i believe this is the last of the non-diet Reading Draft offerings. i may be wrong, there could be more of course. that Blueberry Birch took me by surprise, it is not mentioned on their website even. they are a company of mystery! my expectations for this were low since that aforementioned Blueberry Birch had left the most recent impressions on my memory. maybe that was a good thing since this is an excellent drink! i don’t think there really is a generic, expected “sarsaparilla” taste, at least not for most people. as the person i know who has had more sarsaparillas than anyone else, i will elect myself to set this as about the standard to which others should define themselves. although that is the beauty of sarsaparilla, which takes the free-form taste aspect of root beer even further, as, like i just said, people don’t have much preconceived notions of what it should taste like. thinking about how to describe the taste here, it is much like a spicier, carbonated version of a root beer barrel candy i suppose. i mean “spicy” as in “herbs & spices” not like “hot peppers” or something. it is better than i’d expect something with that description to be. it is not as sugary sweet for one thing. oh, it is sweet, but not too much. just right. if anything is wrong here, it is the fact that i don’t have any more of this. so yeah, it tastes pretty root beer-ish but with that spicy edge. think cinnamon, think of some kinda of hearty, herbal thing. good good. delicious comes to mind as a word to use in reference to this. i just learned of the word ‘rawsome’ and i will use it here and it will be contextually correct: “this soda is rawsome!” there you go, enjoy it. the word. and the soda. if you have some. or get some. of the soda.
Anthony’s Rating: 98
‘s rating: none yet!
enter a value below to rate this.
User’s Rating: 63
# of ratings:3
| Type: | Sarsaparilla | Comes In: | 12oz glass bottle |
| Available: | PA | Obtained in: | mail order from Shady Maple Gift Shop |
| Head: | Small | Sweetener: | cane sugar |
| Caffeine: | No | ||
| Website: | http://www.readingdraft.com | ||
Ingredients: triple filtered carbinated water, pure cane sugar, natural and/or artificial flavors, carmel color, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preserves freshness)
I do have an expectation of what sarsaparilla tastes like. I would expect more of a sassafras and wintergreen type taste (and nose) than a typical root beers licorice and vanilla type flavor and would not taste as rich and earthy but instead would have a “lighter” more bitter type flavor.
Dang this seems like it would taste sooo good! I hope they sell it in Southern California. I really really want to try this.
Hmmm…. This is one that I’d actually have to disagree with. So far, it seems that the Reading Draft brand has this sort of fruity taste to it. This sarsaparilla is no different. The sarsaparilla flavor is there and is kind of good; yet the fruity flavor is what really kills this drink for me. It’s ok, but I’d still have to say Baron’s is the best Sasparilla I’ve tasted thus far. It’s a 70 for me.
I gave this a try, not very good, very heavy on the black licorice along with mint. I could barely pick up any of the flavor I was looking for.