Joe’s Steaks + Soda Shop Birch Beer

frankly I am not sure this is really their own birch beer, or just some wacky concoction they whip up combining Dr Pepper, root beer and cherry syrup or something, but even if it is, I suppose that makes it their own recipe in the end. the tale behind this is my wife was going to a work even in Philadelphia so invited me along. she was busy all day Saturday so I tried to find things to do. of course the top of that list is to try to find new sodas. as I am not all that far from there anyway I have gone to all the breweries or other such locations I can find that had their own root beers and also seemed to have had all the bottled or canned stuff I came across. but then I stumbled upon this place, a soda shop when I was looked for my second choice of activities, finding a good vegetarian/vegan cheesesteak. birch beer is listed among their “specialty sodas” and root beer in their “flavored sodas” section. I probably should have asked my waitress how that worked but I enjoyed the mystery of it so perhaps I will just call them at some point and inquire that way.
I ordered my vegan cheesesteak sans mushrooms and a birch beer and settled in with my audio book for company. surprisingly the soda seemed to in fact be a birch beer as it had the requisite wintergreen flavor in the mix. beyond that it was a sweet drink, hints of herbs and root type notes layered in but on top was a more fruit flavor. I seemed to get a little bit of a sassafras taste in there among it all. the carbonation was quite spot on as well. sometimes when there is a fruitiness to a soda it does not work but it seemed to do ok in this one, blending in well with the rest of the mix. it wasn’t the best birch beer I’ve had but was far from the worst. it was somewhat unique but overall wouldn’t compel me to go back again for more.

Anthony’s Rating: 74
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