Rocky Mountain Root Beer
The longer I review root beers, the more I find that I look forward to it less – I think that makes sense?? I mean, often you get root beers like Big K, or Hannaford Brand just because the brews are cheap, available and haven’t been reviewed yet.
But I was really looking forward to trying Rocky Mountain Root Beer. I mean everything about this root beer shouts quality. The bottle is quality with an awesome picture of a sheep on steroids . . . or is that a ram? Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, because a bottle with a manly looking animal on the front is awesome.
Some of the little quips on this bottle say, “batch brewed,” “all-natural,” “made with beet sugar”, and “handcrafted.” And all of these quips are completely true! Wait . . . made with beet sugar? That’s right, not high-fructose corn syrup, not honey, not molasses and not even pure cane sugar. This baby is made with BEET SUGAR!! How cool is that! In fact, if your interested my next post will be for the purpose of explaining a little more about beet sugar.
Everything about this root beer screams quality. And in fact, it is a high-quality root beer, but sadly it’s not the kind of quality root beer that delights my taste buds. The beet sugar is distinctive, and although there is not an over abundance of sugar in this brew it tastes way too sweet for my liking. There is also a strong licorice or anise taste and I’m not sure if its that actual spice or if it’s a flavor of the beet sugar. Much too strong for my liking.
The Professor’s Grade: C –
Zevia Ginger Root Beer
I have been checking this root beer out for quite some time. It is practically in every grocery store I visit, but the price on this baby is out of this world. I think the cost is over $6 for a 4 pack or a 6 pack. While I guess that is only about $1 a can, I normally don’t like to pay that much for a canned root beer, and especially a canned root beer that looks like it’s going to taste gross. I was lucky to find an individual can at Whole Foods the other day – so one and done baby!
Enough about cost . . . what makes this brew so unique is that it is a diet soda without actually being diet. It has no artificial sweeteners and yet has zero calories!! Zevia uses a combination of stevia and Erythritol to sweeten the beverage. The interesting part is that even though there are no artificial sweeteners – it still tastes a little like a diet beverage. Don’t ask me how they do it – they just do.
But with that being said – I would drink this on occassion instead of a regular diet root beer. Hey – it is all natural, no calories, no cancer causing diet ingredients (well . . . at this moment stevia has not been shown to cause cancer, but give it a few years and I’m sure it will be labeled as a carcinogen), and the taste is okay. This isn’t going to win any awards, but I’m sure it will be followed by a host of organic, all-natural type people who love this ginger flavored brew.
As far as the professor goes . . .I’m still undecided – my first couple of sips weren’t too good, but by the middle of the can it got pretty good. But now as I’m finishing the last couple of sips I think it is giving me a headache.
The Professor’s Grade: C –
Weis Choice Old Fashioned White Birch Beer
Old Fashioned normally means “it tastes like junk,” but in this case it’s actually not that bad. Now remember, it’s all about expectations, so this brew is not going to rank in the top brews, but for a store brand it’s pretty darned good . . . erhhh . . . average.
It’s real light, but not too zippy. It’s a very smooth and likeable birch beer. This is the kind of brew that you could drink 2-3 cans and not feel sick. It has a strong wintergreen flavor with not much else to it (that the plight of most birch beers). Not really extraordinary, but a nice change.
The Professor’s Grade: C –
