ah, another one of the elusive Avery’s varieties! i really should just go up to the plant sometime and get the rest of them, it is only a couple of hours’ drive away. i have driven through or at least very near New Britain many times in the past couple of decades but i just always forget that Avery’s is there. oh well.
i do very much like their style though, very classic and old school. all of the bottles and labels are the same, flavors are revealed only on the cap. what i don’t quite get is that the label tells of them making gourmet soda for over 100 years using cane sugar but the ingredient list on the cap says “sugar or corn sweetener.” so which is it good Avery folks? it does matter to some people.
the color of this drink is unusual for a sarsaparilla. at least in my head i expect sarsaparillas to be dark and hearty and so on but this has a weak beige color, almost yellow. and yes, it does sort of look like urine i guess.
so how does it taste? eh, ok. rather weak and unimpressive, as the color may indicate, sort of. yes, i know the flavor intensity and the color intensity have no real connection whatsoever, but it is an association in my head for whatever reason. cultural influence i imagine, more clear things are more “pure” and less flavored? i don’t know. i would not say this tastes like any other sarsaparilla i have had. it is light with just a little bit of an earthy, herbal tone along with some sweetness. as such, i feel like it is a drink to have after mowing the lawn or something, it will refresh more than it will be savored. which is fine and there is a place in the world for that. but it is not something i really love.
Anthony’s Rating: 75
User’s Rating: 76
# of ratings:1
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| Type: | Sarsaparilla | Comes In: | 12oz glass bottle |
| Available: | CT, online | Obtained in: | mailorder |
| Head: | Small | Sweetener: | corn sweetener, sugar |
| Caffeine: | No | ||
| Website: | http://www.averysoda.com | ||
Ingredients: carbonated water, sugar or corn sweetener, caramel color, artificial flavor, gum acacia, citric acid, preserved with sodium benzoate
A 75 is what I too give this drink. It is nothing specular, yet it does have a decent sarsaparilla flavor. It’s downside is how it has this minty/bitter aftertaste that I do not like very much. The whole reason why it states “hfcs or sugar” is due to how they are using generic bottle caps. Don’t worry they do use cane sugar, it’s just that the caps are not specially made for them. The caps are made for any soda bottler to use, so if a particular bottler uses hfcs then they can use these caps.
…..and if I’m not mistaken, I remember trying their sarsaparilla the first time and it was a deep brown color. It tasted much better than this clear one and had more of a licorice flavor. I then ordered a case and was sent this clear crap. I tasted and it was not the same as the brown style I had tasted previously. I contacted Always Avery and they swore they had never made a brown sarsaparilla before. So, I am depressed that I’ll never get to try their brown version again as they state it never even existed!!