Filbert’s Old Time Quality Diet Root Beer

February 27, 2012
Filed under: diet root beers — anthony @ 1:31 am
Type: Diet Root BeerComes In:12oz glass bottle
Available:IL, onlineObtained in:ordered online
Head:TinySweetener:saccharin
Caffeine:No

i reviewed the regular root beer from Filbert’s long ago. funny as the place i ordered it from is no longer in business and the place i ordered this from stopped doing mail order kind of in the middle of processing my order resulting in me only getting about 1/2 of what i ordered. that of course meant i got all of the diet sodas and only one regular one. oh well, i will just have to find another way to get the others i guess. more questing…
i was immediately struck by the label on this bottle, it seems almost fake, as if someone photocopied a real label onto regular paper and glued it on bottles of their own stuff. it is like at the local flea market where the people have bootleg cds with color photocopies of the real covers. but this is actually quite clear and precise so i am sure it is really what it says it is. it is just a very matte finish look, unlike any other i have seen, except maybe a couple of home brews i have had. i doubt this would stand up to water in any way. oh well.
i am always shocked when i see anything made with saccharin these days, i thought it was found to be both disgusting and not good for you. it served its purpose in 1977 to flavor Tab or whatever but there are better options these days. but perhaps not in the mind of Filbert’s.
frankly this is not good. as i expected it would not be. it tastes awful in that way only a diet drink can, very harsh and metallic and bitter. i would never buy this if i could not drink sugared drinks and especially won’t while i still can. their regular soda is tasty though, so check that out. plus the name “filbert’s” is pretty cool for some reason.
Ingredients:carbonated water, sodium gluconate, carmel color, sodium saccharin (8.9mg per fl oz), natural & artificial flavors, sodium benzoate (Preservative)

Anthony’s Rating: 18
User’s Rating: 0
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Fiesta Root Beer

February 20, 2012
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 1:41 am
Type: Root BeerComes In:2L plastic bottle
Available:AZObtained in:trade with Cosmo
Head:SmallSweetener:high fructose corn syrup
Calories:180Sodium:22mg
Carbs:44gSugar:44g
Caffeine:No
Website:http://www.bashas.com

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
User’s Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
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Meijer Root Beer

February 13, 2012
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 1:47 am
Type: Root BeerComes In:12 oz can
Available:IL, IN, KY, MI, OHObtained in:trade with Jon
Head:MediumSweetener:high fructose corn syrup
Calories:180Sodium:10mg
Carbs:44gSugar:44g
Caffeine:No
Website:http://www.meijer.com

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
User’s Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
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Cold Spring Premium Root Beer

February 6, 2012
Filed under: root beers — anthony @ 1:04 am
Type: Root BeerComes In:12oz glass bottle
Available:MNObtained in:local Aldi market
Head:LargeSweetener:cane sugar
Calories:160Sodium:35mg
Carbs:40gSugar:40g
Caffeine:No
Website:http://www.coldspringbrewery.com

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
User’s Rating: 0
# of ratings:0
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