Thunder Beast American Root Beer

November 19, 2018
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 5:00 am
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: MD, TX, VA, online

Obtained in: mail order from company
Head: Large Sweetener: cane sugar, honey
Calories: 160 Sodium: 0mg
Carbs: 40g Sugar: 36g
Caffeine: No
Website: http://drinkthunderbeast.com/

yes, i know, i've been slacking…. a couple weeks with no review. the biggest issue being a lack of new sodas. although that is more an excuse as i do have 3 or 4 actual root beers in my fridge, a few extracts i could mix up and a few fountain sodas i tried and wrote some notes about but never fully wrote up. but still, it is not the days of having 16 months of reviews written ahead with another twenty plus sodas waiting. oh well, maybe those days will return.
so this one i am eagerly waiting to try! i very much enjoyed the Texas Style offering and their old offering as well. i hope this lives up to the expectations… i like the ingredients pretty much. although root beer is a 'brown soda' i do wish less companies would put caramel color in there. oh well. so this is not as distinctive as the Texas style, i will throw that out there first. it is good though, just in a more generic way. and i don't mean store brand generic here, i mean high quality, micro brew soda style generic. i can see the value in this move, make one soda that is a upper echelon for normal root beers and another that is a spin on that, taking it somewhere even better. the flavor is a little sharp yet not enough to be bothersome. the honey taste is not strong, but it seems to gain more prominence the more i drink of the bottle. that is a good thing as i enjoy honey highly. the actual root beer flavor is the strongest element of course and works with the rest of the things to create a solid beverage.
Ingredients:water, cane sugar, honey, caramel color, natural flavors, citric acid, gum arabic


Anthony's Rating: 88
User's Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
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Thunder Beast Texas Style American Root Beer

October 22, 2018
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 5:25 am
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: MD, TX, VA, online

Obtained in: mail order from company
Head: Large Sweetener: cane sugar, honey
Calories: 145 Sodium: 0mg
Carbs: 36g Sugar: 36g
Caffeine: No
Website: http://drinkthunderbeast.com/

i heard some time ago through Thunder Beast's facebook page that they had put out two new root beers, which is awesome news when you are me. and it should be for pretty much everyone as the old one was very tasty indeed. essentially they replicated that one though with a recipe without corn syrup and such things. i am in favor of that move for sure, especially as a person who was once super duper allergic to corn. i am not actually sure if they discontinued that one or just added these two as well. they still see the old recipe, as of today so i would assume they have three versions. nice. anyhow when they made the move to an all natural version, they also added another recipe, which is this one here. the website says it has a coffee and caramel taste, alright, let us see.
huh, yeah, it definitely does taste of coffee. actually i kind of hope it doesn't have actual coffee in it, as i have to go to bed in a very short while. but it is really good and a fine idea. the coffee is the biggest taste here but it blends with the root beer undertones well. i'll tell you something, when i drink coffee i expect it to taste like coffee ice cream, very sweet and very creamy, so the bitter edge of the actual taste of coffee is not always what i expect or think of. but that flavor is here. it works. the caramel flavor is there too, mellowing and smoothing out that coffee bitter edge. i don't really taste the honey which is a little disappointing but i am not sure how well a stronger honey flavor would blend with coffee anyway. the carbonation is spot on as well, not interfering with the taste, enhancing it with more texture and mouth feel. they have very successfully made a unique root beer here, in a very crowded field of other root beers. i am very excited to try the all natural one soon!
Ingredients:water, cane sugar, honey, caramel color, natural flavors, citric acid, gum arabic


Anthony's Rating: 95
User's Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
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Frostop Imperial Root Beer

October 8, 2018
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 9:13 am
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: AR, CA, ID, MI, MN, NV, OH, OR, WA, WV, WI

Obtained in: trades with Tony & Sagi
Head: Large Sweetener: cane sugar, honey
Calories: 140 Sodium: 40mg
Carbs: 35g Sugar: 35g
Caffeine: No
Website: http://frostop.com

it seems Frostop is trying to work both ends of the market, which is kind of great i must admit. wise even. that is to say, they have the red birch beer in the huge plastic bottles that is sold at a lot of dollar store type places, for $1 of course, thus trying to get the low budget market. then they have this stuff, gourmet-ish (if Eric will pardon my use of the term), glass bottle root beer for the higher end type market. PLUS there is of course their regular root beer in glass to hit that mid range consumer. and of course their restaurants, which i am not actually sure is in any way affiliated with the bottled soda company or not, but i will assume not for the sake of reviewing it at some point. (actually i was there about ten years ago and took notes and photos so i will have to dig them up to write that up soon, now that i think about it). anyhow, i actually traded for two bottles of this somehow, mistakenly. not that I mind exactly if it is tasty. it is made by Spring Grove but it is a totally different recipe than their own root beer, which is a relief.
i always drink most of the soda before i even look at the ingredients or look to closely at the bottle. and this one i could tell had honey involved after the first sip. actually the first sip was a disaster. i unscrewed the cap and heard no satisfying rush of air, which made me think i had to find that second bottle, but i took a sip and it immediately fizzed up huge, spraying all over my desk before i put my hand on top and stopped it. i don't get why that happens every once in a while. if you can explain, comment or write in.
moving on, yes, honey is in here. i like that, it makes for a smooth flow and feel plus it just taste good. beyond that though, there is not much to write home about here. it is rather standard. pretty good and more complex than their regular root beer, but not by a whole lot. mainly it is less syrupy, with the cane sugar instead of corn syrup and better overall ingredients. yet i wouldn't travel the world or too far to get another bottle of this one.
Ingredients:filtered carbonated water, pure cane sugar, natural and artificial flavors, pure clover honey, citric acid, preserved with sodium benzoate to preserve freshness


Anthony's Rating: 82
User's Rating: 81
# of ratings:47
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Ithaca Soda Co Root Beer

September 24, 2018
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 10:00 am
Type: Root Beer Comes In: 12oz glass bottle
Available: NY

Obtained in: Ithaca, NY
Head: Large Sweetener: cane sugar
Calories: 160 Sodium: 5mg
Carbs: 41g Sugar: 41g
Caffeine: No
Website: http://www.ithacabeer.com/

the old Ithaca Soda Co. Root Beer was reviewed almost 14 years ago at this point. i think i bought it once more after that so don't exactly know what it tasted like. i seem to recall it rated pretty highly though. recently i checked their ingredients and saw it had changed, so was super jazzy excited to try the new blend! woo! i do hope it is even better now!
the label is actually more generic and i think a downgraded in my rather humble opinion. it is even hard to figure out just what brand it is. although not it is "soda of the finger lakes" yet in all caps. but hey, i am no marketing guru or really any sort of guru i wouldn't say. perhaps a birch beer guru? yeah, that might be the extent of my guru-ness. or is it guru-ocity? guru-ality? guru-ittude? i like that last one best. whatever, i am just making all of those up i suspect.
although, as i said earlier, i don't recall the old taste of this drink, i don't think this is an upgrade. it is one of those drinks where the carbonation just takes over too much. there is a sharp initial mouth feel and a licorice/anise taste that quickly is taken over by the carbonation bite. it isn't really an awful thing, but i just get very burpy and it makes the drink less enjoyable. the actual taste is rather good, but i feel like i can't taste it for too long. as i drink more, i think it is mellowing out more. i am getting more of a vanilla taste creeping in as well. alright, this is a better beverage. yeah, it has calmed down significantly. more of a unique taste going on, there is also some sarsaparilla hitting me as i take the last couple swallows. i don't know what would make this more consistent, it is not like you can shake a root beer to mix it better without is causing a mess. hhhmmm… so in end, a solid job by the Ithaca people. i just wish the whole bottle was as smooth as the last third.
Ingredients:carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, potassium benzoate (a preservative), citric acid, natural and artificial flavor


Anthony's Rating: 91
User's Rating: 0
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