i am always leery of drinks that are entitled “root beer soda” or “root beer drink” instead of just plain “root beer.” for whatever reason it makes me feel like they are not quite saying that it is not really root beer. like when you get some candy and it says “chocolate (flavored) coating” with the “(flavored)” being in really tiny lettering. i am also leery of companies that seem to not at all mention their soda on their website. are they ashamed of it? should i then be scared of it also? or it is really just an afterthought to their beer selection?
so stuff was not stacking up for me to be excited about this soda i must admit. but it turns out, it is really good. i love the sweetness of this. it is quite sweet but without the sticky, syrupy sweetness of some sodas out there. perhaps the beet sugar is the way to go. and i always hated beets as a kid, so it serves me right somehow, vengeance by veggie! the flavor is solid also, not too much off the beaten path, i would have hoped they would throw in a little curve ball. but sometimes you just want the straight up solid root beer soda. it is creamy, very smooth, good carbonation that doesn’t sting. not an elite soda, but very good.
the design is ok, nothing special. there is a pen and ink drawing of a bunch of seemingly wooden buildings, pretty much built on top of each other. is it supposed to evoke thoughts of a mine? i have not been to many mines but none of them looked like that at all. the simple wooden construction makes me think “old west” for some reason but i doubt any cowboys built weird elaborate, 7 or 8 story wooden buildings. curious. perhaps i am overanalyzing it though.
so what is up with Michigan having all of these microbrew sodas lately? wacky indeed.
as i wrote this review a good year and a half or so before it posted, this is somewhat out of date. it seems in June of 2012 the Michigan Brewing Co went out of business. oh well. another defunct brand.
Anthony’s Rating: 92
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| Type: | Root Beer | Comes In: | 12oz glass bottle |
| Available: | MI | Obtained in: | trade with Jon |
| Head: | Medium | Sweetener: | beet sugar |
| Caffeine: | No | ||
| Website: | http://www.michiganbrewing.com | ||
Ingredients: carbonated water, Michigan beet sugar, natural and artificial flavor, benzoate (preservative)
I’m hoping this one’s actually available in the Detroit area; it’d be nice to know there’s a good brew available when I visit my folks.
When it comes to beet sugar vs cane sugar, once they are done being processed and are in the final form of sugar, They taste exactly alike and if you did a blind taste taste with them side by side, you would simply be doing a 50/50 guess.
It’s a shame their website isn’t there anymore. I’d love to order some but there’s no way to.
@Rick b You’d know the difference if you were cooking with them. They perform differently, especially in baking. I don’t think it makes a lot of difference in root beer, though.
Karen,
I dont agree, so I guess we will agree to disagree.
As far as cooking with them goes, I am a professional chef with 26 years experience and in all that experience I have 12-13 professional Baking experience.
I am now working as a private Chef doing business for myself, I go into people’s homes and cook for them. I am starting a website and it should be up and running by next week or sooner. http://www.rickthechef.com
I also meet some pro’s and read info that states what I said. But again, we can agree to disagree. Rick
And so we shall! I grew up on beet sugar because it was a cheaper growing up in Michigan. I know my aunt, despite being even tighter than my mom with the household budget (we’re talking ’50s and ’60s) always sprung for cane sugar when she baked and made candy; she said she got better results with it. I don’t think I’ve even seen beet sugar for sale here in NYC but if I did, I’d still stick with cane; it performs well for me and I’m not one to fix things that aren’t broken.
I’ll definitely check out your site when it’s up–I’m all about food!
I found this article and people on it do like us disagree.
But some of the people claim, we dont notice a difference. But when looking at various sites and replies, it comes down to this, Some like one over the other, others cannot tell a difference.
Me, I’m fine with either as it is sold here in MN and I use it.
http://www.home-ec101.com/beet-sugar-v-cane-sugar-august-2010/
Rick, Karen, This is an intriguing debate with a simple solution, a blind taste test, for SCIENCE!!!! I think I’ll set something like that up and post on it in a few weeks.