Firemans Brews Root Beer
I caught this root beer in the microwave of all places, but I’m thinking it was just inspecting all of the household’s electrical equipment . . . safety first!
Let me say that Saranac Root Beer has nothing on Fireman’s as it relates to head. This is large, long-lasting and not particularly satisfying in any way. But, I know that some connoisseurs consider this aspect to be important in a brew . . . so it’s at least worth a mention.
I like the distinctive flavor in this root beer – it’s different than the others. Let me digress for a minute by saying, I never understood companies that took the effort to create a brand new root beer that ended up tasting like all the other average root beers on the market. This is not that root beer. This brew has a cool bottle design, cool story and is without a doubt a quality root beer.
And yet in saying that, it does taste strangely like another brew I’ve had in the past . . . Sparky’s. I remember how excited I was to try Sparky’s when it first came out, and yet how disappointed I was in the flavor. I think I’ve grown a little bit since then, because I’m not disappointed in Fireman’s, although it still seems like a one-note wintergreen flavor like Sparky’s was. Now . . . I’m convinced there are other awesome flavors at work in this brew, but it’s hard to taste them, because the wintergreen flavor is so strong. Because it’s been so long since I’ve had Sparky’s I should really do a “Battle of the Brews” between Sparky’s and Firemans just to see if I’m right in my analysis.
This is made with natural artesian spring water and pure cane sugar which is awesome. The creaminess and carbonation is just right. It’s just that wintergreen is not necessarily my favorite flavor to have showcased in a root beer.
The Professor’s Grade: B
Jonnie Ryan Delcious Diet Root Beer
I think it’s been a little while since I’ve reviewed a diet soda . . . I’m trying to stay away from these . . . really I am. Nevertheless, the professor (there I go talking about myself in the third person again) has to do the dirty and dangerous work of reviewing all root beers . . . even the diet ones. And to be quite honest, I get immense pleasure from sipping these brews, even the ones, like this one, that are filled with cancer causing ingredients like sucralose. Dr. Oz had a interesting article on artificial sweeteners, and given that he was recently proven to be right, 100% of the time , I thought I’d give a link to that article.
I found this particular diet soda while in Virginia of all places . . . at a Wegman’s. Now, I know I’m not the professor of Supermarkets (that title goes to my illustrious colleague – Professor Regan. The back story is that Lesley begged to be an associate professor of root beer, but when I declined to give her tenure, BBC picked her up to do her current supermarket thing), but Wegman’s is the bomb . . . it is simply awesome. I must have picked up 3-4 different brews while I was there, and Jonnie Ryan’s was one of them.
This diet brew has an extremely low carbonation content – and while I normally like it, this is pretty much non-existent. It’s entirely possible I got a bad bottle, but I’ll act as if it was intended to be this way.
This has a slight “diet-taste,” as all diet root beers have, but it is much less offensive than most diet brews. The flavor of root beer is not all that unique or different, but there is a interesting bite of flavor that maybe includes wintergreen and even a hint of licorice. I could be “way-off” though, as that “diet-taste” seems to be getting stronger and stronger with each sip. By the way . . . isn’t that how most diet sodas are . . . at first, they taste alright, but with each sip it gets worse and worse.
At any rate, this is still one of the better diet sodas I’ve drank.
The Professor’s Grade: C
