Keuka Brewing Co. Red Barrel Root Beer

I didn’t realize this brewery bottled their root beer until I saw it from Brad. so kudos to him on finding another bottle to add to the list! the label has me neither excited or hesitant to try it. there is some sort of bare foot hillbilly guy perhaps doing a dance or running away while holding a jug of what appears to be poison in front of a very very large barrel which is not red but just a brown wooden looking thing. that is all fine, whatever. i would think there would be some sort of red barrel involvement here but it is not my label to design.
the ingredients have me intrigued but slightly more interested than turned away. vanilla bean, clove, ginger, cinnamon are all great things. malt extract is not. at least in my limited experience, i have yet to have a soda I enjoyed with malt extract. it is not a taste i like.
so popping this open, it immediately fizzed over and the head remained tall in the bottle. ok, not a problem, i had an eye on it so no mess was made. then i tried it. i’d rather not have, to put it bluntly. it is a super fizzy, harsh, very malty mess. i sense none of the ginger, vanilla, clove or cinnamon in here. the malt just takes over and the carbonation just burns. it is not sweet at all either. this is not good in much of any way, i am sorry to say. I can’t even make it through a whole bottle. I did want to like it and I hope they find people who do enjoy it but I don’t think it will appeal to kids, perhaps people who are designated drivers and enjoy malty tasting things?

Anthony’s Rating: 26
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Ingredients: water, cane sugar, caramel color, gum acacia, citric acid, and natural quillaia extract, malt extract, vanilla bean, ginger, clove, cinnamon. preserved with sorbic acid and sodium benzoate