Kutztown root beer review

Sounding more like a small town hairdressers that would guarantee to cut your kid's hair like Beckham this Kutztown root beer went down a treat.

It's very gassy towards the end but the vanilla like after taste is just enough without being too much. There's no caffeine and 'very' low in sodium, not that I've ever noticed root beers had it in the first place. 
The quote on the back of the bottle is a bit odd and maybe more apt for a lager beer.

"Tastes chust like old-fashioned, 'cause you know we make it that way. Drink 'til you ouch, there's more back!"

First off is 'chust' just a spelling mistake from someone's bad accent? Secondly, is 'til you ouch' suggesting I'll get stomach cramps or even poisoned? 

Anyway, despite the random bottle labelling this is a great root beer (bought from the Brighton branch of Cyber Candy).

8/10

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Caruso's Legacy Robusto Root Beer review

Straight out of the fridge and drinking this Caruso's Legacy root beer and suddenly I've almost drunk it. So smooth and slippery and easy to drink with a pleasant caramel after-taste. As it warms up it reminds me of a previous root beer I reviewed - Langers where the after taste turns slightly creamy. That didn't work out for me but this root beer is good - a real gourmet soda.

This so nearly achieved 9 out of 10 but the creaminess (think single cream) at the end just let it down.

I rate this:

8/10

How other blogs review this root beer

• Gourmetrootbeer.com reviewed this as a slight disappointment too but was impressed by the massive head (when poured)
• Cosmo's Root Beer review said it "simply a watered down root beer without much to say"
• RootBeerReviews blog gave it a little more praise awarding it a B+

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Empire Root Beer review

This Empire root beer had all the right first impressions. Polite labeling, pure ingredients and a respectable history (established in 1930). Once opened it had a pleasant smell and a very smooth texture but the taste was extremely subtle. It was like a whisper of flavour. Towards the end of the bottle the taste continues to 'bland up' and reminds me of A&W root beer. Not a bad thing but if you've paid (sometimes) double the price of more mass produced drinks you expect a little more for your money.

The same company also produces a banana flavoured soft drink. Check out Ross's Soda blog to see what he thinks.

So, the Empire root beer is not a bad root beer and at least it has 100% cane sugar. I rate it:

7/10

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River City root beer review

I've been consciously buying more quality root beers lately by reading the ingredients and trying to avoid those with high fructose corn syrup - remember, just say 'no' kids.

This River City root beer is made with pure cane sugar and no sickly HFCS. It has a great vanilla like smell when the bottle gets opened. Strange being none mentioned on the ingredients list. It's also very fizzy so it isn't a smooth taste but the after taste is very pleasant with an almost syrupy texture. It reminds me of Stewart's root beer I reviewed recently but better.

Nice touch with the bottle label showing the perfect ice cream to root beer ratio (2 scoops to 1 bottle).

A Cyber Candy, Brighton store purchase, I rate this:

8/10

 

What other reviews say

• Eric's Gourmet Root Beer review - 4.5 / 5 (Seal of Approval)
• Cosmo's Root Beer Reviews - 6/10

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Stewart's root beer review

I already had reservations before drinking this Stewart's root beer. The ingredients list were suspiciously like other mass produced root beers headlined with the high fructose corn syrup and, for the UK it was available from online stores selling well known, mass produced products like A&W and Barq's, not the normal gourmet, independent ones I usually buy.

After a good root beer smell and a very strong carbonation feeling on the tongue there's a distinctive taste at the back of the throat which I really can't describe. It might be burnt caramel like crème brûlée but after a few more concentrating sips another memory came through - a kind of medicinal smell, even more so than the typical root beer flavour. My psychic powers could only conjour up that the after-taste was Covonia, the cough syrup.

Like all root beers drinking from ice cold is the best way. As this root beer warmed up the flavours changed and lost its tartness. I'll blame the HFCS (though have no scientific proof of that).

Bought from AmericanSoda.co.uk for £1.99, in light of the unusual after taste that kept me guessing but with the cheap ingredients and mid-range price I'm rating this a generous:

7/10

What do other reviewers say

• Spike's root Beer Reviews rated it 'C'
• HandyFather rated it 2.5 out of 5
• Cosmo's Root Beer Reviews - 7/10

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• Support the 'Set Root Beer free in the UK' campaign

Dublin Texas Root beer review

Slightly confusing branded bottle here. Is it an Irish company in Texas? Is it made by a company called Texas. Ok, its not really that confusing and officially, Dublin Bottling Works located in Texas have created a tasty 'Texas' root beer

Dublin's website is actually quite interesting and explains its legendary soft drink history. Back in 1891 in Waco, Texas (the same Waco that had the massacre), a guy called Morrison created a drink fruit, spicy smelling drink the locals simply (or another violent referred to) called 'shoot me a Waco' but renamed it as Dr Pepper - yes, that Dr Pepper. Decades later the brand gets sold on but Dublin Bottling kept going with other soft drink flavours which root beer was a late comer. Other merchandise includes their Christmas decoration.

How's it taste, partner?
As soon as you unscrew the bottle there's a great smell, creamy root beer smell. The good stuff continues with a very fizzy and flavoursome gulp. The caramel after-taste and fizziness snaps at your taste buds.

Its caffeine-free and has pure cane sugar. Gets my vote.

8/10

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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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