A Root Beer Review website and blog from a British perspective
Wednesday 15 January 2014
Tuesday 14 January 2014
Carters Root Beer review
After a tip-off from a Facebook fan I went to Asda supermarket to buy a six pack of this Carters Root Beer. At £1.40 for six 330ml cans this is a bargain at just over 23p per can. Carters is made in the UK hence the price and should be supported otherwise Walmart has the power to sink these type of companies i.e. if the public doesn't buy it, they won't stock it. With over 500 stores in the UK that's a lot to lose.
If you remember how some of us in the UK got introduced to root beer then you would have had a McDonald's root beer. Well, Carters root beer is exactly the same taste - that medicine or Deep Heat cream smell and taste which haters will hate! Although this is not a diet drink you can taste the saccharin sweetner slightly which becomes more apparent as the drink gets warmer. If it was a wine it would be the house wine of a cheap restaurant. The best way to drink it is as cold as it can get, with ice in a frosted glass.
Because of its excellent value for money, being a British product and easy to get hold of this is the standard or the mid-point where root beers should be measured. Any gourmet, low-production, imported root beers should be better than this (and normally are).
It would be great if Carters could market and produce a vanilla version but with the UK soft drinks market as it is the investment and risk looks doubtful.
I rate this bargain beer:
5/10
If you remember how some of us in the UK got introduced to root beer then you would have had a McDonald's root beer. Well, Carters root beer is exactly the same taste - that medicine or Deep Heat cream smell and taste which haters will hate! Although this is not a diet drink you can taste the saccharin sweetner slightly which becomes more apparent as the drink gets warmer. If it was a wine it would be the house wine of a cheap restaurant. The best way to drink it is as cold as it can get, with ice in a frosted glass.
Because of its excellent value for money, being a British product and easy to get hold of this is the standard or the mid-point where root beers should be measured. Any gourmet, low-production, imported root beers should be better than this (and normally are).
It would be great if Carters could market and produce a vanilla version but with the UK soft drinks market as it is the investment and risk looks doubtful.
I rate this bargain beer:
5/10
Sunday 12 January 2014
Brew It Yourself Root Beer - first attempt review
This was a recent birthday gift which I'd spotted on the Firebox.com website and added this Brew It Yourself Root Beer kit to my Amazon wishlist. There was the fun factor of making my own but I also thought I could save a bit of money as imported root beer is so expensive.
Read the instructions carefully and be aware of the US measurements
The first annoying thing for any British root beer fan was the instructions quoting measurements in gallons, cups, quarts, Fahrenheit and just to be extra awkward, litres as well. I had to do some web research to calculate the proper measurements.
Secondly, which was may fault, was forgetting to make sure my large saucepan had been properly washed and clean. A previous night's meal of rice was still stuck to the pan even after the dishwasher had tried its best. This resulted in some floaty white bits.
Finally, I poured in the whole supplied packet of yeast when it only needed a fraction of it! D'oh! This meant I had to buy some more Active Dry Wine Yeast from a local homebrew shop i.e. not the sort of thing that can be easily bought from a supermarket.
Ingredients used
My second go at making this root beer went to plan. Used the yeast I had bought to replace the one supplied, and inserted the flavouring agent as directed. Dividing up the sugar was slightly tricky with the US to Euro conversion. It was quite frightening to see how much sugar went into mixture! Also, I used an electronic thermometer to make sure the water was at the right temperature. The two 2 litre bottles had their fizz after about two days (at room temperature) and were then placed in the fridge.
The ingredients I used to make my first batch were:
Actual results
Finally, when the bottles were chilled enough, I had my first taste. There was a weak flavour of root beer but it was just very disappointing with the lingering aroma and taste of sickly, yeasty brown sugar. I had one glass from both bottles and poured the rest away.
For this first attempt I rate this a low score but maybe some different types of sugar combination will raise the score next time.
Value for money?
At £15.99 for its claimed do-it-yourself 9 litres its good if you take the average imported bottle as £1.89 (i.e. 3 times more in volume). However, the yeast I bought to replace it cost £2 per sachet (which is more than enough for 9 litres), a small funnel which must cost a maximum of £1 which leaves just the root bear flavouring extract. Its this soda flavour extract that seems to be the only item you're buying at premium due to it not available in the UK. Expect another review of my own homebrew 2.0 soon.
3/10
Read the instructions carefully and be aware of the US measurements
The first annoying thing for any British root beer fan was the instructions quoting measurements in gallons, cups, quarts, Fahrenheit and just to be extra awkward, litres as well. I had to do some web research to calculate the proper measurements.
Secondly, which was may fault, was forgetting to make sure my large saucepan had been properly washed and clean. A previous night's meal of rice was still stuck to the pan even after the dishwasher had tried its best. This resulted in some floaty white bits.
Finally, I poured in the whole supplied packet of yeast when it only needed a fraction of it! D'oh! This meant I had to buy some more Active Dry Wine Yeast from a local homebrew shop i.e. not the sort of thing that can be easily bought from a supermarket.
Ingredients used
My second go at making this root beer went to plan. Used the yeast I had bought to replace the one supplied, and inserted the flavouring agent as directed. Dividing up the sugar was slightly tricky with the US to Euro conversion. It was quite frightening to see how much sugar went into mixture! Also, I used an electronic thermometer to make sure the water was at the right temperature. The two 2 litre bottles had their fizz after about two days (at room temperature) and were then placed in the fridge.
The ingredients I used to make my first batch were:
- 2 x 2 litre bottles of supermarket spring water (only 18p each)
- Half required mixture of dark brown unrefined cane sugar
- Half required mixture of white granulated sugar
Actual results
Finally, when the bottles were chilled enough, I had my first taste. There was a weak flavour of root beer but it was just very disappointing with the lingering aroma and taste of sickly, yeasty brown sugar. I had one glass from both bottles and poured the rest away.
For this first attempt I rate this a low score but maybe some different types of sugar combination will raise the score next time.
Value for money?
At £15.99 for its claimed do-it-yourself 9 litres its good if you take the average imported bottle as £1.89 (i.e. 3 times more in volume). However, the yeast I bought to replace it cost £2 per sachet (which is more than enough for 9 litres), a small funnel which must cost a maximum of £1 which leaves just the root bear flavouring extract. Its this soda flavour extract that seems to be the only item you're buying at premium due to it not available in the UK. Expect another review of my own homebrew 2.0 soon.
3/10
Thursday 9 January 2014
Frostie Vanilla Root Beer review
A perfect Christmas present with a Santa Claus lookalike making an appearance on the bottle (though I hope they have a summer version so you don't look quite so odd in the baking heat). The history of the brand is that the company was founded in 1939 by George Rackensperger and the root beer was brewed in an abandoned jailhouse in Catonsville, Maryland.
Anyway, what's it taste like? This is a good root beer with a strong vanilla flavour. Despite being one of the cheaper bottles available from the Cyber Candy website at £1.69 a 355ml bottle it was a good creamy taste with hints of cream soda.
I rate this Frostie Vanilla root beer:
8/10
Anyway, what's it taste like? This is a good root beer with a strong vanilla flavour. Despite being one of the cheaper bottles available from the Cyber Candy website at £1.69 a 355ml bottle it was a good creamy taste with hints of cream soda.
I rate this Frostie Vanilla root beer:
8/10
Bawls Guarana Root Beer review
Love the kinky, sex toy bottle design which also doubles as a Dalek eunuch. The pimpled bottle would also assist with grip, though I have never had the problem of root beer slippage.
I took this root beer to a party where I was the designated driver. On the night I had one normal alcoholic drink, a Red Bull and this Bawls Root Beer. The result was a very good night and still buzzing until 3am so the combination for stimulation worked.
The taste was not a disappointment. It was a good, well-defined and natural root beer taste and no hint of any other flavours. It went down smooth too leaving you want more. The only disappointment was that it came in under-sized bottles i.e. about 50ml less than non-caffeinated root beers.
296ml bottle bought from Cyber Candy's website. I rate this super-charged root beer:
8/10
I took this root beer to a party where I was the designated driver. On the night I had one normal alcoholic drink, a Red Bull and this Bawls Root Beer. The result was a very good night and still buzzing until 3am so the combination for stimulation worked.
The taste was not a disappointment. It was a good, well-defined and natural root beer taste and no hint of any other flavours. It went down smooth too leaving you want more. The only disappointment was that it came in under-sized bottles i.e. about 50ml less than non-caffeinated root beers.
296ml bottle bought from Cyber Candy's website. I rate this super-charged root beer:
8/10
Tuesday 7 January 2014
Drive-in Style Dog 'n' Suds Root Beer review
 |
| Dog n Suds drive-in diner. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
However, this is possibly the blandest tasting root beer yet. The flavour is drowned out by the fizzy water and there was no frothy head to speak of, as claimed by their Wikipedia page but obviously greatly exaggerated.
Bought from Cyber Candy's website for £1.79 for a 355 ml bottle.
I rate this dog of a root beer:
5/10
Found: YouTube video of 1976 TV advert of Shasta Root Beer "Saloon"
I've never heard of this brand Shasta so must be available only in the USA. Shame as the they have a lot of different flavours but only one root beer. Just shows how much advertising has changed since the the 1970s.
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