic kombucha tea* and sarsaparilla root along with an extract of the following organic herbs: licorice root, star anise, yellowdock root, burdock root, wild cherry bark, dandelion root, vanilla bean and wintergreen.
*kombucha is a culture fermented in a base of purified water, organic tea and organic cane sugar

Anthony’s Rating: 1
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The store brand of a store called “Basha’s”. woo hoo! it is a chain of stores in Arizona. i know nothing about it, so i have been reading the History page which is quite entertaining. a real American tale, immigrants, fires, lots of moving about and a dramatic telling. a very dramatic telling. i find it strange that the bottle itself does not say anywhere that it is from or for or made by Basha’s. it says it is distributed by the National Grocery Company. now if you google that, you get nothing. really, no good matches. so i assume that is a front company or something. i am still working on figuring out what the illegal operation behind it is. perhaps building cottages from bricked iPhones. is that illegal? probably against the terms of use if nothing else.
this is a horrible soda. there i said it. something i like about root beer in general is that they can taste so different but still good. this tastes different and fails at it. it is bitter and harsh and just kind of tastes stale for some reason. if i happened to live in Arizona i think i would complain or at least protest and not buy this. neither of these actions would result in change i am sure. but i would feel a little better. i could stroll down the soft drinks aisle at my local Basha’s and see this slop on the shelf and say to myself “self, i am NOT going to buy that!” to which myself would answer “good for you! very good for you! take THAT Basha’s and your weird criminal front corporation and possibly fake or at least exaggerated history tale!!” yeah, exactly. i think the least a cheap-o, generic soda should do is taste ok. fail.
Ingredients:carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, potassium benzoate (as a preservative), citric acid, artificial and natural flavor and gum acacia

Anthony’s Rating: 26
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i quite like the design of this one, mostly. the brown and black plaid is fun. perhaps it reminds me of my days of enjoying ska more or something. but it works for the general feel of “root beer” for me. i don’t know if Meijer does this same sort of thing for all of their sodas or not though. it would be less appealing if so. an orange and black tartan for orange soda would be kind of wrong. as would a bright green and black for lemon-lime. so i will just assume they did not do that. the “Drink it. Love it.” logo thing reminds me of hard lemonade or something. maybe hard iced tea? i don’t know, i don’t drink the stuff, it is just what comes to mind when i see the font and slogan and all.
the can proclaims that this is “classic draft” which still makes no sense to me, but whatever, it is a catch phrase i guess.
even for a store brand, generic soda, this is lousy. (that word looks weird, “lousy”. my spell checker tells me it does not need an “e” but it still looks bad to me. oh well, i will stick with it.) it just does not have a lot of flavor. there is a splash but not enough at all. what is there is ok but it leaves me hanging. plus it is a little over carbonated. perhaps i will stop the store brand reviews. probably not as i feel like it does help people somewhat know which ones to try and which to avoid. and if nothing else, this website is a public service. i should get federal funding or something… but not food stamps.
Ingredients:carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, natural and artificial flavor and potassium benzoate (preservative)

Anthony’s Rating: 56
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i got an email telling me that the Aldi supermarket chain had this soda now in stock. i had never even heard of it so i was intrigued. i tried to get to an Aldi as soon as i could, knowing they could sell out at any moment anyway. i admit i don’t quite understand that store, they sell 99% their own brand of foods, so why do they seem to get random microbrew sodas occasionally? do they get some awesome closeout deal like Marshall’s or Odd Lot or something? weird, like i said.
upon trying to research this soda some more, i found something interesting. and that is that there is absolutely no info on it anywhere i could find. even the website on the bottle has no info on this drink. so perhaps it is a closeout and they no longer even make it.
people often ask me why i don’t review cream sodas. i tell them it is because i don’t like cream soda. for some reason, people really associate root beer and cream soda together. why am i saying this now? because i think this soda is the missing link between the two. blindfolded i would swear this is a cream soda. but it is not quite as awful as most cream sodas are. i get a hint of root beer and that saves it, sort of. it is still pretty no good but i think it would appeal to some people. i think this is the taste that those “root beer float” sodas try to get. super creamy but just not enough root beer flavor for me.
Ingredients:carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, natural and artificial flavor, sodium benzoate (preservative) and citric acid

Anthony’s Rating: 55
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Jon is probably the only person i know who has more root beers than me. we have made a couple of trades in the past but as time goes on, it gets harder for each of us to find more sodas that the other has not had. if something new comes out, often we both get it. but we worked out another trade here and that is a good thing. a very good thing! Nine new sodas for me! hoorah!

this one is tricky. it comes in a Sprecher bottle, is made by Sprecher, but sold by Cherry Republic. i supposed i should probably file it under “Cherry Republic” instead of “Sprecher” but i decided not to.
i was pretty excited for this. afterall, besides root beer and the like, cherry soda is probably my favorite soda. i have considered starting a sister site to review cherry sodas even. i think ginger brews would be interesting too actually but they don’t vary quite as much as root beers or cherry sodas. anyway… so cherry and root beer together? hhhmmm, that could work. but does it? before i answer that, i will digress.
the label has a drawing of a bear picking cherries from the roots of a cherry tree. that is kind of clever and cute. more so since their normal cherry soda has the same bear picking cherries from the top of a cherry tree. they also make a cherry cola but that does not seem to have a witty illustration on its label. alas. the rest of the label has a background to make it look like wood. fine, whatever.
ok, so the taste? eh, it is ok. not really root beer tasting which is a bit surprising, being made by Sprecher and all. although there are no ingredients that would indicate it should have any root beer taste anyway. the cherry taste is definitely there, but not overpowering. it is a sweet, dark cherry taste with a little tart edge to it. hefty, not light and refreshing or anything. as a drink it is just ok. as a root beer, it disappoints. there is a little something beyond the cherry taste, a hint of something more, which could be the root beer aspect. it isn’t bad, it just isn’t awesome which i think it could have been.
Ingredients:carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, cherry juice concentrate, natural and artificial cherry flavor, citric acid, and sodium benzoate (preservative)

Anthony’s Rating: 76
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this one was pointed out to me by the mighty Jon, otherwise i may never have found it. so thanks once again to him for that. granted, i then traded him a bottle from the six(6)-pack i ordered so he got some for his collection anyhow.

the soda is named after a tiger at Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary which aims to be 100% green. sounds good. i am not sure i see a connection between soda and tigers, but animals seem to inspire a lot of root beers so whatever, a tiger works as well as a whale does, maybe more so.

they use no preservatives, which seems to be more common lately. i don’t know if there is a backlash against preservatives, but i can get behind that. i just have to remember to drink this stuff soon.

you can also earn prizes for collecting bottle caps! now that i really like. as someone who got a load of Bazooka Joe stuff with the comic inserts in the 80s as well as countless breakfast cereal promotions, i wondered why that sort of thing faded out so much. perhaps the shipping costs got prohibitive.

the taste of this one is good. there is a little bit of a brown cinnamon hint i feel like, but beyond that it is pretty much as expected. very large head which does not, thankfully, translate into an overcarbonated drink. not too creamy, but that is fine, some ice cream can add that aspect to it if needed. i prefer that sometimes really. it is smooth though. sweet too, the cane sugar works well on this one. it is good. if you live around there, get some, collect and save the bottle caps, get some tickets or t shirts or whatever. and visit the tigers, they sound like fun.
Ingredients:filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors and citric acid

Anthony’s Rating: 84
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