ah, another birch beer from the fine folks at Reading Draft! the third and final part of the holy triumvirate of birch beers has arrived! white? check! red? check! and brown? CHECK! yes indeed. they actually throw in one more variety which i will get to in good time also. there is a lot of pressure on this one, the red birch is probably the best of that class, while the white fell a bit short is also has the potential for excellence. can the brown birch also join the lofty ranks?
i will not keep you in suspense too long, i know you don’t like to wait. the answer is ‘yes, a thousand times YES!’ woo hoo! now, in my mind and by my reckoning, there is a scale of birch beers, which i have drawn before for some other review, with wintergreen flavor on one end and a more herbal, hearty taste on the other. white birches fall on the wintergreen side, brown birches on the herbal side with red birches in the middle. Reading Draft actually messes with this and has their red be the most herbal one and the brown be in the middle. which is fine, it just wrecks my whole chart is all… oh well, it is not like i got shirts made or anything. and since they do it so well i will forgive them. the flavor then, if you have not guessed, has a wintergreen kick to it, but not too heavy. it also has herbal elements, which blend with the mint very well. the sweetness is perfect, quite high, which i enjoy but not too much so. strangely, in the review of the white birch i talk of the carbonation being too high, this one has it too low, which is not really a terrible thing, but does take a point or two off. there is almost no head at all but you can feel the carbonation in your mouth and throat and all. i think i have more bottles of each of them so perhaps i just got a weird one for the reviews and i will note that later if so. i am very happy with this company and purchase, i may have to mail order more as it was quite reasonable indeed. my father in law liked the strawberry cream a lot if that matters to anyone. i thought it was vile dreck myself but what do i know about strawberry soda?
Anthony’s Rating: 96
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User’s Rating: 94
# of ratings:5
| Type: | Brown Birch Beer | Comes In: | 12oz glass bottle |
| Available: | PA | Obtained in: | mail order from Shady Maple Gift Shop |
| Head: | Tiny | Sweetener: | cane sugar |
| Caffeine: | No | ||
| Website: | http://www.readingdraft.com | ||
Ingredients: triple filtered carbonated water, pure cane sugar, natural and/or artificial flavors, caramel color, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preserves freshness)
This is pretty good stuff.
Unfortunatley I have not been too happy with this company. All of their sodas taste waaaay too fruity, and have really weak/cheap tasting flavors. All in all though this soda would be their second best offering falling behind their Creamy Red Birch which was amazing. Their Brown Birch is actually pretty darn good. I think it’s like 1 or 2 points behind Kutztown’s brown birch. I think I’d have to give Readings Birch an 82. It’s pretty good. The upfront taste is kind of weak but good; then the aftertaste is just pretty weird, gross, and great at the same time. The after taste tastes exactly like Moxie – and I like Moxie so I like this soda. I do see however that the average soda drinker probably would not like this soda, yet after drinking a few bottles I’m sure one could acquire a taste for this soda. It’s pretty good.