Ram: A Sheepish Kinda Root Beer

Some Root Beers exceed expectations and some aspire to be something they aren't, while others just never really manage to figure out what they want to be and embrace mediocrity as their norm. The latter description applies to the Root Beer brewed by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Fishers, Indiana and, unfortunately to the food, as well.

This past weekend my family and I managed to make it into The Ram after a previous attempt failed due to the large, early crowds. One of the main reasons I wanted to check the place out was their Big Horn "Soda" Root Beer and my wife wanted to see if their beer was any good...she's a Chemist who home brews, plus it was Friday night and the Man In Brown doesn't cook on Fridays. I almost wish I had stayed home and called out for pizza. It would have been a lot cheaper.

We didn't have to wait for a seat and the service was fairly good. During the ordering process I mentioned that I wanted a Root Beer and was informed that it was flat. That was a shame, since it was the real reason I bothered to show up. When I asked if they had any which was bottled, (as they advertise on their website) I was told they fill growlers...but, the Root Beer was flat and they were waiting for more. "No bottles?" Nope. But maybe they had tapped another keg of Root Beer that wasn't flat.

You can see where this is going? I have never had to work so hard to get a Root Beer at any place I've been to. It was like pulling teeth. Finally, it showed it up with my meal...in a non-frosted glass. Grrrrr...a minor enough faux pas on their part, entirely forgivable in most circumstances, except my wife got one with her beer...a beer she had to ask for twice.

So, I'm finally drinking my Big Horn "Soda" Root Beer and paying attention to it and....I'm not impressed. It had a nice aroma, a nice head, biting carbonation, slight sweetness, unremarkable flavour and no real body. It was...OK. Not bad, not great, it was just OK. Much like the food. Mediocre.

I ordered what was purported to be a "Kobe" Wagyu Beef Burger, a premium imported Japanese beef. One would think you would let a premium ingredient speak for itself and use nothing to detract from it. Nope. Not at The Ram. The burger, (cooked to perfection at medium rare) was slathered in an overly sweet and cloying "bourbon glaze". Even scraping it off didn't rid the meat of the taste of this artificial tasting glaze. Why anyone would ever think to cover a premium meat with something that covered the taste, rather than enhancing the flavour is beyond me. The rest of the family had Fish and Chips and Mini-Corn Dogs. It was exactly what you could have expected, more mediocre fare.

Am I sorry I went to The Ram? Nope. If I hadn't gone I would not have been exposed to their bill of fare and wouldn't know what to expect if I were to return. Now, I know. I probably won't be going back, since there are so many other places in my area which I have either not tried or are on my good food list. Despite a professional and open kitchen The Ram failed to deliver when the chips were down.

PS: My wife? She brews better beer. While I'm not a drinker, I am a taster and hers has better attributes than theirs.

Big Horn "Soda" Root Beer

Ingredients: A Secret

Aroma: Nice and light, nothing that really screams Old Time Root Beer, but easily identifiable.

Carbonation: A fine bubble with a biting edge to it. Nice.

Mouth Feel: Kind of watery, nothing distinguishing.

Root Beer Flavour: So-so. A bit of spicyness, but...again, mediocre.

Sweetness: Lightly sweet, the sugar came out when the Root Beer warmed up.

Head: A nice head. Ringed the glass for quite awhile.

Aftertaste: Very lightly sugary with no Root Beer flavour aftertaste.

Overall Taste: Not bad, not great. Mediocre. You can get better mass produced Root Beer in a bottle.

Score: A mediocre 4/10

The Good Captain

After my last experience with Goose Island Root Beer I needed something to wash that taste out of my mouth and memory. Looking at the Root Beers in my fridge I decided to pull out one I knew to be a winner in the taste category and get my taste buds back in the game.
The choice was clear to me. I reached in and grabbed a Capt'n Eli's Root Beer. Not too many Root Beers out there come with their own online comic book, as comics go it's pretty darned good, reminds me a lot of all those Johnny Quest cartoons I consumed as a kid. They also have a nice interactive website and online store to order their fine products.

Capt'n Eli's Root Beer is made by Shipyard Brewing in Portland, Maine and these guys know what they're doing. From the amber bottle to the great label artwork and the brew itself, the folks at Shipyard have managed to craft a Root Beer that has all of the right qualities, in the right amounts and it stands out from the rest of the market. They could easily have called this Admir'l Eli's and they'd have been right on. From the head and the spicy Root Beer flavour to the just right sweetness, this is a true, premium brew. Capt'n, my hat's off to you.

Let's get down to the review, although I feel it just cannot do it justice, you'll have to get up and go find one and drink it, to truly understand this Root Beer. If I could get Capt'n Eli's locally in the Indianapolis area it would become a staple in my fridge.

Ingredients: Water, Cane Sugar, Caramel Coloring, Natural and Artificial Flavors Including Wintergreen Oil, Anise, Vanilla, Spices, Herbs, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate as a preservative.

Carbonation: Nicely carbonated. It adds an enhancing kick to the spiciness. Too few brews manage this.
Mouth Feel: Not creamy, but not too thin.
Root Beer Flavour: A spicy flavour with a nice undertone of cane sugar sweetness.
Sweetness: Medium sweet not cloying in the least. Just right.
Head: Reasonable, medium length.
Aftertaste: Spicy with a slight vanilla tone that meshes well with the cane sugar taste.
Aroma: Sharp, spicy with a cane scent.
Overall Taste: Beautifully spicy with an understated hint of wintergreen . The anise combines really well with the wintergreen and the brew just makes your tastebuds sing.

Score: Capt'n Eli's gets a 9/10

The Politics Of Root Beer

Politics and Root Beer mix fairly well in my estimation. Root Beer came to national prominence during prohibition, the largest single statist example of social engineering by government we've experienced other than the Income Tax. So it was only fitting that the Root Beer Man himself do a poltical good deed.

I had an invitation to attend a meeting today for Mr. Mike Kole, a fine gentleman hoping to win the Libertarian Party of Indiana's nomination to run for Secretary of State of Indiana, and it was an invitation I was more than happy to accept. You see, Mr. Kole has a not so dark secret. He's a Rootie. That's right. The man likes a good Root Beer.

So, the Man in Brown took himself to a political meeting and brought along a little something to help christen Mr. Koles campaign. Mr. Kole's meeting was held at Claude and Annie's in Fishers, Indiana and the good folks there were happy to provide me with an frosty glass full of Mug Root Beer, compliments of the Kole campaign.

After all the hoopla and speechifying was done I pulled Mr. Kole aside and presented him with a not so rare vintage bottle of Boylan Bottleworks Root Beer. He was suitably impressed by the embossed bottle, as am I. Fortunately, none of the pictures with me in them were of sufficient quality to include here but Mike's picture is worth noting. He regaled me with his road trip tale from the Portland area and his introduction to Henry Weinhard's. If you're a resident of Indiana do yourself a favour and give Mr. Kole the nod on Election Day. He's certainly got my vote!

Finding A Wild Goose

Every so often I'll be somewhere by random chance and run into something nifty. That was just the case recently when I walked into a local Aldi's store. I have been in one of these places exactly twice now. After this experience, I may not go back again. I had dropped in to take a look and see what they had. Nothing really, other than 6-packs of Goose Island Root Beer for $2.99. Not a bad deal but I can see where they got the pricing on this. I might have got the worst of the deal.

Goose Island is a Chicago "Handcrafted" brew that says it is "Creamy Head Root Beer". The head isn't too bad, many others posses less longevity than this one. The Chicago part should have been my warning, tho. Not being a huge fan of Chicago I often seem to get things labelled "Chicago" that aren't very good. Perhaps it is the curse of Capone, who knows? This Root Beer certainly falls into that category. Other than the sugar taste Goose Island doesn't have a lot to recommend it. There just isn't a lot of flavour going on here beyond sugar. The scent is pleasant enough with subtle hints of licorice, wintergreen and light vanilla, the mouth feel is only slightly heavier than a Soda and the aftertaste is sugary, tho not unpleasant. Oddly enough the flavour in this Root Beer develops after it has warmed up to room temperature. Unfortunately, I dislike warm Root Beer.

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate and Citric Acid.

Carbonation: OK

Mouth Feel: Not too much thicker than a soda

Root Beer Flavour: Old Time flavour when you can find it. Not a lot, tho.

Head: Longer lasting than many.

Aftertaste: Sugar with a mild hint of vanilla

Aroma: Hints of wintergreen and anise or licorice. Mild vanilla.

Overall Taste:Not a lot.

Goose Island gets a 4/10 an abysmal D

He Shops And He Scoooores!

And score I did! I took a few extra minutes this weekend to drop into my local antique mall to see what might be there that was of interest to me. As usual it wasn't difficult. A few inexpensive cookbooks from the 40's and 50's (about $2 ea, on average) and the crowning score....a Berghoff 100th Anniversary mug in pristine condition for a price I considered a steal.

Given that the Berghoff will be closing it's doors come February 28th, 2006 it is a certainty that there shall never be a 120th Anniversary mug. That makes this acquisition special for me. I have never been to the Berghoff for a Root Beer, and now I never will sidle up to the bar and ask for a Berghoff Root Beer in one of their thick glass mugs and, as much as I dislike Chicago I wish I could have made it there to do just that.

Berghoff's has a line of bottled Root Beers and beer and I have seen no mention as to whether or not they will continue the bottling side of their business when they close the doors of the venerable old establishment. I currently have a 32 oz Berghoff's awaiting a good moment to quaff and review. And now I have the mug that it will reside in. A one of a kind, never to be seen again.

Next time, I may just have to pick up a couple of A&W mugs and the Frostop glass....and that oooold Hires bottle....

Prohibition Tested Hank's

Henry Weinhard's Root Beer bottle says: "Enjoy a truly great American Root Beer originally crafted by our master brewers during prohibition. This gourmet elixir, brewed with sassafras, vanilla and honey, proved to be a popular alternative for our beer-drinking loyalists.
Our tradition of providing only the highest quality beverages continues today in each bottle that bears our founder's name, brewmaster Henry Weinhard.
A gourmet Root Beer, hand-finished with only the freshest and highest quality ingredients."

What are those ingredients?

Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, vanilla extract, natural and artificial flavors, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate (preserves freshness), honey essence, acacia sassafras extract.

OK, let's get to it. I have a good news/bad news deal in this one. Good news? I like Weinhard's, this is a good Root Beer with an amazing head. Despite using high fructose corn syrup this brew is nice. Easy on the palate and quite tasty with a nice vanilla flavour enhanced by a very subtle honey undertone. It has a nice, full and creamy mouth feel and is drinkable. This is the one to use if you're a Root Beer Float fan! The head is the most amazing thing about Weinhard's. From the moment I poured it into my iced mug it developed this creamy and long lasting foamy head. There was still foam on this Root Beer when I finished the last drop. Amazing and so classically Root Beer! Kudos to the guys at Henry Weinhard's.

I also like their bottle cap blurbs. They add a nice touch to an already nice bottle and label.

Now for the bad news. This Root Beer could be so much better if they ditched the HFCS and replaced it with sugar. The HFCS is noticeable in this drink, for those who normally go in for the cane sugar sweetened brews. Weinhard's practically screams to be sweetened with cane sugar. That it is not sweetened naturally is a contradiction to their label marketing. It is not "gourmet", despite its great taste.

Somehow, I doubt Henry Weinhard used High Fructose Corn Syrup in his original. It uses, according to the label "acacia sassafras extract". Acacia and sassafras are two different things, each of which bring something different to the brew.

Slapping the gourmet label on something may allow you to get a higher price for your product but it does nothing for your products reputation. There are really too many artificial ingredients here for a true "gourmet" product as marketed on the label to hold true. That said, I’m going to have no trouble keeping a few bottles of this Root Beer in my refrigerator, it is a good brew and money well spent. I have had many Root Beers that cannot hold a candle to Henry's. It definitely gets a thumbs up.

Beyond this Henry Weinhard's is a good Root Beer and stands up against the many other brews currently on the market.

Carbonation: Nice and soft

Mouth Feel: Thick and creamy

Root Beer Flavour: Old Time flavour

Head: Amazing head. This should be the poster child for long lasting Root Beer Head. Honestly, it sets the standard!

Aftertaste: As with most good root beers it has a lasting aftertaste. Not cloying at all. Nice vanilla with a hint of honey

Aroma: Easily identifiable as Root Beer. Vanilla scent is not too overpowering.

Overall Taste: Nice balance of vanilla, honey taste and acacia, which is almost invisible.

On the Michael scale Henry's brew gets a guarded B- 6/10

Welcome to the Jungle!

So, cabin fever finally sets in for the family last weekend and we decide that you can only sit around and play Civ IV or Splinter Cell so much before your brains turn to mush. I make the suggestion that we should go “somewhere”, specifically we should bail out of the Indianapolis area and do a road trip to Cincinnati and visit our favourite purveyor of fine foods and other comestibles such as, oh, I don’t know….Root Beer?

And therein lays the tail of our most recent foray to Jungle Jim's, the finestkind market for whatever you want in the Midwest. No, let me correct that, in the USA. I have never, in all my travels seen anything to compare with Jungle Jim’s. To call it a grocery store would be akin calling Costco a convenience store. Going to the Jungle isn’t shopping, it is an experience. Thank the gods I don’t live in Cincinnati, I’d never get anything done as I would spend my days wandering the aisles at Jim’s.

You are looking at 6 acres of inside space and, as I recall almost 79 acres planned, including the outside space and additional future features, including a tram. Their produce section alone is over 1 acre!
While the fresh, raw peanuts were of interest to me (I bought, boiled and devoured about 3 lbs...so much for the low fat, low cholesteral thing for the past week) and the beer section was of intense interest to the wife, it was the soda section I longed to visit. One thing to note here, since I mentioned a Beer/Root Beer connection. I have come to the conclusion that companies which make beer should NOT make Root Beer. So far every beer I have tasted by a Root Beer maker sucks. And, in one case....*cough*...TommyKnockers....*cough*.....their beer is not good, ditto SeaDog. Here's Michael's Rule #3, "Stick with what you know!". Now, back to our blogging!

After collecting beer for my wife, some produce for us all and stunned wandering we made our way over to the Soda area. Heaven. While the Premium area is really one side of one aisle it is chock full of enough goodies to make a Root Beer and Soda lover dizzy with delight. Old favourites, classics like Kickapoo Joy Juice and Grape Nehi, relatively unknown regionals like Bennett's Big Bear and more. Down many of the international aisles you can find Soda's from foreign lands like Thumbs Up from India. On this particular jaunt I managed to get out with a host of new and old for my tasting pleasure and your blog review reading. Well, mostly for my tasting pleasure, (I hope, as I have been burned before!). While I usually keep only cane sugar drinks about for my pleasure and a few of these contain HFCS…who knows? One of them could actually be a gem and you never know till you taste them!

In coming posts you will get to see my haul, one by one. Berghoff's, Captain Ely's, Seadog, Dad's, Frostie, Thomas, Kemper, Big Bear, A.J. Stephens, Milligan's Island, Faygo, Sparky's and Henry Weinhard's. I also have quite a few non-Root Beer Soda's for my other blog, The Soda Pop Blog, (coming soon to an Internet near you!). These, along with a fair number of Root Beers already in my possession bode well for my tasting and blogging!


See ya shortly, kind readers! I have some refrigerating and drinking to do!

A Boylan Update

For the all the surfers out there I want to give you the web address for Boylan. They have a really nice site, (incredibly hard to find if you were to just Google it) that is chock full of information and background on the company. This was and is a family owned business that was turned around by the descendants of the companies owners. Boylan's site is a nice place to navigate around and reflects the same quality as one finds in their sodas and Root Beers.
I did discover that their Natural line is a new addition and is likely in a location near you, (Wild Oats carries it) and heralds their entrance into the premium beverage market. All natural ingredients DO make the difference in their product. While I like both the vintage Bottling Works Brand and the Natural Brand, tha Natural will win out every single time in my book.

A big thumbs up to the folks at Boylan's!

A Tale Of Two Root Beers

"It was the best of Root Beers, it was the worst of Root Beers". - Chuck Dickens

Or words to that effect. The problem is that so many Root Beers are the same, in all too many cases. Take the case of Boylan Bottling Company and their Root Beers. Unbeknownst to many out there they have started to make 2 different Root Beers, other than regular and diet. One I have found at Wild Oats and the other I have found at the usual places. The Wild Oats version is a "Natural" Root Beer and lists the following ingredients:

Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Pure Essential Oils Of Sweet Birch, Cinnamon, Sassafras And Anise, Extracts Of Bourbon Vanilla, Yucca And Licorice, Other Natural Flavours And Spices, Caramel Color (From Cane Sugar), Citric Acid. The bottle boasts a different tagline: From Earth and even sports a different company logo. Unlike the "regular" bottles withe their "Boylan Bottleworks" labelling the Natural sports a label saying "Boylan's". That's quite a departure, in my view.



The "regular" Boylan with its "Best Head" tagline lists its ingredients as:
Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Natural Yucca Extract, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness).



So, we can see that, according to the ingredients list there are differences. I do hope this is a "scoop" where other reviews are concerned, I have seen no mention of the Natural anywhere else and I have looked. Are they the same? Nope. Not really. The tastes they put forth are subtly and flavourfully different. Both of these stand out from other Root Beers and stand on their own against each other.

So...let's take a look at the reviews.

The Boylan's Natural

Carbonation: Better than a soda. Nice large bubbles that convey the thickness of the brew.
Mouth Feel: Not creamy but thicker than many brews.
Root Beer Flavour: Old fashioned flavour undertones of sassafras, birch and a nice bourbon vanilla taste.
Sweetness: Not too sweet. A nice cane taste that speaks of carmelisation.
Head: Nothing to brag about. The head is OK but only lasts about 20 seconds.
Aftertaste: Complex, the vanilla stands out but there's a sassafras undertone that lingers, too. Not cloying.
Aroma: A mellow Root Beer Aroma with a great Bourbon vanilla scent that doesn't overpower.
Overall: What could be a nicely complex and flavouful brew is overshadowed by the vanilla, which dominates this root beer. There is a very subtle sassafras undertone that should be much more upfront and in your face.
All in all a decent root beer. Give it a 7/10 or a B+.

Now for the regular Boylan Bottleworks Root Beer.

Carbonation: Not as good or long lasting as a regular soda but largish bubbles. The bottle clearly states "Best Head" and this is sadly not true.
Mouth Feel: Not creamy but thicker than a soda. It's a decent Root Beer mouthfeel.
Root Beer Flavour: Not a load of Root Beer flavour but lots of vanilla.
Sweetness: Too sweet in the aftertaste but not unpleasant.
Head: 20 seconds. Very short lived despite the claim of "Best Head" on the bottle.
Aftertaste: Vanilla and caramelised cane sugar taste. The vanilla flavour sticks around and almost become cloying after a while.
Aroma: Vanilla and cane sugar the dominant aromas in this brew. The scent does not scream Root Beer but is still easily ID'ed.
Overall: The cane sugar taste is nice and, along with the vanilla dominates the brew. It is not overly complex but is a nice brew. Gets a 6/10. A solid B-.

My recommendation? If you ca find the Natural it is the better brew of the two. The regular Bottleworks brew is a good bottled Root Beer and won't disappoint, but the Natural will make you feel good.
Boylan's bottles are nice to look upon, as well. The upraised lettering, painted on labels and amber glass speak to the companies committment to quality.

Things Now Gone.

In my first post I spoke about Barq's Root Beer and some of the places that I associated it with. One of the first was a place called the Dog House, Jr. The Dog House is long gone but at some time somebody made a rather lame attempt to revive what was once a regional icon. There was no better place on the Gulf Coast (possibly in that section of the South) to get a chili dog. They came in a wide variety. Plain dogs, chili. Chili with cheese. And all the usual toppings. Once your dog was assembled it went into a sandwich steamer for a quick press and a softened bun and melted cheese. Get a dozen, slap them in a cooler and off you went.
Why the original closed up will always be a mystery to me. But one thing isn't. Never try to follow in perfections footsteps unless you know you can do better. Anything less than the original is unacceptable. And so it is, or rather was with the Dog & Burger House. I don't know if it survived the recent devastation in Gulfport that was wrought by hurricane Katrina. In fact, I don't care if it did. Better that it went into the gutter of history before another day passed with it riding on the esteemed coat tails of an legend.


One other place will be greatly missed. The finest seafood on the Gulf Coast was available at the White Cap Restaurant in Gulfport. The White Cap had....has...been in Gulfport at the Yacht Harbour as long as I can remember.


The White Cap sat on the Gulf side of the Yacht Harbour. While you were enjoying your meal you could look out upon the Gulf of Mexico, John Moses Pier or see the ship channel and watch the banana boats come, go and unload. The White Cap boasted thatthey had the best seafood platter on the Gulf Coast and it was not an idle boast. The Seafood Platter contained Stuffed Crab, Jumbo Shrimp, Bay Scallops, Oysters, Fish Fillets, Crab Fingers, Fries (or New Potatoes), A Side Salad and Hush Puppies. Do I even need to mention that it was all fried to golden perfection? All for $15.95. Add an order of Oysters on the Half Shell and a Barq's and you have a slice of heaven for the you spent there.
I've seen the satellite pictures of the Gulfport Yacht Club Harbour. It was scoured clean by the storm and, as far as I can see nothing remains. I, and my family can only hope that the kind folks who owned the White Cap decide to spit in the face adversity and rebuild a Gulf Coast icon. I look forward to the day my family and I, once again walk through the doors and set ourselves down for a memorable meal in the best damned restaurant in South.


Ya'll come back now, y'hear?

The Tale of Frank and Roy

Back around 1919 a man named Roy Allen opened a roadside Root Beer stand in Lodi, California for a veterans parade, a common enough thing in those days when folks walked, took a trolley or drove a slow car and went to parades to honour their neighbours service. Apparently, Roy found himself with an instant hit on his hands!

He had purchased his recipe from a pharmacist in Arizona, according to A&W historians and that was the start of an American Root Beer revolution. The following year he opened a second stand in Sacramento and along the way he hired Frank Wright, a man who would very soon become his business partner in an American Dream. At the time Roy opened his Lodi location he charged only 5 cents for mug of his creamy, frosty sensation. Quite a deal considering the size was a solid 10 ounces. Drug store competitors charged a nickel for less soda in most locations around the country.

In 1922 Roy and Frank became partners and the Root Beer changed it’s name from Roy Allen’s Root Beer to the now well known A&W, for Allen and Wright. And there it has remained till this very day. A&W pioneered the drive-in with car hops in 1923, setting the stage for our modern fast food, drive-thru society

A lot has changed in the intervening years since Roy and Frank began their business. When I was a boy I remember going to the A&W in Meridian, Mississippi with my mom and aunts. It was a real drive in, virtually identical to the one pictured here.

On hot Southern days we would sit in the car or at one of the outside tables and enjoy a nice cold mug of A&W Root Beer that had been made on the premises. I can clearly remember walking through the screen door into the place and smelling the fries, burgers and hot dogs of that now long gone place. Surrounded by tall trees that provided shade to all the folks who drove in to sample the fare, the A&W was just across the way from the Matty Hersee Hospital on 8^th Street. Around the corner was the Borden’s Ice Cream store, a favourite for any young kid. But, the A&W held, and still holds a special place in my heart. It was here that I got to hang out with my extended family in the form of my Aunt Shirley, more often than not. We’d drive over in her Chevrolet, red with a red interior and indulge in Root Beer, fries, burgers and some of the best chili dogs in Meridian, enjoying sitting under the canopy of the old growth oaks, pecans, sweet gum and other shade giving trees.

Like my now deceased and greatly missed Aunt Shirley the A&W has long since been replaced by something else. A Taco Bell now sits in the spot where generations of kids and families drove up to eat, drink and be merry. Some might call that progress, but I’m not one of those people. I find it strangely comforting, (in a vengeful sort of way) that the section of that town that was once so happy, clean and successful is now run down and anything but successful. There’s something satisfying when you see a venerable institution destroyed to make way for the new and progressive and then see that there are indeed karmic consequences. Physics applies across the universe. For every action there is an opposite and (usually) equal reaction. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Root Beer.

Now, on to the rating of A&W's latest offering. A "vintage" plastic bottle. Vintage to me would have been to offer it in a glass bottle but in this case plastic says it all. This is no freshly brewed Root Beer, such as we used to be offered at the A&W Drive-In's. No sir, this is mass produced Root Beer and gives you exactly what you expect from one. I'd let the kids drink it on a hot picnic kinda day but you'll never see this as a staple in my home.

Carbonation: Soda-like, almost too bubbly for a Root Beer.
Mouth Feel: Just shy of creamy. Almost creamy.
Root Beer Flavour: Modern Root Beer Flavour. It relies on sweetness to do the trick and not the complex Root Beer flavour.
Sweetness: Very sweet bordering on almost too sweet.
Head: No lasting head, no creaminess.
Aftertaste: Vanilla-like aftertaste. Becomes cloying after awhile. A short while.
Aroma: A decent Root Beer smell, easily identifiable as "Root Beer" in the modern world. Not displeasing, but lacking any character or complexity.

Rating (1-10)
A&W Root Beer: 5

Pour Some Sugar On Me

Sodas today use one sweetener more than any other. High Fructose Corn Syrup, otherwise known as HFCS is their horrible sweetener of choice. It’s everywhere, in everything and has, in my humble opinion destroyed most of the Root Beers and Sodas on the market today. And, as with so many things in this day and age, it is the fault of government as much as of is the fault of the soda producers
Root Beers which use pure, natural cane sugar are, more often than not selling as premium beverages at premium prices. Seeing a genuinely good Root Beer for $2 or more is not an oddity. Even a handcrafted Root Beer from your local microbrewery could easily pull in that much without the benefit of a bottle and a snazzy label. Why the priceyness? Other than the bottle, it must be the quality and a significant portion of the quality and taste come from that delightful caramel flavour that can only be found in cane sugar. Sugar prices are kept artificially high via tariffs, restrictions, quotas and unnecessary government protectionist interference. American sugar prices have been kept artificially elevated above the worldwide prices for 45 years or better, to the detriment of the Root Beer and soda manufacturers of this country, as well as their customers.
HFCS is cheaper than sugar, especially cane sugar. Despite the heavy refining necessary to produce HFCS it remains cheaper than the preferred sweetener for carbonated beverages because the government subsidizes it. In other words, they use our tax dollars to keep the production of corn and corn based products low, so we have to pay more for sugar. Unfortunately, HFCS brings nothing to the party other than oft times cloying sweetness. It is, for all intents and purposes flavourless.
I can’t lay sole blame on the Root Beer and soda companies for using this nasty tasting product instead of the more expensive and better tasting sugar, even though they consistently lie to us and tell us there is no difference in taste. These companies have an obligation to their stockholders, owners and employees to maintain a certain level of profit in order to stay in business. Yes, they bear some of the blame for the price of what are now considered “premium beverages” but the ultimate blame must be lain at the feet of generations of politicians who have meddled in the free market.
I long for the day when these draconian rules are removed and Root Beer and soda manufacturers can import cane sugars from a variety of places around the world at a decent price. I cannot help but wonder what the minor taste differences would be if you used cane sugars on a micro-regional basis. I see numerous foods and ingredients from micro-regions that sell at a premium and there are significant taste differences. Look at coffee as a prime example!
What would Queensland sugar bring to a brew? Cuban? South African? Columbian and Guatemalan? Oh, for the day when the government gets out of the way of the invisible hand and lets us get back to the basics of brewing Root Beer the way it was intended to be made.
Who screwed up our Root Beer? Look no farther than the people in Washington, D.C.

This is not to say that all Root Beers and sodas that contain corn syrup or HFCS are horrible. They just aren't on a par with their competitors who use cane sugar. Shoot, quite a few of these are decent, some are even quite good. But, in my not so humble opinion they don't hold a candle to those sweetened with sugar, especially cane sugar. So, all you good folks out there manufacturing corn syrup sweetened Root Beer and soda, don't blow a gasket. There's room for you in this world, too.

In The Beginning

As with any good story the only place to start is the beginning. I am certain that I had many Root Beers before I developed my taste for the divine brew. In fact I clearly remember drinking A&W's as a kid at the now sadly gone A&W in Meridian, Mississippi. Those frosty mugs, accompanied by fries and chili dogs are etched in my memory even now, many decades after. I also clearly remember drinking bottles of Frosty Root Beer in my Great Uncle Eugene's store in Collins, Mississippi. He dispensed his beverages from an old, ice filled metal cooler that was a blessing on hot Mississippi summer days.
But those are not the brews that gave me my desire to imbibe. Nope. That belongs to Barq's Root Beer. Not the Barq's Root Beer that so many are used to now, the mass produced crap from the once great Coca-Cola Company. No. The Barq's I drank was the original. Made and bottled in its original home in Biloxi, Mississippi. Filled with delightful acacia bite and beautiful cane sugar sweetness. Nothing compared to that brew.
Some of my fondest memories as a kid revolve around that old Root Beer flavour. I had the distinct honour and joy to be a kid on the Gulf Coast and one of my favourite places as a kid was The Dog House, Jr. in downtown Gulfport, Mississippi.
The Dog House, Jr. was a hot dog joint, stuck across the street from train station and around the corner from J.C. Penny's it was home to the worlds greatest chili dogs. Even after all these years I have never found a better chili dog than the ones which this small hole in the wall served. Great hotdog, yummy chili topped with American cheese and steamed to perfection. And, to top it all off....an ice cold Barq's in a glass bottle, (the only way you could get one in those days). Droplets of ice water and condensation forming on the outside of the bottle brought the beautiful diamond pattern of the bottle to life as we sat back, enjoyed our dogs and drank our wonderful elixir of sugar, acacia and Root Beer flavoured carbonated water. There was and never will be anything quite like that again.
Sadly, the old Dog House, Jr. is long gone, (despite a half-assed attempt by know nothings to bring it back) and so is the Barq's of my youth.
My last taste of one of those glass bottled Barq's came this past summer at the White Cap Restaurant in Gulfport. Over oysters on the half-shell and fried seafood with my wife and kids, I found that most of the joyful taste had gone from the brew. The American mega-corporation had touched something beautiful and ruined it. Sad to say. In the wake of hurricane Katrina my favourite seafood joint is gone, swept away along with my memories of a Root Beer that once ruled them all.
Some of the bite is still there in the glass bottled version but that bite is missing all of the full bodied flavour that was imparted from the sugar they used. Whereas the original brew of my youth would rate a solid 8 out of 10 the new brew, sweetened with high fructose corn syrup gets no more than a 4.
Soda and Root Beer companies should take note. While high fructose corn syrup is cheap and sweet it brings nothing to the party. The original formulae for these venerable drinks were based upon using a specific sweetner. That sweetner was cane sugar in almost every case. You may be enhancing your bottom lines by using this heavily government subsidised sweetner but you are doing your product and your customers a grave disservice. Barq's, a Southern tradition deserves better than you folks accord it.

Rating(1-10):
Barq's Root Beer:
Original: 8
New version: 4

Getting Frothy

Over the next few days I will be posting reviews of brews, pics of the bottles and just some commentary and frothy talk. Hang tight, hang loose and crack a cold, frothy brew. In the meantime, ask yourself...who is Simon Jester?