Gourmet (8 reviews)
Gray's Brewing Company Gourmet Root Beer
Wisconsin is a land of wonder. For some reason that state will always be a little slice of heaven for me, well besides the craphole that is Milwaukee. How can the rest of a state be so serene and magical and then it is mostly known for such a pile of filth. In the few times I have visited that city I’ve had a run in with suburban punk kids who thought they were nazis, watched a drug deal gone wrong and violence ensued, watched knives get pulled on people and various other activities perpetrated by degenerics. Then there are towns like Appleton that are filled with joy, wonder and amazing people. I got my highest score ever in Galaga at a Laundromat in Appleton. That is enough for me to love it forever.
I’ve been to many towns large and small in that incredible state, yet I have never visited Janesville, the home of Gray’s Brewing Company. It is another beer brewery that also puts out a line of sodas. If I’ve learned anything through my years at Thirsty Dudes it’s that you should pay attention when a brewery starts making some root beer. It’s usually something special. Gray’s knows that root beer should be stored in brown bottles; none of that clear garbage.
The root beer has a heavy wintergreen and licorice flavor to it. It’s a classic root beer taste that is better than the pops “big soda” puts out. That is a hysterical idea: big soda. Seriously though, the way this tastes is what I think of when I think of root beer. It’s not complex and there is nothing that particularly stands out about it, but it’s solid and that’s all you can really ask for.
Now Wisconsin, you should really think about kicking Milwaukee out of your state. Maybe IL would take them?
- Website
- http://www.graybrewing.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 8/8/2012
- Comments
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Deerfield Trading Company Gourmet Strawberry Cream
Recently my girlfriend has been obsessed with "Extreme Couponing", the show on A&E where mostly fat people buy processed food with coupons and get astounding deals. We watch it and I get frustrated because I used to work in a grocery store and it drives me crazy when cashiers scan the same item multiple times when they can just select a quantity, scan once, and be done with that entire idiot's cart full of 254 boxes of Yakisoba noodles. So she spends a little bit of time scouring websites and newspapers for coupons to save us some money.
Yesterday she bought like 10 items and had to split her order into like 3 or 4 transactions or the deals wouldn't come through. I purchased this drink and threw it in with her order. Without exaggeration, between her being considerate and letting other people go through in between transactions, some drug laden kids touching our kids feet, and the world's most apathetic cashier it took about a half hour from beginning to end to cash out. So was this drink worth it?
Short answer? Eh. Long answer. It was a good pop. Nice flavor. Not super, tooth decaying sweet. The "cream" wasn't all there, and I kind of wanted it to be, you know, the drink that I wanted it to be. It had a good, clean flavor; though, and if you're in the search for non-corn syrup, fruity pop, look no further than your local Walgreens. They have an array of flavors that I'll try in the future, but this is the first one that I did and I just hope that it goes up from here.
- Website
- http://www.walgreens.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 6/19/2011
- Comments
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Jelly Belly Gourmet Blueberry
Jelly Belly runs the jellybean game. Seriously no other company comes even close to touching them. They have single-handedly turned the candy into a year round thing, and not just an Easter time ordeal. When they stepped up and started making the gross ones from Harry Potter, my admiration grew even more. What's more fun then sitting in the dark with your friends so you can't see what jelly bean your eating, praying that you don't get wasabi or grass. Okay a lot of things are more fun than that, but it was entertaining for 15 minutes one night.
When I saw that Jelly Belly had expanded into sodas I was a little hesitant to try them. I thought they were going to be really strong and extreme. Of course like with most things, I was wrong. This actually tastes just like the blueberry jellybeans they make. It actually tastes like a blueberry, which can't be said for most fruit flavored pops. It's a little candy-esque, but in a good way. Let's just pray they don't start making Harry Potter flavors, or popcorn. Ick, just ick.
- Website
- http://www.jellybelly.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 2/16/2011
- Comments
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Hank's Gourmet Diet Root Beer
Hank's has yet to steer us wrong. I will admit that I've had this bottle of root beer for a decent amount of time. I kept putting it off because, let's face it, diet is pretty gross. It always seems to taste chemical some how.
Hank's must have spent some time in the lab working on this one, because I was actually able to make it through the bottle with little problems from my taste buds. Initially it actually tastes like root beer, and not just that generic diet flavor. That comes as a light aftertaste. When diabetes comes a knocking, and my sugar dreams all come crashing down, I'll make sure to order a case of this.
- Website
- http://www.hanksbeverages.net
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Aspartame
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 1/14/2011
- Comments
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Hank's Gourmet Birch Beer
Hank's just knows how to make solid quality sodas. There's really nothing out of the ordinary with the birch beer. It just tastes like Hank's spent the extra money and bought really high quality ingredients, instead of picking them up at Aldi or the Dollar Tree.
There is "fair birch beer" for kids and there is birch beer like this for adults. This is one time I'm going to accept that I'm an adult.
- Website
- http://www.hanksbeverages.net
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 12/17/2010
- Comments
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Hank's Gourmet Root Beer
I don't know what makes a gourmet root beer "gourmet". Is it that they add extra "stuff" to the mix and, in return, can call it "gourmet"? That's all they do with pizza. Maybe they put better ingredients in and get to call it that. Aside from whatever quillaia and yucca extracts, this root beer is pretty standard when it comes to ingredients. There is a pretty definite vanilla taste to round out the root beer taste, which is actually pretty nice.
I also found that I burped a lot with this drink. Good, heavy root beer burps. The kind of burps that you get yelled at by your mom when you burp in your room with you door closed and she’s downstairs. You know burping is "rude," but come on mom it's my room. If I can't burp there, where can I burp? That's what I want to know and now!
This root beer is good, and I appreciate the recommendation. We appreciate the recommendation. It's not terribly different from a lot of other root beers, but it's not bad by any means and you can tell that it's not a mass produced, garbage root beer.
- Website
- http://www.hanksbeverages.net
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 12/15/2010
- Comments
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Hank's Gourmet Orange Cream Soda
Another great soda from the Hanks company. A high quality creamsicle flavored beverage. My friend Kevyn hates creamsicles. Show of hands, how many people feel sorry for him? Not only does he not enjoy an amazing summer treat, but he also won't give this great soda a chance. It's a shame I tell you.
- Website
- http://www.hanksbeverages.net
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 12/10/2010
- Comments
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Hank's Gourmet Vanilla Creme Soda
A handful of our readers have been raving about Hank's root beer, so when I got home yesterday and there was a box of their sodas waiting for me I felt like a kid on my birthday.
I have yet to try the root beer, but this cream soda lives up to the hype. In fact I think it surpasses the hype. It is perfectly vanilla flavored, without being overly creamy. I may have felt like a child when I opened the box, but this is most definitely an adult soda. It's the kind of soda they should be serving at bars. There are people like the Thirsty Dudes out there who like to go hang out with friends, but don't drink alcohol. Pop out of the gun just doesn't cut it most of the time. So proprietors of bars take note!
- Website
- http://www.hanksbeverages.net
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 11/24/2010
- Comments
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