Root Beer (152 reviews)
Sure Fine White Birch Beer
Often and typically, when we Thirsty Dudes go to a grocery store, we skip by the "in house" brand drinks. It's not that they're bad. It's just that they are terribly similar and not too impressive.
Jay and I recently got back from a camping expedition, which many of this week's reviews will probably reference. While taking five from camping, we went to town and stopped at a local supermarket. There, Jay found this white birch beer. I bought it along with marshmallows and Tums for Jay's aching belly and we hit the road. When we got back to the cabin, I cracked that bad boy open, took a sip and pondered while the rest of the team took sips. It had a light birch beer taste off the bat then was followed by a cream soda taste and then at the end was a candy-like root beer taste. Yes, it was sweet. No, it was not naturally sweetened. It was still good at you can find that Sure Fine pretty easily around here. Keep an eye out and give it a shot.
- Website
- http://www.shurfinemarkets.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Sweetener
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 4/3/2011
Real Soda Lurch Birch
Danny at Real Soda knows how to make a quality frothy beverage. This is a top-notch birch beer with a nice amount of bite to it. For those not familiar with birch beer it is similar to root beer, but with a slightly different twist. It has a woodsier taste to it. The label design leaves something to be desired, but really that doesn't matter when you have a quality soda like this. I wish I had more to say, but I'm off to go see Off! play. Keith Morris here I come.
- Website
- http://www.realsoda.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 3/30/2011
Milligan's Island Awesome Root Beer
The name doesn't lie. This truly is "Awesome Root Beer." It's nice and creamy. Smooth like. It's also not crazily carbonated, which is a nice change of pace.
My only real question is, why does it say "Cane Sugar or High Fructose Corn Sweetener"? Do they really vary their recipe from batch to batch? I'm 99% certain I have a cane sugar version here.
I also love the label. It looks like it was drawn with colored pencils, which holds a certain charm for me. It also brings about the conversations of all time top five desert islands (fill in the blank). You know, these conversations that nerds like myself have all the time. Typically they are about records or books. I'm going to compile my desert island list of root beers in no particular order: Virgil's Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg, Weeping Radish, Gale's, Margo's Bark, and Sparky's. I know I will probably change this eventually, but as of now that's it right there.
- Website
- http://www.milligans-island.com/
- Country
- United States
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 3/28/2011
Dr. Tima Honey Root Beer
First things first Dr. Tima. Do you in fact actually have a PHD? If so, what field is it in? Are you like our hero, Dr. Peter Venkman, and hold a degree in Parapsychology? I have other suspicions. I believe that you, Dr. Tima, are actually a giant bee sent by your queen to overthrow humankind. Don't think I didn't notice that little picture of that man-bee on the bottle. I know that is actually you with a fake smile. Those eyes are plotting I tell you!
After a quick internet search, I have learned that if my intuition is correct and you are a bee hell-bent on destroying the human race, your lifespan is only 40-50 days. I will assume that this bottle is older than two months, which means that you my insect friend are now dead. How does it feel to be rotting? That's what you get for trying to start a revolution!
You may not have succeeded in your plans, but you did leave the world with one delicious root beer. Sure Thomas Kemper uses honey to sweeten their sodas, but it's mostly for sweetness and there isn't a huge honey taste. The now deceased doctor took it way further. The honey flavor is right up front in your face. For a little bee, he also took a lot of time to actually brew his root beer with wintergreen, vanilla, sweet birch, anise, cloves, and yucca plant extract. This is a serious root beer with an added sweet bonus. After drinking this I can only say that Tima surely was truly a scientist. He left this world with a little bit of golden heaven for our tongues to enjoy.
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Honey
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 3/26/2011
- Comments
- 4 Comments. Leave a comment.
Sioux City Root Beer
Sometimes times are hard. Money is tight. Your kid keeps crying. Your car gets a flat tire. You break your arm and don't have health insurance. The list goes on. Times like these make people turn to drinking. Hey, no need to reach for the hard stuff. Sometimes you just need a killer root beer. Everyone can agree, except for the Japanese, that root beer is pretty great. It accompanies most meals and is perfect for warm and cold weather. BBQ? Root beer. Carnival? Root beer. Funeral. Root beer? Sure. You can drink root beer at my funeral.
This root beer has enough bite that it's approachable for everyone and it's got a nice, cane sugar taste. All of Sioux City's "root" drinks are great and I would recommend them for everyone, including the Japanese, because they're people, too.
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 3/25/2011
- Comments
- 1 Comment. Leave a comment.
- Buy Now
- Sioux City Root Beer 12 Pack
Maine Root Sarsaparilla
Amazing. That is the first word that comes to mind when drinking this. Sweetness is perfect, the bite is good but not overwhelming, and it goes down smooth. But yet, it's not a smooth drink, it is kinda heavy but in that good root beer/sarsaparilla way. This is by far my go-to Sarsaparilla. I must have drank a half dozen bottles of these over the past couple months before I realized that I forgot to review it each time. It's just so good. It's hard to stop drinking it.
- Website
- http://www.maineroot.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Organic Cane Juice
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 3/21/2011
Mason's Keg Brewed Flavor Root Beer
In the movie Clifford there is this one scene that I just love. Mary Steenbergen is berating Charles Grodin for not liking children. Charles Grodin yells, "I love kids. As a matter of fact I have a nephew I'm very fond of". She asks him his nephew's name and he responds: "I want to say.... Mason. Clifford! Little Clifford!" I can't get that out of my head when I'm drinking this.
This hasn't gotten that good of reviews before, but I really like it a lot. It's very creamy and has almost a caramel flavor to it. Apparently the company that makes Dad's root beer used to make it. This seems like a much better version of Dad's. Way to move backwards. Oh and Clifford is criminally underrated.
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 3/20/2011
Zuberfizz Creamy Root Beer
Ah. What a lovely day out today. It seems like just yesterday I was wondering when I could stop wearing two coats and it seems as though today is the day. Today I ate two hot dogs (a summertime treat) and took a walk with my hoodie open. What a day. The sun wasn't out and I didn't have to squint. The bus was packed to the gills (even though a bus isn't a fish) with stupid teenage kids kissing each other for some reason, but I didn't care. I knew that at the end of it all, I was going to go home and get a cool bottle of root beer. I went through my pop, juice, "other", and found just what I was looking for. Just what was going to top it off? I felt like a dude who hates his job and just wants to come home and drink a low quality beer. But instead of hating his job, he's merely aggravated with it and instead of drinking a low quality beer; it's a medium to high quality root beer. Aside from those two minor details, it's basically the same thing.
This was good and it hit the spot. As advertised, it was creamy. Not too sharp and not too bold. This root beer is a safe bet with any root beer connoisseur. You can taste all of the flavors as intended and I actually thought that it got better as I got towards the bottom of the bottle.
That being said, I had to get ketchup across the street...and when I was gone, my girlfriend, soon to be ex-girlfriend, decided that she would finish my root beer. I got home disappointed to see that what I anticipated to be the best part of the root beer, much like the bottom is the best part of a sundae cone was gone. So it is.
- Website
- http://www.zuberfizz.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 3/17/2011
- Comments
- 1 Comment. Leave a comment.
Flashback Olde Time Root Beer
The label for this bottle screams "we're trying to be cute and retro, but really just bottled a mediocre root beer and called it olde time". I'm glad that this was not the case because I was excited to try this local soda (it's made in Seaside, Oregon).
The taste of this is really different than most root beers. To say this has a vanilla taste is an understatement. This reminds me of a root beer float with vanilla ice cream. Yup, that's it! And I love root beer floats. But sadly, this is no substitute for a root beer float.
Now I am really craving a root beer float. Why does it have to be 1am?
- Website
- http://www.orcabeverage.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 3/16/2011
Olde Brooklyn Williamsburg Root Beer
Dear Olde Brooklyn,
I marked this correspondence as private and personal, so I hope you took the proper precautions before opening it. I don't know how to tell you this without shocking your system, so I'll just come out with it. You have a spy in your product line. No, I don't mean a pointy nosed fella wearing all black or white. I'm talking about real deal espionage here. I would have called you, but I fear our phones may be tapped. This is serious business. Who knows how far their plants go into your company.
I blame the youth culture that has taken over the once fair neighborhood of "Billysburg." I believe they may have used their terrible sense of irony and love of PBR to work their way into your company. As far as I can tell, once they gained access to your factory, they found the barrels that you store your root beer in (Root beer is always stored in barrels right? Candy wouldn't lie to me!). They dumped out your supply of precious root beer and replaced it with root beer scented cola. While it may be a decent enough cola, and the little root beer that was left in the barrels flavored it slightly, it still clearly tastes like cola.
I can hear the sound of fixed gear bikes closing in on my office. I fear they may be on to me. I don't know what end these spies are working towards, but please use the knowledge I have passed onto you in whatever manner you see fit.
Sincerely,
I. M. Fletcher
ps. This message will self destruct in five seconds.
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 3/15/2011