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

Hosmer Mountain White Birch Beer review

With my local source of root beer running low after Easter I had little choice so opted for this White Birch beer from Hosmer Mountain. Hosmer Mountain's Sarsaparilla was my highest rated drink since starting this blog so had high hopes. However, the Lurch Birch I had previously wasn't the different taste I was expecting.

To recap, Birch beer does taste similar to root beer using herb extracts usually birch bark. The best way I describe this is comparing this with chocolate. Root beer is like good, quality milk chocolate and birch beer having less flavour. This White Birch beer is like white chocolate i.e. sweeter than milk chocolate but also, for me sickly sweet after a few gulps. It also reminds me of cheap vanilla ice cream at times but never really satisfies me.

I rate this White Birch beer:

6/10

Lurch Birch review

Birch drinks are new to me though are displayed in the same section as root beers. Couldn't resist this particular birch drink being named after the supermarket trolley boy / simple-minded killer in the film Hot Fuzz. I was expecting a different taste to root beer, though naively expected a woody flavour like some bourbons. Instead I got a very ordinary root beer, slightly caramel but nothing special.
Shame really as I was hoping to discover something very new.
Another Cyber Candy purchase I award this 'left coast recipe' (as per the label):

7/10