Rob's Root Beer Review: September 2014

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Dr Pepper Vanilla Float review

Bought this Dr Pepper 'Vanilla Float' can from American Fizz with a couple of root beers (already reviewed). I went through a phase of liking Dr Pepper a few years ago but now I just find it weird.

I was hoping the Vanilla Float would conjure up tastes reminding me of vanilla ice cream floats but it seems the packaging is a complete lie as it still tastes exactly like original Dr Pepper. No wonder its so misunderstood!

Anyone who regularly drinks Doc P and is still curious or has actually had it and disagrees please comment below. Otherwise American Fizz sell it at 99p a 355ml can.

Rating:

N/A

Sunday, 14 September 2014

Goose Island Chicago Style root beer review

I'd been recommended this root beer via a fan on Twitter but had almost dismissed it thinking it would never be available in the UK. Yet when searching a little deeper via Google for UK root beer shops American Fizz was discovered i.e. the Bournemouth shop who are importers for Faygo, reviewed recently.

This Goose Island root beer taste of vanilla flavouring and a subtle caramel-like smoothness which makes this a fast drink as its so delicious. Like any sensual experience you want it to last yet for every first time you always do it too quickly and leave you wanting more.

And what a bargain too at £1.49 for a 340ml bottle and none of that HFSC either - just 100% natural cane sugar. So whilst you're on the American Fizz website order some other drinks and snacks too (just re-ordered another 5 bottles plus cans of Inka Cola, Fanta Grape and Frostie root beer) so you make the postage count.

Probably the best craft or gourmet-style root beer at a decent price. If you're looking to upgrade from the mass-produced A & W's and Barq's then try this, you won't regret it.

9/10

Friday, 12 September 2014

Faygo root beer review

Another canned clone which has the same taste as A & W, Barq's, MUG, Day's, IBC etc. It's good but like all the other mass-produced, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) canned root beers it'll just be a case of how convenient it is to buy your root beer. I'd be happy to buy this in any supermarket, corner shop or convenience store but if your specialist store has root beers without HFCS then I'll ignore it.

However, this Genuine Faygo Old-fashioned Draft Style Root Beer is possibly the cheapest I've come across at just £0.69 a 355ml can. American Fizz (based in Bournemouth) also offer different sizes in this Faygo brand with choices of the 12 pack of cans, a 355ml glass bottle, a 710ml and the 2 litre bottle. Checking the Wikipedia page for Faygo and it appears that American Fizz is the official importer for Europe so that would explain its good price and range.

With such good value and a taste that's not too sweet I rate this:

7/10

Tuesday, 9 September 2014

Francis Hartridge's celebrated root beer

Hooray! Let's celebrate this celebrated, English made root beer that's a reasonable price! But is it any good?

Bought from a 24 hour super corner shop in Brighton called Easy Hours at £1.10 its competitively priced. According to the website Hartridge's is stocked in places I usually avoid i.e. Asda, JD Weatherspoons and Nisa as well as some others I've not heard of. Bravo to Asda for stocking this and their cheap but not so cheerful Carters root beer. With Tesco selling A & W and even Boylans in some stores plus Waitrose selling that Aussie licorice faux-root beer it just leaves Sainsburys to man up and bring us an alternative.

First impressions from the reading the label and alarm bells are ringing. There's 37g or 31% of your daily recommended amount of sugar but checking a bottle of Pepsi and there's the 2% less sugar so maybe not such a big thing.

The taste however is not root beer or sarsaparilla as stated on the label. This is more like Bundaberg's root beer with a licorice flavour. Hats off for a UK company to produce a root beer but I think they need to do some research and actually taste some real American sarsaparilla. I suspect it'll be down to ingredient availability outside the USA or they've only tasted Bundaberg's.

I rate this UK root beer:

6/10

Monday, 1 September 2014

Dominion root beer review

The kind people at Heathwick contacted me and gave me a bottle of this Dominion root beer. So reviewing a freebie would be a little awkward if it didn't taste that good then I'd have to come up with some rubbish text. However, I can honestly say this is one of the best I've so far. No bull, the total truth m'lord.

To be honest I'm sure I've had it before as a 'Brown Cow' (root beer ice cream float) in Meat Liquor, Brighton - one of the coolest burger resturants (but no longer sell it). It has a clean natural taste, not sickly sweet but with a natural sweetness which I'm guessing is the honey. I enjoyed it so mych that I regretted drinking so fast and wished they bottled it in 500ml size. There's no horrible high fructose corn syrup and no caffeine either.

No caffeine

No high fructose corn syrup

Where to buy it - restaurants

Heathwick tell me its sold mainly to the trade to restaurants (£2.95 a bottle) so try the following:

The Chicago Ribshack (Stratford, Southampton, Leeds and Clapham)
Bodean's BBQ (Soho, Fulham, Clapham, Tower Hill, Balham)
Good Life Diner (8 of them in London only)

Where to buy it - shops

For those more eager you could try Beers of Euope website which sells Dominion root beer at a bargain £1.28 a 355ml bottle. The only catch is the postage at a whooping £7.49 for any order. So it makes sense to order a crate for £30 for 24 which makes it £1.56 a bottle. Still good value if you consider good gourmet root beers are at least £1.79 or more. Annoyingly, their website does not offer indvidual web page links so use their search to find it.

For more information on the brewer have look at F&D Brewing (US) and the Dominion root beer web page for the ingredients.

I rate this: