Blue Ridge Pure Water Co Root Beer

i am not even sure how i came upon this soda. probably searching for “root beer south carolina” or something like that which i tend to do occasionally if i am bored or something. i often end up with at least a couple of new brands that way, searching every state, going at least 10 pages deep on each one. but that can be very time consuming, as you can imagine i am sure. and kind of dull too i must admit, even for me.
so anyway…
i order this soda from a mandolin website, CheapMandolin.com. i have no idea who Lord Hevy is but when you buy a 4 pack, he autographs one of the bottles! the bottle i am drinking now IS THAT BOTTLE! wow. from the picture on the bottle he seems like quite the awesome dude and may even have a mullet! it also says it is “The King’s Favorite” which i can only assume means Elvis loved this stuff too! now, if it were me, i would make that part much larger. although they may want to avoid the lawsuit that that may bring.
this soda is a vanity label really as the side says it is “bottled under authority of Blue Ridge Pure Water Company” which usually indicates that that other company made it for the people on the main part of the label. after investigating a bit i have found that it IS indeed a vanity label. very nice. although somewhat frustrating as you often don’t know that until you get it in hand. i have ordered at least 5 to 10 different root beers, thinking they are new ones when they are in fact just a re-label of a vanity company. oh well. but this is a new one i never knew about so it all works out in the end.
i did not really expect to, but i like this. i am not sure why i did not think i would, i guess i thought it would be very generic and lame, being as it has an odd mandolin playing fellow with dimples on the label. but it has a pretty solid taste. very high levels of carbonation leave me burping for many minutes after each swallow. i don’t love that fact but it is ok. there is a bit of a cinnamon taste happening here along with a very creamy mouth feel. at first i did not think it was sweet enough but after finishing it, it seemed to get more so and i was very happy with the sugar level. yes, SUGAR, no corn syrup, how nice is that?! take that corn growers of america or whoever is running those weird pro-corn syrup advertisements on the television. good stuff. i am glad i got a whole 4 pack now. perhaps i will get more one day to.
Anthony’s Rating: 91
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

Fletcher Street Brewing Co RipSaw Root Beer

a very kind fellow offered to send me a couple bottles of each of the RipSaw varieties and i could just not resist! otherwise i have no idea how i would get them, so it was very handy for me. especially right now when i have no idea when i will ever get to Michigan and my time is otherwise quite occupied. i had thought it was not legal to sell foods or beverages without any sort of nutritional content on it or a way to obtain such information, but i have encountered several sodas that do not provide it so perhaps my original belief was all wrong.
the flavor of this beverage really develops over about 45 seconds (i timed it for me, maybe it will vary for you). at first it seems really weak, like i need to maybe shake the bottle up a little since the flavor fell to the bottom. after about 5 seconds though the flavor comes in more, rich and creamy but not too strong. 20 seconds in it has developed more and reaches a peak. after that it slowly gets sweeter and then fades out, as most tastes do. in the end it never quite reaches enough of a flavor peak for me. it is very good but it is a drink which i am more apt to take large swallows of since it is mild and i am not really overwhelmed by flavor in any case. it is good as an accompaniment but not as the main focus. some people like their soda to be like that, i would rather it be something more. just up the taste and creaminess and flavor here a bit and you have a serious contender. but enjoy it as it is too.

Anthony’s Rating: 82
Your Rating: 75
# of ratings:2

update frequency

so being as there are a limited amount of sodas out there in the world for me to review, i know i will run out one day. also since i just had a daughter, i am trying to plan ahead and get reviews done and schedules when i can. thus i am trying to be more regular in my update frequency. i had it at one every 10 days but that seemed a little too often and i would run out too soon so i made it every 2 weeks. but then i got about 20 new sodas. so i am currently splitting the difference and making it every 12 days. now, this still puts the end of the reviews of just what i have on hand sometime around the end of 2009. and i imagine i will get a few new sodas in the next year or so. but who knows how many? it is also strange that stuff i just got won’t see the light of the internet tubes for so long. i am not quite sure what i should do about this, go back to more frequent updates and potentially run out sooner? leave it as is and hedge my bets? i suppose that is more in line with my personality in general. i save easter candy often until the next easter so that i will have it and be ready. i imagine i have chocolate from last christmas in my candy jar right now. i could just post em as i write em, which is pretty much what i used to do, sometimes there would be a couple in a day, sometimes nothing for a couple few months. i know i would like a website to update with regularity which is why i switched to scheduling them.
i am not sure what anyone can tell me here though. i think i am just afraid that there will come a time in the not too distant future where i have nothing new to review for months on end.

Real Soda in Real Bottles Lurch Birch Beer

alright, another birch beer made by the very nice and fine folks at Real Soda! i quite like the cut of their jib i must say, they are doing excellent work even if it is does not reach me over here in NJ. I do hope this one is better than the Girlan Pink Birch, although that would not take a whole lot to be honest with you. oh well. this is supposedly the “Left Coast recipe” although birch beer is almost exclusively an east (right) coast thing. i imagine that is the humor of it. the overall graphic design leaves a bit to be desired, even if you opt for the 2 color label, i am sure there is something much better that can be done here. i do like the “real cane sugar” printed on the bottle itself again though, very nice touch.
ah, now THIS is more like it! traditional birch color, traditional birch flavor. wintergreen, you are my friend! sweet and sharp at the same time. i feel that it could have a little bit more flavor, up that minty yumminess fellows! it is tasty but as i drink more it seems to get more watery. that could be my tongue and palate getting too used to it or something or maybe it has settled being in my fridge for a month or so. i would imagine it is not the latter and if it was the former i would hope i would know about such a phenomenon by now, having reviewed 385 sodas or whatever. there is a very good amount of fizz and head which is nice. but it is not making the drink creamy or anything which is also good. birch should be more sharp, not as smooth as root beer, to me at least. if this is all you can get on the west coast then it is not a bad thing at all, just try to grab some other brands when you come east.

Anthony’s Rating: 84
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

Ironbeer

i don’t really know if this qualifies as a sub-genre of root beer, but as i am the determiner of such things on this site, i will declare that it does! i suspect then that i should get some more of Foxon Park’s ‘Iron Brew’ to review also. although i forget if the taste of that one could even be stretched to be included. after tasting this one i am even less apt to put it up, but whatever, it is my site so include it i will, it is no more different than Birchola i think.
as a kid, i used to combine all sorts of stuff together to eat or drink. i loved grape jelly, lettuce and american cheese sandwiches. dunking cucumbers in orange juice was a delight. now this right here tastes to me like something i would have made. take 5 parts orange soda, add one part red cream soda, one part ginger ale and one part root beer and i think you’d get something very similar. it is quite fruity and sweet and tasty. other reviews i have checked out seem to say it tastes like fruity Dr Pepper but i don’t taste that at all here.
i rather like this, a slightly creamy, semi-herbal orange soda. interesting. now i see why the Cubans love it. or at least the can claims as much. “since 1917″ and all of that. but it is not a root beer really or all that related so in comparison it does suffer some.
for some reason i feel like this would be very tasty with some popcorn. i have no idea why really, although it may be since i used to throw popcorn kernels into my orange soda as a wee lad or something.

Anthony’s Rating: 75
Your Rating: 69
# of ratings:8

Round Barn Root Beer

i believe this is a house brand of Pops66, they seem to have contracted to have it made for them. i suspect i may have gotten a bum bottle though as there is no carbonation whatsoever. either that or it was sitting around awhile before it was sent to me as i have not had it all that long at all. truth be told, i am doing reviews a good deal in advance of when they actually appear on the site as i have so many in queue right now. so i prefer to drink them quicker and space out the actually appearance for the future instead of having a whole load of em at once then nothing for a long time.
this drink is decent. the flavor is a slight variation on the usual root beer deal, a little bit fruitier i would say. it is rather sweet too but just below being overly so. but that lack of carbonation seems to really do it in, i need those bubbles and that fizz. the foam and the froth. it is not here at all. and that makes it just ok to me. if i can i will get another bottle of this brew and perhaps re-rate it as i think it should be better and probably is, yet i have nothing to go on except the one bottle i have so i can’t know for sure. alas.
i never quite know how i feel about the non-twist off cap either. on the one hand it is rather annoying, especially if i am out at a store and then wait to drink my soda after leaving and i have no way to do it. bottle openers are not all that ubiquitous these days. especially in savory establishments. but i like the feel of the bottle this way more, very smooth. plus i have a bottle opener at home and in my work bag so that covers most places i drink sodas. overall i guess i am more opposed to them than for them.

Anthony’s Rating: 61
Your Rating: 63
# of ratings:2

A & W Float

i have been hearing about this drink since it came out a year or so ago. people wrote in about it at first, something new! i have seen it in stores but did not bother buying it until now. the biggest reason i finally got it was because i found out Barq’s Floatz had been discontinued without me ever having tried it. i figured this too may not be long for this earth so i may as well get on it as soon as i can. i have low expectations here though. mainly because as much as i believe a root beer float drink is an interesting idea, it has never worked well in reality as far as i have found. and this does not either.
first off, they are wise to use the full bottle label, it disguises the vile color of the drink. although it is what one would expect, a cloudy dark beige color, it is still not appealing in any way.
second, i find it kind of suspect that on the website they say the shelf life is 6 months yet there is no way to know the age of your bottle unless you call the local bottler to interpret the bottling codes printed on the bottom. there is also no mention of this pretty sort shelf life on the product itself. granted, it IS a sort of dairy product so even 6 months seems a long time to have anything with milk in it to remain good, which then makes me suspicious of the chemicals in here that allow that to happen.
on the whole this taste alright, at least at first, after about 10 seconds it becomes sort of vile. but at first it is decent, kind of like if you poured some cream in your flat root beer, very creamy, very rich, but also strange. it taste vaguely like root beer, a very sweet version but the flavor is there. i feel like i would enjoy root beer flavored milk but maybe not since it might taste like this. but at least i would get more protein and calcium (1g and 4% respectively) that way. and there is an insane amount of sugar in here! about 50% more than normal root beers.
i will say that this is the best of the 3 or 4 other root beer float sodas i have had, which is saying very little i guess since they were awful.

Anthony’s Rating: 31
Your Rating: 8
# of ratings:16

Real Soda in Real Bottles Girlan Pink Birch Beer

i got this as a replacement for something else i hoped to get from Pops66 which was not in stock. but i have no complaints at all about that! a pink birch beer! interesting. it is brought to you by the fine folks who do real soda in real bottles. i can’t say i understand the concept too much, or the design but they are extremely nice people over there. so the label proclaims “brings out the little flower in you” and “Mama Cornalano’s Jersey Girl recipe” and it has a german sort of bird insignia in the birch tree pictured. i do very much like that they printed “REAL CANE SUGAR” on the bottle itself where many companies print bottling dates or whatever.
i went into this review thinking this would taste like birch beer, even remotely and that the pink was just a fun gimmick. but no, it tastes like what you expect pink soda to taste like, which is what everyone? yup, bubblegum! i do very much enjoy bubblegum. in gum. not in soda. or liquid in general. unless it is that gum that squirts out a liquid center when you bite it, but that is actually “in gum” too when it comes down to it. for me, there is no trace of anything to do with birch beer here. maybe this is some sort of statement on how “birch beer” can be a very loose label and you can make it taste like almost anything and still call it “birch beer?” i don’t think so. the bubblegum-ness is interesting i suppose as i don’t think i have had other bubblegum flavored sodas, but it is also gross. sorry Danny at Real Soda, but i must be honest here. i don’t like it. it is not offensively bad though, it is drinkable. although i am torn as to the best way to drink it: slowly so i don’t overwhelm my belly or quickly to just get it down. it is incredibly sweet and almost sticky, even sweeter than i like, which is pretty crazy. i wanted to enjoy this but i just don’t.
they also make “Lurch Birch” which i will be getting to soon. that one is the “left coast recipe” and i think more traditional. if this is supposed to be the east coast style beverage then i am almost enraged. birch beer is an east coast thing, twisting and messing with flavors, combining weird junk is a west coast thing. so i would vote to switch the designations on these two brews. oh well.
and isn’t red #40 a major carcinogen? uh oh….

Anthony’s Rating: 30
Your Rating: 7
# of ratings:1

my TV debut

9/23 - well, i was on once before at least, around 1985 when sticker collecting was huge and they sent a camera crew to Michelle Trujillo or Lisa Solozo’s house to film a bunch of kids trading stickers and junk. or i think i was on that. i could be wrong.

anyway, the “soft drink” episode of Modern Marvels will air on the History Channel next monday, 9/29/08 at 8 pm EST. it sounds jam packed with stuff so i am not sure at all how much of my footage made it but we shall see. tune in and see my smiling mug in motion as i discuss something or other about root beer.

UPDATE 9/29 so the show will NOT air tonight, it is now scheduled for 10/4/08 probably. but i don’t see it on the history channel schedule for that day so i guess we will see. sorry to anyone who tunes in tonight and it is not on. oh well. just have to wait.

UPDATE 10/27 ok so the show will be on “early 2009″ now. ug. oh well. i wait. sorry for the lack of updates for all of you waiting to see it too.

Saint Arnold Root Beer

ah, another soda which i have been thwarted in my efforts to obtain for quite some time now! finally mine to taste! it is quite frustrating to get multiple emails to the effect of “hey anthony, Saint Arnold Root Beer roxxxXx! get some in Texas!” not that i mind at all getting such emails. i do appreciate it but knowing that there is a soda out there i have not had and may not ever have if it stops being made as so many others have been before i get a chance to go someplace i have no plan to go to.
the label here reminds me much more of a regular beer label than of a soda label. it lacks the usual orange, brown & white color scheme so prevelant in root beer advertising and packaging. in fact i may not even notice this beverage in a local cooler on first glance if it were near the alcohol/pop border. but that is not a bad thing, just a different thing.
that different trend continues in the actual flavor of this root beer. there is some underlying taste here that i cannot place. overall it has a very wintergreen flavor with a rooty, herbal undertone that makes it much heartier than a birch beer which is more typically the soda to taste of wintergreen. i do like the mouth feel of the cane sugar, it adds character to this drink. well, MORE character as it seems to have a lot on it own. i am enjoying the root beer here in my hand but i am not totally loving it. there is a fine line between a very good root beer and an amazing one and this just does not get into that latter category but is for sure in the former. plus the cap says “yummy root beer”. i quite enjoy truth in advertising i must say. yummy indeed.

Anthony’s Rating: 87
Your Rating: 100
# of ratings:1