ah, review number 500! whoa! fifteen (15) years plus since i started this site and added it to the many pages i was doing at the time. at the time i don’t think i expected this would be the one that would last. although, logically my zine was bound to die out eventually even if i never sold out myself. as was my record label. and “anthony’s most annoying of the web” seemed unnecessary after a bit, so many sites were annoying.
this is a soda i have been hearing about for years and years. it is a draft only soda that is carried at many restaurants and other eateries in the midwest. that is a very unique thing. i can’t say i know of any others in fact. some breweries sell kegs in addition to their bottled offering or else just offer the soda on draft at their locations, but 1919 is not unique to one chain or place. but i live no where near Minnesota or any of the places they served 1919 so it was just on my “wishlist” for a long time. one day though i got an email from a reader telling me that 1919 was selling pony kegs for home consumption! i immediately emailed them and got pricing info. being as it is a 5 liter can/keg, it is quite heavy so it is also costly to buy and even more so to ship. thus i put off the purchase. paying more than $20 for a single new soda is a bit much, even if it is a LOT of that single soda. then i realized review #500 was coming so i emailed them again more recently as i couldn’t find my old email and i figured costs probably changed in the intervening 5 or 7 or whatever years. i explained why i was ordering too, so they might be as excited as me. they responded by offering to send me a pony keg for reviewing! for free! whoa!! and they know how to ship this stuff. sent out on a Monday so it would not sit anywhere too long, packed with inches of foam and disposable ice packs all around it since it has no preservatives, it arrived very safe and sound and went right in my fridge
sweet to perfection. creaminess is just right. endnote of herbs which fades to a smooth vanilla mouth feel and a very happy anthony. this is for sure worth the wait and fully deserving of being review number 500! posting on my birthday too, nice! funny, i did not plan it that way at all. anyway… i envy the people who can get this easily at their local eatery or even bar. i might go to a bar if i could have a flagon of this fine beverage. what else to say about this? the head is marvelous, long lasting and majestic.
i wrote a lot more a couple months ago when i reviewed this but for some reason it got lost so i will try to update more soon.
Anthony’s Rating: 98
User’s Rating: 94
# of ratings:34
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| Type: | Root Beer | Comes In: | 5 gallon tank, On Tap |
| Available: | MN, PA, WI, online | Obtained in: | sent from company |
| Head: | Huge | Sweetener: | sugar |
| Caffeine: | No | ||
| Website: | http://www.1919rootbeer.com | ||
Now I really hope they change their mind and bottle it someday. I’m sure that I’ll track a keg down eventually but it would be nice to rate it against the other bottled brews.
Occasionally I can get these at my local grocery store for the price of 19.19
at one of my favorite pizza places (Black sheep Pizza),
and of course at the first place I have ever tried it the Minnesota State fair (multiple 1919 root beer stands)
I love 1919. It is the best root beer in existence. For the past 3 years I have been trying every type of root beer I can get my hands on.
1919 is by far the best. The flavor will blow your mind. It is very creamy and full of flavor. The carbonation does not overtake the flavor like some root beers do.
I seriously recommend going out of your way to try this stuff…it is worth every cent!
I was going to send you a private email, but under the comment section, it says closed.
Anyway, here in Minnesota, they have the largest candy store around. I just found out about it and saw in an article they are know for having lots of vintage sodas and tons of rootbeer.
It turns out they have 92 flavors of root beer alone, and over all about 200 types of soda. I came home with 41 sodas total, 35 alone were root beers I have never had. At some point in time, maybe 2 weeks or so, I will be posting photo’s of all this stuff on my food blog. Boy was I ever a happy camper. Rick
This is by far the best rootbeer I have ever had. It is creamy, with a great vanilla flavor, seriously hands down unmatched. If you are looking for a rootbeer that will knock you off your feet get a keg shipped out to you. You WILL NOT regret it!
I’m not as impressed with 1919 as you are, But I really think A and W from the little Burger places that pour it from the keg is some of the best I have had. Rick
I’ve had the great fortune of encountering this root beer in several restaurants now (one of which is close by and now sought after by me specifically for the 1919), but my overall impression after several tastes now is that it is a little narrow in the taste spectrum–a little simple, not as broad or full tasting as some others that I would rate higher (Sprecher’s, Hank’s, Eli’s). Still a great root beer with a great story.
TRY POPS IN OKLAHOMA FOR THE LARGEST SELECTION OF SODAS THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN
Pops in Oklahoma is pretty cool, when I did my road trip I stopped in there.
But if you want some serious soda finds, check out Minnesota’s largest candy store in Jordan MN. They currently offer 155 types of root beer alone. The only problem is, they are a seasonal store so they are not open in the winter.
Since Drew Fisher’s post about Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store, aka Jim’s Apple Barn in Jordan, MN, the store has doubled in size. MASSIVE selection of root beer, not to mention every other crazy soda out that AND candy. But FYI: They don’t sell 1919…
1919 is produced by Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm. They’re actually world renown as one of the best brewers in existence and their root beer goes to show it. 1919 is limited, along with all their other beers, on purpose. Widely available in my Minnesota bars, only on tap, and also available at fairs and in some stores in kegs, 1919 has a simple, maple sweet, dark and rich flavor with little head, yet the perfect carbonation beneath its dark surface. If you don’t like it at first, try it again later. I grows on you like no other. Simple unique and simply right.
This root beers good. But I can only give it a 90, definitely nothing higher than that. It has a solid smooth vanilla flavor. It does have this almost burnt-caramel corn after taste that tastes just like Iron Horse root beer, but pulls it off better and is not so strong. All in all it’s good, but I’m not seeing what the hype is all about.
I believe they are selling this in cans now.
We get it in 12 pk 16oz cans and is the best rootbeer ever.