Summit Craft Root Beer

this right here is the third offering from Summit, which seems to be a brand sold only at Aldi. strangely none of them seem to last long either. this one was very very hard to obtain actually. I went to eight different Aldi stores and kept finding the cola but finally i came upon one four pack of cola with one single bottle of root beer in it. the annoying thing is that i was trying to get some extras for others and failed at that endeavor. this was only available for a short time apparently and by the time i knew about it, it was too late i suppose.
hopefully this is better than the other two root beers they have done. let me find out. hhhmm, it is kind of watery. i'd expand on that and say it is not exactly too tasty or flavorful. so i suppose it is indeed not better than their old sodas. i can tell it is root beer, for sure, but there is not much else there or even a strong flavor. it is sweet enough and reasonably smooth although that may also just be low carbonation. there is a decent head, but that is just window dressing really but that is more surprising given the low bubble content. in the end i am glad i did not get more for myself but still annoyed i did not get some for my friends.
Ingredients:triple filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors, caramel color

Anthony's Rating: 70
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Hires Big H Root Beer Extract

it has been a while since i reviewed an extract. i bought or obtained a few a while back but never made them. i was house shopping, packing, moving and other junk. but now I got a couple more for christmas and such and i am running low on regular sodas so i feel more compelled to actually mix up some of these and mix in reviews of them.
i honestly don't know what to call this one. it is made by a drive in called 'Hires Big H' which I am not quite sure has an connection to the Hires company any longer and may never have has one, but I would assume once it did. the extract though is called 'Big H Root Beer Extract' so I suppose i should call it that but i choose not to as it is more interesting to add the 'Hires' in there.
i made up the recipe in a scaled down version using my seltzer bottle carbonater which i do not think i used quite correctly as it has been some time since it was used as mentioned about 1/2 inch above. so i did not use dry ice as they suggest. and i did not use cold water since then the sugar would never dissolve and that seems silly to me.
the taste is pretty solid, it does not do anything unusual or crazy but that seems tricky in an extract. plus you want an extract to taste like traditional root beer. this accomplishes that well. the sassafras main taste is accompanied by a caramel flavor and a creamy smooth flow. if i were to make root beer baked goods or ice cream or something, this would be a good choice I'd say. it serves its purpose well.
Ingredients:Water, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Propylene Glycol, Arabic Gum S.D., Sodium Benzoate (Preservative)

Anthony's Rating: 80
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Teddy’s Diet Root Beer

this has actually sat in my fridge for quite some time. i guess subconsciously i was putting off the review. i mean it is diet AND basically generic. those two things individually do not inspire excitement and confidence so together there is little expectations for this drink. add in the fact that this is probably past its prime and this will be a quick review. haha. it is available mainly at Dollar stores and
so yeah, no fizz at all when i twist off the plastic top. not the best start. hhhhmmm, it is rather watery but i don't get the diet aftertaste. curious indeed. right, it is watery, not a lot of flavor here. it is more like a slightly root beer flavored sweet water. i don't think carbonation would save it but it would help so i will just assume it usually has some and add a couple points. i am perplexed why my mouth does not taste like i licked some nails, this is weird. in a good way i suppose. it certainly isn't a good soda, i will make that clear. if you do have to have a diet soda and don't like the taste or aftertaste of artificial sweeteners, then this might be a good option for you. i do wish it did taste better overall though.
Ingredients:carbonated water, natural and artificial flavor, caramel color, , sodium benzoate (preservative), gum arabic, sucralose, phosphoric acid

Anthony's Rating: 38
User's Rating: 88
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Fanta Red Birch Beer

wow. i just searched my site for 'fanta' and got no results at all. i assumed i had reviewed the root beer at some point, probably long ago. plus i figured i had reviewed the birch beer as well. but no, nothing, no reviews of anything from them. weird. but upon looking into it, Fanta has not made root beer in a long time and they only make the birch beer fountain syrup these days. huh. i really could have sworn i had cans of both in the last decade, but i suppose it was much longer ago than that. anyhow, on with the show.
so my rad awesome lady and her children raved about this pizza place they loved called Pizza Heaven. it was the best pizza in the universe they told me. somehow my own children went there with them before i ever got to go. but eventually i did go myself. as with all pizza places, they were to be judge by me based on their pineapple pizza. i actually thought it was mediocre, but different strokes for Arnold and Willis, right?
but! they had Fanta Red Birch Beer on their fountain! otherwise this tale would make no sense at all, obviously. i ordered up a cup, no ice, but as you can see in the photo, they put ice anyway. my second helping had no ice though so i did get a more accurate taste. in the end it actually did not have a lot of birch flavor which was a bit of a let down. there was some wintergreen present but it was very mellow and understated. beyond that it was just very sweet. i don't mind that part too too much, but i always want other strong flavors along with that. Fanta was always somewhat of an almost generic brand in my mind so i should not have expected much, and this was not terrible by any stretch.

Anthony's Rating: 71
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