Root Beer

Review

Iron Horse Root Beer

This is fabulous! It has a very sweet full Body and a nice Bite. The Head is wonderful, just like it is supposed to be. The After Taste is of vanilla and honey and is most pleasurable. When I first took a drink of this I got weak in the knees and knew it was what I had always been looking for. I found this online from the Bev Net.

Hank's Root Beer

This is sooo goooood! It has a wonderfully full Body that is rich and creamy and a nice spicy Bite. The Head is almost perfect. After Taste is very pleasant. This can be found on the east coast by Philadelphia or you can order it online.

So Duh! Rockin' Root Beer

When I poured it into the mug and the Head built I said to myself, "Ah, now that's a proper root beer head." It is tall and frothy. It lazily built to the top of my 20 ounce mug and just sat there enjoying its freedom from the bottle. On the first drink I was delighted with the Body, the fairy tale marriage of cane sugar and honey, and it didn't stop there. The sassafras and other root beer flavors were creamily mixed with natural vanilla. It could use a little more sassafras though. The Bite is fantastic too with spices aplenty in the right proportions and a little prickly from the carbonation while still keeping it smooth going down. The After Taste is sweet honey with vanilla and spices coming out as it drifts away leaving the tongue begging for more.

River City Root Beer

Yum! The Body is rich and creamy with traces of mint surfacing. It has a very strong and rooty flavor. The Bite is most excellent with the perfect amount of spices and carbonation. The Head is good. It builds to a very decent height and is pretty frothy. It lingers throughout the entire drinking experience, though I've had many that are taller and frothier. The After Taste is a lovely, creamy combination of vanilla and mint that sticks around about the perfect amount of time. This is an exceptional brew in all categories.

Henry Weinhard's Root Beer

One of my favorites. Nice full, sweet Body with the perfect Head. It is one of the nicest heads of any root beer. So much so that it is my standard head to compare against other root beers. Wonderful After Taste. Not a lot of Bite, but enough. It is very smooth. I found this on the West Coast.

Bulldog Root Beer

When I took the first drink I exclaimed "Oh wow!" The Body is wonderful. Lots of honey, vanilla, and the other essential flavors. Sweet and creamy, the kind of flavor you could just snuggle up to if that were possible. The best flavor. The Bite is not much but sufficient. The Head is frothy but not much, not flat by any means just less than is desirable. The After Taste is of vanilla and honey and very pleasing though a little sticky. I am proud to give this one my Seal of Approval.

Wild Bill's Rocky Mountain Root Beer

This has a very rich and creamy Body. It has an excellent full sassafrass flavor, how a root beer should be. The Bite has a good spice tingle as well as some from the carbonation but stays on the smooth side as I like it. The Head is medium height and decently frothy. It fizzes down faster than I prefer but it is sufficient. The After Taste is wonderful. Creamy vanilla and a caramel flavor with hints of anise and wintergreen. This is one quality brew!

Saranac Root Beer

This is a very good brew. The Body is excellent. It is rich, sweet, and creamy with all the right flavors. It has a nice spicy Bite that isn't too much. It is nice and smooth drinking. The Head is a good size and very frothy. The After Taste a sweet vanilla that doesn't linger too long. They really hit the nail on the head with this root beer.

Sprecher Root Beer

Wow! This stuff is great. The Body is sweet and smooth with a nice honey flavor to it. One of the best root beer bodies that I have ever tasted. The Bite is there, but not too much, more on the smooth side, like I like it. The Head is good and frothy, but, unfortunately was a little too short to rank higher. The After Taste is also very nice with the honey. The only thing that could be improved would to have more vanilla flavor to it. All in all, this is a great brew.

Sparky's Root Beer

Yum, yum! This is a good one. The Body is really sweet and spicy with all of the right stuff. You can really taste the honey. The Bite is spicy and solid as well, almost too much for me, but not quite. It was rather sharp. The Head is decent, frothy, but a little too much on the slim side. The After Taste a luscious combination of honey and spices that left me tipping back the empty glass trying to get some more. Luckily, the brewers foresaw this effect and put it in 22 Oz. Bottles as well. Drinking this is a pleasure from the first draught to the last drop.

Spring Lake Root Beer

Wow! What a full and complex Body! There's lots of wintergreen and creamy vanilla with some birch as well that surfaces after the initial contact with the core root beer flavors. There's also a subtle honey flavor. It isn't super sweet though so you can relish the flavors. The Bite is pretty mild but not absent. There's some spice kick to it but an unbelievably smooth finish from the malto-dextrin. The Head is short and medium froth. It fizzes down quickly but not too quickly to seriously hurt the rating. The After Taste is creamy wintergreen with hints of vanilla and honey, though, wintergreen is by far the dominant flavor. So again, wow! What an amazing and unique brew.

Frostie Vanilla Root Beer

Delicious! This has a sweet, creamy Body with lots of luscious vanilla. The Bite is on the weak side but not too bad. The Head is adequate, though it could be frothier. The After Taste is a wonderful vanilla flavor that lasts a long time. In short, it is basically a normal Frostie root beer with the strange unnatural flavor replaced with vanilla. A wise and excellent improvement.

Myer's Avenue Red Root Beer

Oh my gosh! This stuff is different and yet great. The Body is great and creamy yet a little weak as far as the normal "root beer" flavor goes, but not bad really in any way. Then comes the amazing Bite with cinnamon but not too much so it is still smooth. The Head is excellent rivaling the other top root beer heads. The After Taste is of cinnamon and vanilla, a great way to end a great drinking experience. This is completely different than any other root beer that I have ever drank.

Dominion Root Beer

Very nice Body. Head is good but it could use more. The Bite is nice but not too much and the After Taste is pleasant. This is a solid and delicious root beer.

Zuberfizz Root Beer

The Body is very crisp and clean with all of the right flavors in the right proportions. Love that cane sugar. The Bite is very mild. It is a nice and smooth brew. The Head is a little weak but frothy and you can feel the bubbles to the end. The After Taste is sweet and creamy that lingers just the right amount.

Dog n Suds Root Beer

The Body is creamy and good. The right type of flavor with nothing overly special but nothing wrong at all. It is all there. The Bite is a little on the weak side but I have said it before and I will iterate it, I like it SMOOTH! The Head is also nice and "sudsy?" though not as frothy as some of the others but definitely adequate. The After Taste also has got the right stuff. I say that this root beer is just plain good. There is a dog on the bottle and the root beer is sudsy so I am assuming that this is where their name comes from. Or maybe one is supposed to order a hotdog and the root beer supplies the suds (it really is actually sudsy but in a good way). As of yet this remains an enigma to me.
Update: Some kind folks have emailed me and explained that yes indeed it was a hotdog chain where the suds were the root beers to go with the dogs. No more enigma.

Point Premium Root Beer

The point of this root beer is a delicious, sweet Body with all the right stuff, a medium frothy Head that sticks around for awhile, a nice but not very spicy Bite, and a pleasant After Taste of vanilla and honey. It was clear that when the standards for good root beer were laid down, they didn't miss the point.

Capone Family Secret Root Beer

This is one of those brews with a nice, creamy, full Body. It has a nice spicy caramel type flavor that surfaces after the initial contact. The Bite is good. It grabs you with those spices and a carbonation tingle but then lets you go slowly and smoothly for an excellent finish. The After Taste is lovely vanilla and a hint of spicy caramel that you could just swim in (you've never swum in vanilla?). The Head is a bit perplexing. The first bottle I had didn't have much of a Head, but it was very frothy and lingered long enough to not be fatal to the rating. The second bottle had a huge Head that was medium frothy and fizzed down until the last centimeter. That last centimeter stuck around awhile. So either way the Head was good enough though I prefer a Head I can count on. This is really a quality brew in all aspects.

Maine Root Root Beer

This is a very delicious and well crafted brew. The Body is crisp and well balanced. It is creamy with wintergreen surfacing after the initial contact. The Head is full and frothy. It lingers. It is less than the epic Head of a Henry's, but sufficient for the most adamant connoisseur. There isn't really much Bite. Though I like it smooth, some spices could improve it a bit. The After Taste is a creamy vanilla with hints of wintergreen. Overall this root beer has all of the right flavors in the right proportions. It is very clean and crisp on account of the cane sugar and no preservatives. The lack of preservatives is wonderful as the slight soapiness or fruitiness that accompanies sodium benzoate or citric acid is gone, so all of the focus is on the wonderful mix of root beer goodness. The only drawback is the almost complete lack of bite and that something extra, like honey or cinnamon, to seal the deal, however, I am still proud to give this root beer my Seal of Approval.

Hot Rod Magazine Root Beer

This is one of those root beers with a nice sweet smooth Body. The Head is lacking but it doesn't go flat. The After Taste is adequate. The Bite is wonderful with Brazilian Guarana. The worst part is that it is caffeinated but it does add to the bite. It has a very interesting bottle. My friend got this some where but I forgot. I have seen it at Hot Topic in the West Lake Mall in Seattle.

Harpoon Root Beer

This brew is delicious. The Body is rich and creamy, full of all the essential flavors. It has got so much of them that it is a little syrupy, but I like that. You can taste the lack of preservatives. The body is accompanied by a mild Bite that just tingles the tongue a bit. The Head is weak, sadly, but frothy and doesn't just fizz away. The After Taste is creamy and rich as well but doesn't linger too long. This is one of the best root beers I have ever tasted, but the lack of an amazing head kept this one out of the highest echelon. I ordered it from New England.

Faygo Root Beer

A rich, full Body is the highlight of this brew. It is crisp and creamy without a single unpleasant flavor. Then surfaces a little Bite with hints of wintergreen which stays largely on the smooth side. The Head is average, but fizzes away quickly so as to be rather disappointing. It doesn't go flat however. The After Taste is a wonderful creamy minty flavor that lingers but not too long. This is a good one.

Fitz's Root Beer

The Body is dark and rooty, with a clean crisp flavor on account of the luscious cane sugar. The spices and fizz level make for an excellent little Bite. The Head is average at best but frothy and lingers. The creamy vanilla After Taste is very desirable. Drinking this root beer is a pleasant experience that should be repeated often. I ordered this online.

Frostop Root Beer

The Body is very sweet and creamy. There is a lot of wintergreen and some spices, maybe nutmeg? It is a little light on the sassafras, more of a medium bodied brew. The Bite is pretty good. There are some spices that grab you and a slight carbonation tingle but a smooth finish, as it should be. Sweet mother of root beer Head! It is amazing, very tall and frothy. It overflowed my mug. The After Taste is a deliciously creamy vanilla and wintergreen. They say "NOTHING tops it... but the foam!" Clearly some others top it but, I must say, that it's pretty good.

Joe's Root Beer

This has an extremely sweet and full Body with accents of vanilla and honey. It is crisp and creamy in your mouth. The Bite is sufficient but nothing special. The Head is wonderfully tall but only medium frothy so it fizzes down quicker than I would like. The After Taste is delicious vanilla and honey. This is quality.

Olde Philadelphia Old Fashioned Root Beer

So I wonder why they spell old two different ways. I guess the fashion of this root beer isn't as old as Philly or something. Anyhow, it does have a nice full Body that is rich and creamy. It is also pretty sweet from all of the invert sugar. The Bite is a sharp on the tongue, mostly from carbonation but there are some spices in there too. It still goes down smooth. The Head is medium height and froth. It lasts long enough. The After Taste is sweet hints of vanilla that lasts just about the perfect amount of time. This is a solid brew that is very enjoyable.

Jones Root Beer

A sweet, pleasant Body though a little on the light side but not too weak. The flavor is what root beer should taste like. It has a strong carbonation Bite leaning a little on the harsh side but not too harsh. The Head is tall though a it dissipates faster than I would like but the liquid stays fizzy and therefore still desirable. The After Taste is good and of the original flavor and fades away gradually. All in all, there is nothing really wrong with this and a lot right. I really enjoy it. You can find Jones all over the western USA but at the same time, you never might know where you will find it.