Spring Grove root beer

Normally I buy root beers in threes from my local Cyber Candy shop, here in Brighton but the shelves were nearly bare after the Easter break. No doubt all the visiting foreign students were spending the Euros trialling root beer or perhaps my blog is having an effect on the local economy (in my dreams anyway).

So this Spring Grove was only one of two I bought with a Hosmer White Birch Beer - review coming soon. Drinking straight out of the bottle and the fizziness hits you first and I expected quite a flavourless root beer. A few more swigs and a good head starts appearing through the clear glass bottle. This makes the taste a little creamy, hints of vanilla and then your teeth alert you to the pure cane sugar. Normally I wouldn't recognise the sugary-ness but after checking the bottle's ingredients I spot there's actually a mixture of cane sugar and corn syrup. Its not as bad as Daddies root beer but I certainly wouldn't drink more than one bottle a day otherwise my dentist would have a heart attack. Towards the end of the bottle the caramel flavouring comes through reminding me of warmed up Coca Cola when your molars feel they have a sheen of sugary coating.

Whilst I appreciate the full-headed, creaminess this is just a little too sweet for me.

7/10

Hosmer Mountain White Birch Beer review

With my local source of root beer running low after Easter I had little choice so opted for this White Birch beer from Hosmer Mountain. Hosmer Mountain's Sarsaparilla was my highest rated drink since starting this blog so had high hopes. However, the Lurch Birch I had previously wasn't the different taste I was expecting.

To recap, Birch beer does taste similar to root beer using herb extracts usually birch bark. The best way I describe this is comparing this with chocolate. Root beer is like good, quality milk chocolate and birch beer having less flavour. This White Birch beer is like white chocolate i.e. sweeter than milk chocolate but also, for me sickly sweet after a few gulps. It also reminds me of cheap vanilla ice cream at times but never really satisfies me.

I rate this White Birch beer:

6/10

Lurch Birch review

Birch drinks are new to me though are displayed in the same section as root beers. Couldn't resist this particular birch drink being named after the supermarket trolley boy / simple-minded killer in the film Hot Fuzz. I was expecting a different taste to root beer, though naively expected a woody flavour like some bourbons. Instead I got a very ordinary root beer, slightly caramel but nothing special.
Shame really as I was hoping to discover something very new.
Another Cyber Candy purchase I award this 'left coast recipe' (as per the label):

7/10

Kutztown root beer review

Sounding more like a small town hairdressers that would guarantee to cut your kid's hair like Beckham this Kutztown root beer went down a treat.

It's very gassy towards the end but the vanilla like after taste is just enough without being too much. There's no caffeine and 'very' low in sodium, not that I've ever noticed root beers had it in the first place. 
The quote on the back of the bottle is a bit odd and maybe more apt for a lager beer.

"Tastes chust like old-fashioned, 'cause you know we make it that way. Drink 'til you ouch, there's more back!"

First off is 'chust' just a spelling mistake from someone's bad accent? Secondly, is 'til you ouch' suggesting I'll get stomach cramps or even poisoned? 

Anyway, despite the random bottle labelling this is a great root beer (bought from the Brighton branch of Cyber Candy).

8/10

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• River City root beer review
• Empire Root Beer review
• Abita Root Beer review
• A & W Root Beer review

Caruso's Legacy Robusto Root Beer review

Straight out of the fridge and drinking this Caruso's Legacy root beer and suddenly I've almost drunk it. So smooth and slippery and easy to drink with a pleasant caramel after-taste. As it warms up it reminds me of a previous root beer I reviewed - Langers where the after taste turns slightly creamy. That didn't work out for me but this root beer is good - a real gourmet soda.

This so nearly achieved 9 out of 10 but the creaminess (think single cream) at the end just let it down.

I rate this:

8/10

How other blogs review this root beer

• Gourmetrootbeer.com reviewed this as a slight disappointment too but was impressed by the massive head (when poured)
• Cosmo's Root Beer review said it "simply a watered down root beer without much to say"
• RootBeerReviews blog gave it a little more praise awarding it a B+

Related articles

• Empire Root Beer review
• River City root beer review
• Olde Brooklyn Williamsburg Root Beer review
• Waialua Soda Works Root Beer review
• Abita Root Beer review

Empire Root Beer review

This Empire root beer had all the right first impressions. Polite labeling, pure ingredients and a respectable history (established in 1930). Once opened it had a pleasant smell and a very smooth texture but the taste was extremely subtle. It was like a whisper of flavour. Towards the end of the bottle the taste continues to 'bland up' and reminds me of A&W root beer. Not a bad thing but if you've paid (sometimes) double the price of more mass produced drinks you expect a little more for your money.

The same company also produces a banana flavoured soft drink. Check out Ross's Soda blog to see what he thinks.

So, the Empire root beer is not a bad root beer and at least it has 100% cane sugar. I rate it:

7/10

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• Olde Brooklyn Williamsburg Root Beer review
• River City root beer review
• Stewart's root beer review
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