Hansen's creamy root beer review

After a few months of root beer abstinence due to giving up on finding any decent imports, the Soda Folk root beer success gave me some confidence in the UK market. I've since rediscovered that American Fizz is stocking a few root beers I've yet to review. Last time I ordered from this Bournemouth-based shop was the Virgil's root beer which passes the EU sodium benzoate ingredient test. I rated it 8/10.

This Hansen's root beer is Germolene on the extreme. Not too sweet but not as creamy as proudly displayed and stated on the 355ml can. Ingredients say there's Tahitian vanilla extract, wintergreen, birch, anise, sassafras as well as a lot of sugar. Luckily the sugar doesn't give you that tooth melting sensation and would say the birch taste takes over. If your freinds thought root beer tasted weird then be prepared to feel even more outcasted with this flavour. Don't be fooled by the the vanilla flavour - it comes in like a ninja, thinking you get a glimpse of it at the start but it's fleeting and disguised.

If like me, if you hadn't heard of Tahitian vanilla but more used to seeing Madagascan vanilla in your ingredients listings then let me enlighten you with this new knowledge!

Taken from Huffington Post:
"Tahitian vanilla comes from the island of Tahiti, part of the French Polynesia. It's sweet and fruity and has less natural vanillin (that distinctive vanilla taste) than Bourbon and Mexican vanilla. This bean has a more cherry-like, floral, licorice taste. The Tahitian vanilla pod is fatter and moister than Bourbon vanilla, and contains fewer seeds inside its pod. It tends to be deeper in color than vanilla from Mexico and Madagascar, but the flavor is more subtle. It's nuanced and unique taste make it a great choice for dishes that use vanilla as its main flavor profile."

This explains the limited vanilla flavouring with this Hansen's root beer. However, if you want a caffiene-free, vanilla-flavour free root beer for £1.09 a can then this is for you! The price is the same as paying for the likes of A & W, Barq's and MUG. I rate ths:

7/10

Soda Folk Root Beer review

I never thought I'd see another British brewed root beer after the whole EU ban on sodium benzoate affair. I thought the home market would give up their love affair for US germolene tasting weirdness and resort to colas and other fizzy drink brands. Yet only in the space of a few weeks another British-made root beer brand comes along to stick two fingers up at the regulators and provide us fans a true taste of America.

I'm really happy to say we have another A & W root beer beater with only Dominion being the best available in the UK so far. Is it better than Dominion? Well, that might just be down to personal taste but to me there rate about the same to me.

I love the quirky branding design with the lumberjack character. Soda Folk also offer a Cream Soda drink using a boxer (which I'll review later). Would love to have been at their marketing and design meeting to discuss chosing these characters.

Soda Folk themselves have a great background story. USA born Ken Graham moved to London in 2012 and soon missed his favourite soft drinks. Having grown up with many local brands (and even foraging ingredients to brew his own root beer as a kid), Ken knew his onions when it came to root beer and its distinct taste (note: the root beer doesn't taste of onions).

The Soda Folk root beer ingredients really stand out in the taste test. The wintergreen taste is natural and strong, there's a hint of vanilla but its the maple syrup taste that kicks in the tastebuds to complete the experience.

There's a good price to match as well. This 330ml can costs £1.25 from American Sweets (The Stateside Candy Co.) and there's also a 335ml bottle for £1.25 direct from Soda Folk but you'll need to order 12 and pay £5 postage). You may also be lucky to find this root beer in Selfridges and Byron Burger restaurants as well as some independent sweet shops including Tony's Sweet Shop located in Exeter (credit due for telling me about Soda Folk).

9/10

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Square Root London root beer review

The current UK root market is a little like the sports world. With many being banned for illegal enhancing ingredients, the remaining field has dwindled to only a handful. Stepping up to the challenge is a UK brewed root beer by the name of Square Root from London.

We British love an underdog and from the label and price this one appears to be a classy, well-bred character. Let's call this the Tim Henman of root beer. Lots of fans (back in the day) but ultimately up against the American class it won't win anything major.

First impressions were good, an interesting mixture of flavours. Tasting a little more like honey with a mild impression of the burdock and liquorice hints coming through, you could almost get the impression it was a health drink. After that though most of the subtle flavours disappears which is quite strange. At £2.70 a bottle it is very expensive but with the amount of choice out there it's worth a go. If we don't support these home-grown (home-brewed?) root beers then we risk losing it all through lack of demand.


Many thanks to Cyber Candy for sending me this root beer. They also sell Dominion root beer which is a more traditional American root beer taste and one I would strongly recommend.

7/10 (won't be to everyone's tastes)

Square Root London root beer

Septimus Spyder Medieval Brewhouse Root Beer review

If you're new to this blog or even new to root beer then you won't know that the UK and EU have got tough on imports of food and drinks containing sodium benzoate meaning a ban of a lot of US root beers. Some traders have reported being threatened with fines for selling root beers due to this change in law so this should present an opportunity for UK brewers and manufacturers to create and sell their own.

One UK brewer I've come across is Septimus Sypder who look to have grown from selling at village fetes and country fairs to giving online trading a go. Their website is, how can I say, unique with character. Possibly its been brewed in a cauldron with eye of newt and a Windows 3.1 computer.

The actual drink must have been brewed in a similar way. As soon as the bottle was opened the smell was questionable like a sickly caramel/chocolate smell. My wife described it as the smell of used bandages. The taste was slightly better but not by much. There wasn't any root beer flavouring at all but a very watery caramel taste. There's definitely sugar as it was quite sweet with my enamel buzzing after a few gulps. Worst of all there was no carbonation at all even though the label said there would a little. I didn't notice any alcoholic effects but I doubt 0.5% would really do anything.

When I emailed them to say how flat and off-tasting it was they confirmed that this was how it should be. Any good business should take on customer feedback and consider adapting recipe. I'll assume that Cyber Candy will have bought a batch of this as an attempt to replace their previous vast selection of US root beers. Unfortunately, at the very high price of £3.45 a bottle and awful taste I only see warlocks and hobgoblins enjoying this brew at their local medieval event.

I hope for their sake that the other types of drinks like Ginger Beer, Cream Soda and Dandelion & Burdock are a lot better but I won't be reviewing them here.

At risk of getting a curse from this alchemist I give this:

4/10

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Maine Sarsaparilla root beer review

So after the UK market dries up of decent US made, sodium benzoate -packed root beer there's very little choice out there. Cyber Candy in Covent Garden, London only had Virgil's, this Maine Sarsaparilla root beer and a very weird and wonderful British root beer in stock.

The first swig and I'm almost shocked at the taste. This isn't the sarsaparilla taste I remember. If this is the future for UK root beer fans then I'm not impressed. I'm all for natural and organic ingredients but it tastes weird with even a hint of ginger. It's not a bad taste but I just wouldn't bother.

At this rate I'll be moaning about EU regulations, writing strong letters to my MEP and even voting UKIP (that'll never happen by the way).

I rate this low sodium benzoate root beer:
 
6/10

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Has root beer been banned from the UK?

A few weeks ago I noticed that my local Cyber Candy store in Brighton had removed all root beers from their shelves (although I could see them in a back cupboard). I instantly thought that the store wanted to concentrate maybe on sweets or other products due to profit. I tweeted my disapointment quoting them:

Very disappointed to see @Cybercandy_BR has stopped selling #rootbeer again. Can only assume sales have been down. Sort it out!
— Rob's RootBeerreview (@Rootbeeruk) September 14, 2014

Not expecting a response I received these replies later in the day:

@Rootbeeruk hey :) It's not us it's the E.U!We've had to get all U.S sodas checked as they have different levels of the preservative ..tbc
— Cybercandy Brighton (@Cybercandy_BR) September 17, 2014

And...

@Rootbeeruk sodium benzoate than permitted under UK law. We hope we'll have most of them back soon :) We've got a make your own kit though:)
— Cybercandy Brighton (@Cybercandy_BR) September 17, 2014

So, what's going on?

Unfortunately, for root beer fans, Cyber Candy and other shops should no longer be selling root beers identified to have more than the allowed quota of sodium benzoate. According to Wikipedia it says that Benzene in soft drinks is of potential concern due to the carcinogenic nature of the benzene molecule. This means something that can cause cancer! Ok, let's not get all Daily Mail here and I would suspect that you would have to drink this continuously in litres for years until something seruous like this would happen.

To be honest you have to be a nutrionist to truly undertstand what's in the root beers that means the ban to being imported.

So, root beer hasn't been banned?

Forgive the attention-grabbing headline but it appears that some brands of root beer have stopped being imported. I've checked with a contact with American Fizz and there's still hope for root beer fans. 

Tom Turner from American Fizz confirmed that:

"... this affects all varieties of Root Beer imported from the United States including A&W, Barq's and Faygo. These varieties are no longer available for sale and unless the regulations surrounding Sodium Benzoate change, which they are not likely to, these drinks will not be returning."

I asked Tom if he thought US manufacturers would consider changing their recipes and ingredients to compensate for this UK and European law. He said:

"Unfortunately not. We have spoken to a few US manufacturers in the hope that they will adjust their formula for sale in Europe. We were met with very cold responses that were basically along the lines of “You are too small for us to even consider modifying our formula”. "

And another contact I have in the industry said that Rob's Root Beer Review favourite Goose Island had "3 times" the amount of sodium benzoate allowable so we'll never see that again in the UK!

US manufacturers not bothered about international markets

Since I started this blog and visiting websites for US manufacturers of root beer and I got the sense that marketing activities have been kept to a minimum since their websites look dated and very out of date with old news. Could it be fair (and worth a groan at) to say that the US market for root beer has lost its fizz? I know from Twitter activity that there are some passionate people out there in the UK who love root beer and even some restaurants serve it could be caught out by this change in law. So with every threat there's an opportunity for another. Therefore if any ambitious US manufacturers out there are reading this then now's the chance to change and take a chance on new markets like the UK and Europe.

So what can I buy now with this ban in place

American Fizz has taken the initiative to find new root beers that do have the allowed amount of sodium benzoate. Virgil's Gourmet Root Beer will soon be sold on their website.

Another highly rated root beer not affected by this import ban is Dominion Root Beer as confirmed by Heathwick Ltd, their official importer.

Otherwise, you can check with your local or favourite online shop. Existing stocks of root beer whatever your favourite brand may still be available but not for long!

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Frosties root beer review

This was a bargain at 99p from American Fizz but was a special deal at the time and is now priced at £2.29. It's a huge bottle of 947ml or a quart in US measurements designed for sharing with.

The taste is ok, smoother than the canned HFSC root beers but not as good as it's Frostie Vanilla root beer counterpart which I reviewed back in January. After a day being originally opened in the fridge, a lot of the carbonation had gone and didn't retain its taste either.

Checking the actual ingredients is rather confusing and I'm sure would be illegal in the UK. It quotes 'High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Cane Sugar'. Well, which is it?? It tastes more like sugar but the overall quality is less so than the top rated root beers so can only assume there's a mixture.

On taste alone this I would award this:

7/10