Root Beer - 223 Reviews

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.

Kutztown. This. Is. Awesome. I don't know why I mentally wrote you off. Did I do something in the past that made me think you weren't good? If so, I'm sorry because this sarsaparilla is top notch. Top notch. It's got such an earthy, rich flavor. I stupidly/politely gave everyone else a nice 6oz. each of this because it in it's entirety was a whopping 24oz. Leaving me with only 6oz to do this review. Had I known in advance how good this was ahead of time, it would have been Sipsville for those jerks I work with and Kutztown for me. I feel like I can taste everything in this from the classic root beer root flavors to whatever the heck makes sarsaparilla. It tastes homegrown and handmade, like there is some feeling to it.

Seriously, this is awesome. This is a "Oh, I'm in Pennsylvania? I've got to search and find and buy some Kutztown sarsaparilla." Every sip is as good as the last. It doesn't get old. I wish that I could keep this on ice and enjoy it until my teeth fall out. Mmmm, that's a bit too much. I like my teeth. I'll just say that I like this stuff, a lot.

A part of me wants to hate this out of principle for putting caffeine in root beer. But then, every time I drink it I'm reminded of how good this is. Bawls is known for their energy drinks, so it's no surprise that this is basically a root beer energy drink. As far as energy drinks go, it's really good! It doesn't have that acidic taste that most have. On the root beer side, it's a decent root beer. It's a light root beer taste with a very nice "froth" to it. I also love the bottles Bawls uses. The raised bumps seem weird at first when you're holding the bottle, but I've come to really appreciate them for doing something different. More companies should get creative with bottles like this.

I am enjoying this root beer by Thomas Kemper much more than the one with high fructose corn syrup in it. It goes down really smooth and has a very traditional root beer taste. This also has honey in it, but it's not as prominent as it's HFCS counterpart. So my advice to Thomas Kemper: ditch the original line of root beer and just make this version of it. It's so much better.

*Note: Just like the other Thomas Kemper root beer, I'm giving this three bottles even though this one is much better. The reason being is that in the grand scheme of root beer's, there's nothing special about this. It's a very average tasting root beer.

The first two flavors of Kutztown that we tried weren't that stellar. In fact they were on the badder side of the spectrum. At least they got birch beer right.
I always split up birch beer into two categories, and this falls under the "county fair" umbrella. It's super sugary and tastes like it should be a fountain soda. I feel like I should be drinking it in accompaniment with some fried dough on a hot summer night. Kids who are waiting in line to ride the camel or the elephant are just dying to get their hands on some of this sugary goodness. The carny that is goading you into trying to win an enormous stuffed animal for your girlfriend has an extra large cup of this hidden underneath the counter. He takes sips in-between spitting out the extra saliva from his Skoal Bandits. Sure it may rot out what little teeth he has left, but what does he care? He's living the dream, the carny dream. I like it, but I've never met a birch beer I didn't like.

This has to be one of the most complex root beers I've ever tasted. At first it tastes like any other root beer, but then a wave of flavors hit you. Some of the ingredients include: bourbon vanilla extract, anise, sarsaparilla, licorice root, birch oil, and wintergreen oil. There is a slight hint of the anise, but I wish it were more prominent. Natural Brew really knows how to make an interesting soda.

This is another local soda from Portland, OR. I had tried this when I first moved here but Thirsty Dudes was just an idea in my head at that point. Maybe it's because I'm drinking this on an empty stomach, but this is one of the heaviest root beer's I've ever drank. It has a really rich flavor. There is a hint of a honey aftertaste (one of the ingredients), but besides that it's a fairly run of the mill root beer.

Our friend Martin gave us this bottle of root beer to review. It's a pretty decent one. It has an initial taste that is reminiscent of Barq's, but then a really nice after taste takes over. It's made of natural root beer flavor, panama bark extract, hops, star anise, juniper berries and vanilla bean. I love a good root beer with a nice selection of natural ingredients. It gives the root beer a personality of it's own. The after taste is like no other root beer I've ever had.

As you may well know, the Thirsty Dudes are scientists. We are obligated by the scientific community to conduct experiments constantly. We barely have time to drink all of these beverages for you our loyal readers. This review is one such experiment.
Clear root beer is a strange, strange thing. You crack it open and the smell is there; the scent of a decent root beer. Tasting it is a different story. It tastes like the lightest root beer ever. My hypothesis was correct that the fact that it's clear really messed with my taste buds. I really believe that if it were brown it would taste more like root beer to me. So, so strange.

I sent a question in to the Root Jack website and they answered it in a video on their site and sent me two bottles to sample. Pirate root beer is an idea I can get behind. To make things better it is orange flavored and has vitamin c in it to fight scurvy.
It has an initial root beer flavor, but where the bite would be an orange flavor smoothes it out. I hope people don't take this the wrong way but it kind of reminds me of the "Burger King/Laser Tron Special". You know where you mix everything in the fountain machine together.
To put the top on it, it's jam packed with guarana to give you an extra kick of energy. This is definitely a unique root 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.

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.

"The granddaddy of all root beers." That's what the bottle says. One might be prone to question that statement, but do you know who backs it up? The Stranger in The Big Lebowski aka Sam Elliott. Now that is an endorsement I'm certainly not going to argue with. He's a man who's portrayed more than a handful of cowboys in his day, so he knows what's up with a good sarsaparilla.
It's exactly what a sarsaparilla should be. It has a slight bite that's not too overpowering, but it's definitely there.
If you have a problem with this, I know a certain mustache that will ask you if you want to take it outside.

It's official I've regressed back to ten year old me. It's Saturday night, and I decided to stay at home so that I could play Zelda. I'm totally not a video game guy at all. Ask Mike. I can't even drive straight in racing games. This game played on my nostalgia, and I'm hooked. I should probably get to the root beer.
This came in an awesome 22 oz bottle. In those 22 oz is some great root beer. They didn't go too crazy with the ingredients when they were thinking up this recipe, and they didn't have to. They got a simple root beer just the way it should be. It's smooth and flavorful. It's "kettle brewed" so I'm assuming that's a lot of their secret. Things tend to be better when they aren't made in industrial sized vats. Sometimes you're in the mood for a nice gourmet root beer and other times you want something more classic. When you're in the mood for the classic variety get yourself some Sparky's. You can thank me later. Now I need to go save the princess.

Root beer comes in two different varieties; good root beer and great root beer. Even the "worst" root beer is still acceptable. Since we've been doing this site, we've come across some really surprising and different varieties like some made with vanilla, cinnamon, clove, and licorice. What does it all mean? Drinking Mugg or Barq's just isn't the same as it used to be.

Although the Big Ben's birch beer was surprisingly good, this root beer is...less than. It's not bad, as I mentioned above, it's just a bit too standard and safe.

This is a root beer that I've been very excited to try. The story of it is that it was a seven-year-old's science project that he got help with his parents. They thought it turned out so well that they decided to market it and name it after their fostered dog, Margo. The best part is that all of the profits they make are donated to help shelter and rescue dogs. Now that's a story I can get behind.
You know what else I can get behind? Root beers that aren't afraid to take chances. It's been well documented that I really prefer root beers that are made out of natural ingredients over those made with root beer extract and such things. Margo's adds a few things into the mix, that I don't believe I've experienced. Cloves for one, so good. You don't really taste it in every sip, but when you do it's pretty fantastic. If it were in every sip, it may be too overbearing. One of the best I've had so far.

Blue Sky and Hansen's are both made by the some company. I don't really know why they have two different lines of pop, but they do.
This is a pretty standard root beer. It tastes like what I remember root beer to be like when I was a kid. I have to say that if I drank this back-to-back with the root beers I drank as a kid now, this would be worlds better. It doesn't have any added spices or roots extracts, just a general root beer flavor. When something like that is done right, like this is, it's nothing to scoff at.

"Woah!" That's what happened first. I said "woah". Why, you ask? Because when was the last time you tasted cinnamon in your root beer? Me? Never.

This is a gourmet root beer made by a gourmet chef. I don't care if I'm giving her more credit than she has on her business card because an element of invention and originality went into this drink. This root beer has a light, but crisp root beer taste and then, like a ton of bricks, cinnamon-town. It tastes like real cinnamon, too.

Do you know what the cinnamon challenge is? It's an awful but hilarious game to play with unsuspecting kids where you fill a cap of cinnamon with cinnamon and dare them to take down the whole thing. It's like eating sand and I've watched people puke, but they were drunk and stupid so it was either puke from the cinnamon challenge or puke from a gallon of swill beer. There is not this much cinnamon in the drink, but it tastes like real cinnamon and not whatever a fake cinnamon, or candy cinnamon would taste like.

There is also ginger which I think you get at the tail end that kind of cleanses your palate and a vanilla that gives it an earthy tone. It's good. It really takes you for a loop because it touches all bases. It would be a good dessert since it's got so much "sweet" going on. Not because of the sugar, but because of everything else. It kind of reminds me of if you ate an apple pie and there were no apples in it...but in a good way. I've already recommended that my brother in Ames, Iowa buy some next time he's at the bar.

This took me by surprise. I thought a few things before I drank it. The first of which, who has ever seen, let alone heard of, clear birch beer? Not I, and I'd like to think I'm some sort of professional. Two was that it was a company I had never heard of and the pop was in a plastic bottle.

I. Was. Wrong. This was strong. Like mouth numbingly strong. It was like every sip was a burst of birch flavoring. I liked it. Re-buy liked. It was kind of like if you ate a mouthful of black licorice to the point where you tasted licorice for a while afterward. It was stagnant, but in a good, powerful way.

If you have the opportunity, try it. It only takes two sips to get used to and then you're hooked.

*After this review we realized that all of the Big Ben birch beers were the same flavor, just different colors. So I changed the picture. Red, white and blue. It's like our country was founded on this soda.

You gotta love when small breweries make their own root beer. I feel like more care is just put into the brewing of the soda. You know that little bit of love that makes you feel good about drinking it. Weeping Radish knows what I'm talking about. They have slightly irregular sized bottles, and the labels look like they were put on by hand. I appreciate those little things.
This is definitely a stand out root beer in my book. It's not overly sweet and it has a slight dry soda taste at first. It also has a slight anise aftertaste. In normal everyday life anise is like poison to me, but put just a little bit into a root beer and it can be extraordinary.
I feel like I should be slowly sipping this while hanging out at a campfire with some friends. In honor of that I'm drinking it out of a boot shaped glass. I don't know how they fit together, but they do in my head.