so this is the last of my Australian sarsaparilla trade, alas, quite a shame. i know there are more sarsaparillas in the land down under so if anyone ever wants to trade me some, i would happily do it.
i suspect this may actually be the same as their root beer, just packaged and labeled differently for the Australian market where sarsaparilla is much more popular and prevalent than root beer. although when i bought and reviewed the root beer, it was imported from Australia, unlike now where they make a root beer in a more traditionally American style bottle. the bottle thing is a shame as this is one of the coolest bottles and bottle caps i have ever encountered. it has a ring which you pull up to break the seal and then peel back to separate the top of the cap from the sides. weird and hard to explain but very different and interesting. the bottle itself is also very fun, short and stubby with embossing. great touches!
this is definitely not your father’s root beer like you would expect but it may in fact be like your grandfather’s. it is very herbal and strong, much like i imagine Charles Hires and native peoples originally made it.
if it is the same as the root beer i reviewed a decade ago, i have come to enjoy the taste more as i quite like this. it isn’t incredible but it is different and interesting while still being tasty. does this sort of invalidate my scale? perhaps a bit, older reviews and ratings may not correlate to my current feelings. tough bananas, brotha! (i hate tough bananas, when they are not ripe yet, such a tease. like you really want a banana but it is all hard and not even peeling right and you know you will get a bad tummy ache if you eat it so you don’t.)
the molasses is definitely up front here, along with the licorice. i don’t sense the ginger as much but the vanilla is in the background. plus the sarsaparilla is present through-out. it is definitely worth trying but probably not worth drinking every day.
Anthony’s Rating: 76
User’s Rating: 66
# of ratings:6
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| Type: | Sarsaparilla | Comes In: | 375 ml glass bottle |
| Available: | Australia | Obtained in: | trade with Daniel |
| Head: | Small | Sweetener: | cane sugar |
| Caffeine: | No | ||
| Website: | http://www.bundaberg.com | ||
Ingredients: carbonated water, cane sugar, sarsaparilla brew (water, sugar, molasses, ginger root, sarsaparilla root, licorice root, vanilla bean, yeast), colour (150d), acid (330), preservatives (202, 211), antioxidant (300) sarsaparilla flavor
They sell this at the local world market store, it’s pretty nasty. I gave this a low 30
I’m from Bundaberg. I think you’re right about it being the same as the root beer, but labelled as sarsaparilla for the local market. I also agree the ginger’s not noticeable, but it’s in the ingredient list. Australian tastebuds have a different expectation from sarsaparilla and root beer’s virtually unknown, probably because sassafras is not available here. I’m currently brewing my own root beer variations, which I’m enjoying.