Squamscot root beer review

As soon as you open this bottle of Squamscot your expectations are raised by the inviting smell of vanilla. Just a shame that the immediate taste is a little disappointing being quite watery and distant. The root taste sneaks in at the end but it's too little too late.

Still, after a couple of mass-produced root beers its great to taste a fresh and natural albeit weak tasting drink. Good to see that pure cane sugar is being used instead of the horrible high fructose syrup and is caffeine free. The rest of ingredients looked very natural until I read the following two items: Methyl Salicylate and Sodium Benzoate. Actually both are (sort of) natural with no real worries. Only the Sodium Benzoate had some nutritional issues - it's not great for kids with AHHD but on the other hand its naturally found in cranberries and apples.

Squamscot are a very, very old New Hampshire brewery and their website matches this heritage (tongue-in-cheek, sorry). Established in 1863 there are an amazing amount of other flavours including the Maple Cream, Fruit Bowl, Half and Half (lemon and grapefruit), and Yup (which is just lemon, yup, just lemon). For this I doff my cap to.

Apart from that, the label design isn't going to win any awards. It looks like the company has used a Windows 95 PC with a first edition of PowerPoint to design it (and the website in Word). Still it has a some charm and could always be used in films and TV shows looking to recreate the early 1990s.

7/10

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Dad's root beer review

This was the second generous freebie from American Soda, the online shop for your Yankee vitals. Dad's Root Beer is the cheapest of their root beer selection but does this low price mean low taste?

Well, yes and no in this case. It's certainly better in terms of taste than the UK budget root beer maker, Carter's which I reviewed earlier this year. There's a traditional taste of root beer but for me its like drinking full-fat Coke. After about three gulps my teeth had that 'dissolving' feeling and I was looking for the ice to water it down. Checking the ingredients and I can see that its full of High Fructose Corn Syrup, basically a cheap substitute for sugar with some questionable health concerns. At least it's caffeine-free.

For the less discerning root beer drinker it offers a cheaper, full of flavour experience. For the older, root beer connoisseur I'm prepared to spend a bit more on those independent brews with natural ingredients. Otherwise you'll probably want to stick to A&W or the previously reviewed Barq's.

Dad's root beer (can designed by the same people behind WD40) is available to buy in 355ml cans at 99p from American Soda.

I rate this:

6/10

Barq's Root Beer review

Our friends up north, American Soda based near Manchester kindly contacted me to offer a couple of root beer samples. As well as Dad's root beer I was also offered this Barq's root beer.

American Soda offer a great range of USA goods from sweets, chocolate, soft drinks, baking goods and even washing powder (?). There's even some Harry Potter merchandise.

For root beer American Soda has a generous handful of canned and bottled drinks:

• A & W (in regular and diet and also available in 2 litres)
• Barq's
• Dad's
• Mug (in regular and diet)
• IBC (in regular and diet)
• Sioux City
• Stewarts (in regular and diet)
• Days

On the can it says there's 160 calories which I thought at the time sounded reasonable. However, compared to Coke it wasn't that much different. Still the marketing gimmick worked. Whilst we're talking business here it worth mentioning that Barq's is part of the Coca Cola group so it's mass-produced and therefore cheaper than the gourmet root beers I would normally go for.

The actual taste surprised me despite all the high fructose corn syrup. It's a standard root beer taste with enough depth and plenty of fizz (if you like seeing a head to your drink). Tried the second free can I received with a vodka based root beer float and it worked like a charm. There was an odd after-taste right at the end of the gulp but for some reason my taste buds weren't quick enough to recognize it. Strange and it didn't put me off.

Since Barq's is a mass-produced root beer like A&W there's not much difference between the two, hence the score being the same. They both taste good and are priced at £1.29 from the American Soda online shop. I can only suggest you buy both and take the taste test.

7/10

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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