Stewart’s Birch Beer
Ahhh . . . a birch beer on a root beer web-site. I can feel your judgmental eyes reading this birch beer review already. Academically speaking, birch beer is root beer’s twin, both birthed from a wonderful combination of sugar, roots and carbonation.
I was thrilled to taste this and review it as Stewart’s is a classic . . . you can almost find it in as many supermarkets as IBC. Unfortunately, I don’t really have a lot to say about this brew. Simply, it tastes like a birch beer should taste. It’s probably flavored with a bit or birch root, as this is a birch beer. A pretty standard birch beer on the lower end of the excellence scale.
The Professor’s Grade: D+
Virgil’s Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg
Ahhhh . . . a Virgil’s that I actually like. Where the regular Virgil’s falls short the special edition brew falls forward . . . I think? Anyway, by the title of the root beer you’d think that the nutmeg is of a special variety in that it’s from Bavaria. But low and behold the nutmeg is not from Bavaria, the well water is. So a more accurate title would be “Virgil’s Special Edition Bavarian Well Water – it doesn’t quite hold the same sparkle though.
All of that aside, I think this brew is pretty good! I like the fact that this has all natural ingredients, but the fantastic part is that these flavor actually blend together pretty well. The combo of honey, licorice and vanilla give this beer a silky smooth, creamy feel. The nutmeg (not from bavaria by the way), clove and cinnamon give a nice bite to finish each root beer swallow.
The particular bottle I drank from was a little flat, but I suspect that it’s because I allowed this to sit for quite a while.
Nice job Virgils . . . nice job. Although, when you give a root beer a “5 word” title with one of the words being “special” than it better be pretty darn good. And if you look at it that, you might be a bit disappointed.
The Professor’s Grade: B
Richfood Root Beer
Lot’s of burps with this terrible excuse for a root beer. A lot of these generic root beers get the label of being bland, but this isn’t good enough to be called bland. There isn’t even a creaminess to redeem this root beer – and it’s not worth writing any more.
Except to say . . . bad root beer . . . bad packaging.
The Professor’s Grade: F
Virgil’s Root Beer
I was originally enthralled by the complex spicyness of the root beer until I wondered if it had anything to do with the “red pepper chips” that I ate only moments before. Virgils does claim to be a superb blend of spices and herbs, so I suspect that at least a little bit of the spice was blended by Virgil’s. Anise, licorice, cinnamon, clove, molasses and nutmeg are only about half of the spices that are present in this brew. This gives it a superb kick that nicely contrasts the smooth and rich texture that’s also present.
I have to admit, I taste so many root beers that are all so similar that it’s nice to taste something different like Virgil’s. Virgil’s isn’t really my cup of tea . . . or should I say cup of root beer, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize that this is a high-quality brew. If any of my students brought this in as a “teacher’s day gift,” I would accept this with the utmost gratitude and drink it on a day that afforded the opportunity.
When it comes down to the nitty gritty, this brew is pretty good. But I must admit that these complex flavors don’t really agree with my refined palette.
The Professor’s Grade: C
