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
