Abita Root Beer review

Bought from the Brighton store of Cyber Candy but also available at London's newest posh burger restaurant, Shake Shack (as featured in my UK posh burger trend blog post). Abita root beer is brewed in Louisiana and naturally caffeine free. The company has a history of brewing alcoholic beer but has only been around since 1986.

This is a classic root beer taste, a strong medicine-like flavour which haters will hate. It has the right balance of carbonation and freshness without tasting watery. Bonus points for being caffeine free too. Since it sets a good standard and would happily drink this on a regular basis but with so many other gourmet roots beers around I'd personally would want that little bit extra for the same price. Supermarkets, if you're reading this then why not stock this!

8/10
 

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Baldwin's Sarsaparilla review

After the subtle taste of Mawson's reviewed earlier on this blog this Caribbean sarsaparilla cordial drink is like a smack in the teeth in super-charged sweetness. After a tip-off from a Facebook fan that A & W cans were in the West Indian section of Tesco (there weren't in the Shoreham store) I found this bottle of squash instead.

After diluting this Baldwin's sarsaparilla with chilled water it tasted synthetic like a high frequency sweetness. If you can remember the candy candles or sweet cigarettes then you're nearly there but just multiplied by 10. Even adding more water and some ice couldn't help the cause so tipped it away.

Second attempt was with some vodka straight from the freezer. Another mistake as the smell was like opening a tin of paint at a nasal hair distance. Drinking it made me feel like my insides were being painted with a dark purple gloss. The taste was still as sweet but the vodka made it slightly sour - not a great mix really. Gave up after 3 sips.

Overall, even at £1.89 a bottle I preferred the Mawson's but won't be buying either in future.

3/10

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Olde Rhode Island Molasses root beer review

Molasses is quite a rare taste. As a kid, my mum quite fancied herself as a hippy and regularly visited those health shops selling alternative medicines, vitamins, vegetarian supplements, things made out of hemp, and in this case molasses snack bars. They had a distinctive caramel, creamy taste but that was a long time ago.

This Old Rhode Island molasses root beer from Cyber Candy Brighton at £1.89 tasted silky but still quite pleasantly carbonated. It's a rich root beer taste and potentially one of the best I've had. The only disappointment is that I didn't taste any molasses, or at least based on memory. There's a top layer of quality root beer and a subtle underlying flavour of caramel.

After a month of some average, mass-produced root beers it's nice to finally have an excellent one. Highly recommended at:

9/10

Here's what some of our reviewers in the USA said about this:

• Gourmet Root Beer - 3 kegs
• Anthony's Root Beer Barrel - 96

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Support the 'Set Root Beer free in the UK' campaign

Sign the petition for Set Root Beer free in the UK

Another frustrated UK root beer fan like me has taken the brave step to create an online petition aimed at the British supermarkets and ask them to stop ignoring those with different tastes.

The flag bearer for this campaign is Lloyd Kinsley, a design creative who has passionately proclaimed his anger at supermarkets for their ignorance. It is my duty to promote this and would like to quote him here on this blog:

To:
UK Supermarkets

There is a soft drinks party going on in your aisles and someone is not being invited. In a time of choice and variety it seems only fair that you should stock a beverage that is freely available in all United States supermarkets and restaurant chains. It appears that if you ask around Root Beer seems to have a 'Love It or Hate It' response from the masses. That appears to have done no damage to your sales of Marmite. Please consider stocking Root Beer in your supermarkets. One of you is surely brave enough.

Sincerely,
[Your name] 

And he's got a point! I hate Marmite but I wouldn't want to deprive those from getting their yeasty fix. Apart from Asda offering the second rate Carters root beer and Waitrose with Bundaberg's liquorice-tasting 'root beer' there is only the likes cola, Red Bull, lemonade and fizzy fruit drinks.

If all this doesn't motivate you to simply just sign up and generate (just) 100 signatures then we're all doomed to pay over-priced imported root beers and put up with a poor choice of soft drinks forever.

Go on, you know it makes sense!

Sign the petition for Set Root Beer free in the UK

Mawson's Original Sarsaparilla Cordial review

Since sarsaparilla is synonymous with root beer I couldn't resist trying out this cordial drink with the potential to satisfy my root beer cravings. Mawson's has an interesting history associated with this drink according to the company website. Back in the late 19th and early 20th Century, temperance bars were all the rage in Northern England. These bars served no alcohol but offered local communities public places to drink and socialize as long as they swore not to touch the evil booze. Anyone part of the Temperance Movement or Methodists drank the likes of this Mawson's sarsaparilla cordial or Vimto, which still survives today.

Basically you're buying something that tastes very similar to Vimto, another drink of the bygone age. I used a sparkling spring water to mix up the drink but had to put in a lot of cordial to get it to the taste I liked. The main problem was the spring water as the fizziness had that bitter taste. With normal still water it still needed the same amount of cordial but at least the strong quirky fruit taste came through very much like Vimto (a more lively version of Ribena is you like).

Value for money was pretty poor. I bought the bottle from Taj the Grocer, a supermarket full of wonderful world and healthy food in Hove (actually) for about £5. I've already had two glasses at a potential cost of 70p each go. Might have a go at mixing it with vodka but that might just be wrong for religious reasons!

Difficult to rate really being virtuous but expensive. I bless this a saintly:

6/10

A & W Root Beer review

So, finally got to drink what is possibly the market leader in root beer. A & W has the marketing power of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group (previously Cadbury-Schweppes) and is possibly more served in American themed restaurants in the UK than any other brand.

It has a good standard root beer taste, fizzy though slightly watery and artificial. The 'Aged Vanilla' didn't exactly make itself known to my tastebuds. If it did then it crept in like my mouth was a library and went straight to the checking desk. Despite being a mass-produced root beer it didn't offend so scored above average.

I was hoping it would be cheaper in the Cyber Candy Brighton store being perhaps the most popular but it was the same price as all their gourmet selection. Even more annoyed that the website sells it at £1.29 a can. The Brighton store used to do the 2 litre bottle but now only do the canned version at £1.80.

7/10

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Crater Lake root beer review

This Crater Lake Soda made root beer has a strong flavour yet not harsh like others with a soft carbonation. Caffeine free which is a bonus for school night drinking. Gluten free too for those on a wheat free diet or celiacs. This is definitely a top 10 root beer but I like mine with a little depth.

Checking out their company website and worryingly all its content is about 3-4 years out of date. This is a worrying trend on a lot of US-made root beer websites and perhaps indicating a flat market?

Other reviewers across the pond also rated it above average:

• Eric's Gourmet Root Beer said it was 'pretty weak but still not smooth going down'
• Cosmos root beer reviews said it 'definitely didn't offend me so bad that i wouldn't try it again.'

Another Cyber Candy purchase from their Brighton shop. I rate this Oregon root beer:

8/10

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