i am fully a fan of what this company is doing. they are expanding the root beer world really, innovating and creating whole new types of soda in a way. each batch of their soda spends at least a year in a charred oak barrel! now, i don’t know if that is before or after carbonation, i would assume before really. or maybe just the syrup is aged? it doesn’t sound like it. in any case, it seems quite complex and involved. i had heard tales of this brewer from Sagi, who seems to have his ear to the pulse of most new root beer happenings, quite a while ago. i believe there was some incident where all of the batch went bad or something and it wasn’t discovered until it was opened after the year of aging. but i could be dreaming that or just making it up. in any case, i am glad this is around and i do hope they keep making new types of things.
although it says it has caramel color, i am suspicious of that as this is the color of cheap, watered down apple juice. i don’t mind that personally, the less added color the better in my book. it is made with 25% brown sugar and 75% white sugar, so I am expecting a good brown sugar taste, but not too much. i think i’d prefer a strong brown sugar taste personally but whatever. there is no real info on what the spices and junk that are in here on the bottle, but the website says it has ‘ Madagascar vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and “allspice”.’ i do not know why allspice is in quotes though. i can taste the cinnamon a little, the nutmeg a touch but not really the vanilla or allspice. the brown sugar comes through a little, but again, i would want more of it. it has a light taste, as i figured it would. nothing really complex or developing or too unusual in the flavor either. it is fine. i hoped for an ‘oaky-ness’ to come through somehow. or maybe a char sort of taste but there is really nothing like that here. i will drink the rest of the case i got but i won’t rush to do so.
Anthony’s Rating: 82
User’s Rating: 72
# of ratings:1
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| Type: | Root Beer | Comes In: | 12oz glass bottle |
| Available: | CA, online | Obtained in: | online somewhere |
| Head: | Medium | Sweetener: | sugar, brown sugar |
| Calories: | 150 | Sodium: | 35mg |
| Carbs: | 41g | Sugar: | 41g |
| Caffeine: | No | ||
| Website: | oakcreekbarrelagedsodas.com | ||
Ingredients: water, sugar, brown sugar, natural & artificial flavor, caramel color, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate
I don’t remember exactly what I gave this one, but it was around a 70-75 (like their normal root beer). I’m not a fan of the “blonde” style root beers, but I like the idea. If I ever run into a really really good one, then I guess I could buy a case for my soda machine. However, this was just decent. Can’t remember if I liked it better than their original root beer or not. But the flavor that was present was well done…but it’s just not for me. It’s got that “light” flavor. Kind of the “Crystal Pepsi” of root beers I guess. Not bad, but not something I’ll buy ever again. Oh and yeah, what the heck does it mean by “aged”? They probably are aging some of the vanilla or other natural ingredients. I know A&W says they use aged vanilla; so this is probably what Oak Creek too means by “aged”.