Caruso's Legacy Root Beer

Ingredients: Filtered Carbonated Water, Pure Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative)

Smell: Wonderful sweet smell from this one. Sort of how you imagine a root beer should smell.

Head: Nothing really special here, quite average.

Flavor: One of the sweetest Root Beers I've had that uses Sugar over Corn Syrup. And I like a nice sweet Root Beer, so that 's a plus. Aftertaste has a hint of vanilla, and the bite was good.

Overall: The last Root Beer I reviewed I mentioned that it was a perfect example of doing everything right, but nothing extra. This Root Beer is the next step up from that, where it doesn't do a lot extra, but that little taste of vanilla, and just how it's a well rounded drink, makes a step above the rest. B.

Purchased from Alsip Home & Nursery

Dang! That's Good Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Citric Acid, and Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness)

Smell: Standard stuff here, nothing especially sweet or anything.

Head: This one wasn't bad. Not tall or anything, didn't last very long, but still not bad.

Flavor: Lot of normal stuff here. Not super sweet, but certainly not bad. Didn't taste any undertones of anything. The bite was good, the aftertaste was also not bad.

Overall: The Butterscotch version of Dang! That's Good really overpowered the Root Beer flavor, and I was hoping that the normal version would present me something really tasty. In the end Dang! That's Good is pretty average. Good stuff but nothing really special.

Purchased from Alsip Home & Nursery

Saranac Root Beer

Ingredients: Filtered Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness), Natural & Artificial Flavors, Citric Acid.

Smell: A pleasant smell, hints of vanilla.

Head: Nice and tall and long lasting. In fact it lasted through the entire drink, but wasn't so heavy that it blocked the drink either. Really kind of perfect in a way.



Flavor: This is near what I would think if as my perfect blend of smoothness and bite. Just enough of both so that it's just a pleasure to drink. Pretty sweet with hints of vanilla in the aftertaste.

Overall: As you can probably tell, I enjoyed this one. It does a lot of things right. I'm not quite giving it an A, because it blow my expectations away, but this is going to be one I point to that just does everything a good a Root Beer should do perfectly. B, Above average for sure.

Purchased from Alsip Home & Nursery

Rat Bastard Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Molasses, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Caffeine, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Herbal Blend (American, Siberian, & Korean Ginseng; Jasmine; Clove; Dong Quai - Angelica; Skullcap (Mud Dog Weed); African Capsicum; Ginko Biloba; Gotu Kola; Goldenseal; Echinacea; Reishi & Shitake & Cordyceps), Sodium Benzoate (to preserve freshness).

Smell: For something so complex as far as ingredients, I really thought I would get a lot from the scent. In actuality, I didn't really find much out of the ordinary sassafras flavor.

Head: As you can see, it's fairly impressive. It shrinks quite a bit, but there's a nice short froth on top for most of the drink.

Flavor: Surprisingly not as "weird" as I expected. Very smooth, with not really any bite at all. There definitely flavors and hints of flavors in the background, but they weren't the usual types like Vanilla or Anise. Almost more fruity, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. And as you can see with a ingredient list like that you can see how certain flavors could get lost. But the aftertaste was fairly normal and pleasant.

Overall: I'll be honest, if this one had a little bit more bite I would have really liked it more. I just can't quite give this a B, like I was originally thinking. It's unique enough, but without any kind of kick to it (and considering it's caffeinated and has ginseng it really should!) it's too tame. But not bad at all. Solid C.

Edit: I've gone back and thought about this one, and my mind's really done a 180 on this one. It lacked bite, it had odd flavors in it. I'm thinking I found the uniqueness of it to be charming, but it really ended up making it pretty bad. This one's getting a D. Sorry for the momentary lapse in judgement.

Purchased from Alsip Home & Nursery

AJ Stephans Root Beer

Ingredients: Pure Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Flavor, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate as Preservative.

Smell: Nothing really out of the ordinary here. If anything, maybe a little less sweet smelling than average.

Head: As you can see, it's a pretty standard sized top, not very long lasting at all, basically gone after your first drink.

Flavor: A good standard flavor here. Not trying anything new, and had a really enjoyable bite. The aftertaste is pure sassafras.

Overall: Not bad at, but also not breaking any new boundaries either. I've had worse, I've had better, so this gets a solid C.

 

Purchased from Alsip Home & Nursery

Dang! That's Good Butterscotch Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Citric Acid, and Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness)

Smell: Butterscotch, straight up. Hits you pretty hard too. I mean, I don't know what I expected but yeah. Butterscotch.

Head: Pretty awesome! Fills a good portion of the drink, and lasts a good long time.

Flavor: Again, Butterscotch. You could almost call this a Root Beer flavored Butterscotch drink. The bites okay, and the aftertaste is heaven (assuming you like Butterscotch).

Overall: Totally unique. I expected this to be more like normal Root Beers, where maybe I'd catch a strong hint of Butterscotch in the back ground. But I should know better than that, as with most Root Beers I've had that advertise as a flavored Root Beer, the flavor is almost always stronger than the Root Beer. Still, I enjoyed this, maybe a little too sweet in the end, I almost had that feeling of eating too much candy! B, above average for sure.

Purchased from D'Marie's Deli

Capt'n Eli's Root Beer

Ingredients: Water, Cane Sugar, Caramel Coloring, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Including Wintergreen Oil, Anise, Vanilla, Spices, Herbs, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate as a Preservative

Smell: Mostly sweet and sassafras but there's certainly a strong smell of anise too.

Head: Pretty awesome. Nice and tall, in fact it surprised me so much, it sort of overflowed out as you can see. Shrinks down but still lasted the entire drink.

Flavor: In an odd way, the flavors that are normally more hidden are high on display here. Anise and vanilla don't quite overshadow the sassafras flavor, but they are quite strong. The bite is fine, and the aftertaste is the anise and vanilla for sure.

Overall: I've never had a drink where I've been torn between giving it a D or a B. Let me explain, this is certainly not an average either way. But it's a real fight between two flavors I have opposing taste for. I guess in the end I'll give it a B, because I didn't not like this one even though the anise was strong. But the flavor of vanilla was nice and strong as well, and the actual Root Beer flavor was enjoyable as well. So yeah, a B.

Purchased at D'Marie's Deli (Super awesome sandwich shop in Mokena.)

Route Beer 66 Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Real Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavorings, Quillaia, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (preservative)

Smell: A fairly sweet smell, not as sweet as other Root Beers, no real hints of anything.

Head: Starts out pretty tall, and just goes away instantly, and you can tell in the picture above.

Flavor: Good sweet flavor, all those normal flavors most people expect from Root Beer, but nothing hidden. But still good stuff. Bite is a good kind of harsh, and the aftertaste is nice and sweet.

Overall: Actually found this brand at a gas station down the street from me, so it's a nice surprise. This is as average as average gets. Good for sure, but nothing really special. C.

Purchased from Route 66 Food & Fuel

Zuberfizz Root Beer

Ingredients: Triple Filtered Carbonated Water, Pure Cane Sugar, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Gum Arabic, Phosphoric Acid and Sodium Benzoate

Smell: Average sweet smell, with a little bit of licorice.

Head: Short and does not last very long, I took two pictures, and it was basically gone by the second photo.

Flavor: Pretty normal stuff here, sweet sassafras flavor with a hint of anise. Bite's okay, and not much of an aftertaste other than just the normal Root Beer flavor.

Overall: Strangely enough I had high hopes for this, and it's almost completely based off the bottle. I mean, look at it. Words like "Zuberfizz" and "Creamy" really kind was selling it for me. What I ended up getting was something good, but just absolutely average. C.

Purchased from Sweet Street

Frostie Vanilla Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Pure Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate (A Preservative), Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors

Smell: Holy cow, this had almost as strong of a vanilla smell as a sweet bottle of cream soda. This is the second time a Root Beer has made me say "Wow!"

Head: Same as the normal Frostie Root Beer. Nothing great. Short in both height and length.

Flavor: I really expected this to be too vanilla, but it really strikes an interesting balance. It's almost like the vanilla is the main flavor with the Root Beer as the background flavor. The bite was okay, but the aftertaste is glorious.

Overall: I really liked it, but some may not. However, I REALLY like it. It's been a really good week for Root Beers. Lots of delicious honey and vanilla flavors. This one is a top dog in my book. A

Purchased from Alsip Home & Nursery

Frostie Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Pure Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate (A Preservative), Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors

Smell: Yummy sweet familiar scent.

Head: Nothing great here, short and gone pretty quickly.

Flavor: Nice sweet flavor, just like the smell. The bite is tame but good, and it goes down very smooth. The aftertaste is mostly Root Beer, but there's a lingering flavor of vanilla.

Overall: Very good one here. It doesn't quite blow my mind or anything, but it's certainly on the higher end when it comes to the flavors I really enjoy. I also really liked the smoothness of it, and that hint of vanilla really puts it over for me. Solid B.

Purchased from Alsip Home & Nursery

Cicero Beverage Co. Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Natural Flavor, and Citric Acid

Smell: Right away you're just hit with a strong vanilla flavor that almost had me licking my lips.

Head: It's pretty standard from what you can see there, but I took three pictures of it, and by the third picture it was nearly gone. In other words, not the greatest.

Flavor: If you like vanilla flavor in your Root Beer, this may be one of the tops for you. In fact the taste of vanilla was so strong I almost questioned if maybe they'd somehow switched with a Cream Soda or something. But no, this is definitely a Root Beer, because those sassafras flavors were certainly in there. The bite was good, the drink went down smooth, and has a delicious vanilla aftertaste.

Overall: At this point, you know my taste, and you probably know what I'm going to give this. If I was to say anything negative about this one is that one might find it to be too sweet or too vanilla. However I think there's no such thing for both of those. A

Purchased from Sweet Street

Roundy's Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Citric Acid, Yucca Extract, and Sodium Benzoate (A Preservative)

Smell: A good sweet sassafras smell, actually struck me as really pleasant.

Head: Pretty terrible, short and leaves almost instantly. As you can see in the pic, it was gone before I could take the picture.

Flavor: A nice sweet flavor that matched the scent. The bites a little heavy but not harsh, and the aftertaste is nice and sweet with a little vanilla.

Overall: I really was not expecting much from a store brand Root Beer, since Roundy's is just the name of the store branded items from Marianos. But it's actually very good. It really struck a good mix of bite and smoothness, and the flavors are a good mix of what I like. B

Purchased from Mariano's

IBC Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Artificial and Natural Flavors, Food Starch - Modified, Citric Acid

Smell: You're hit with a pretty strong anise smell along with a few other spices.

Head: The head on this one was pretty good. Not remarkably tall, but nice and long lasting.

Flavor: I've drank IBC many many times, but it had been a while. I never noticed how strong the anise flavor really is until this time. Not only that but it has a pretty harsh bite, and the aftertaste is nothing to be proud of either.

Overall: I've always called IBC "the worst of the best", as it's a nice gourmet Root Beer, but still kind of standard and nothing special. However, there are some really terrible Root Beers out there, and this isn't those. Still not a fan though. D

Purchased at Mariano's

Henry Weinhard's Root Beer

Description: "Enjoy a truly great American Root Beer originally crafted by our master brewers during prohibition. This gourmet elixir, brewed with sassafras, vanilla and honey, proved to be a popular alternative for our beer-drinking loyalists."

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Color, Vanilla Extract, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Phosphoric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness), Honey Essence, Acacia Sassafras Extract

Smell: Normal sassafras smell, nice and sweet.

Head: A new champion reigns supreme. Seriously, It starts out nice and tall, and not only does it stay with you the whole drink, it stays nice and frothy till you're done. When I was done with the Root Beer, I found myself with almost half a mug of froth, which eventually melted away into more Root Beer. Seriously, I've never seen anything like it.

Flavor: This one's got a little bit of everything in its flavor. It's got a nice sweet classic taste, with just enough honey and vanilla to give that extra something that makes it special. The bite surprised me, as it was noticeable and spicy but not overdone. And the aftertaste was good as well, mostly vanilla.

Overall: I'd never even heard of this brand before I bought it, but it just blew away expectations left and right. This is one of the best brews I've ever had, my first sip I literally exclaimed "Oh!". It's unique and somehow familiar and doesn't overdo anything, but has everything you'd want. If you can find it, drink it. A.

Purchased from Mariano's

Point Premium Root Beer

Description: "Our legendary recipe for Point Premium Root Beer boasts the purest water, finest sugars and genuine Wisconsin honey. The result is a creamy, smooth, draft root beer with a delicious taste that's second to none."

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Pure Cane Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Maltodextrine, Pure Wisconsin Honey, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Vanilla, Phosphoric Acid, and Sodium Benzoate (A Preservative)

Smell: Sweet sassafras flavor with a hint a vanilla.

Head: Kind of short, and goes away very quickly, probably before your first drink.

Flavor: Very sweet. Normal but good classic Root Beer taste. The bite is a little strong, but I like it that way. The aftertaste is where the vanilla is hiding, yum.

Overall: I had a hard time with this one. It has honey and vanilla listed in the ingredients, but it's hard to taste them. Their more apparent in the aftertaste, which is still great but I wish they were more apparent while drinking. Still, I'd say this one's a bit above average so, B.

Purchased from Mariano's

Stewart's Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Benzoate (A Preservative), Citric Acid, Quillaia Extract, Gum Acacia, Yucca Extract

Smell: Actually couldn't smell much from the bottle, just a bit of sweet and sassafras.

Head: The head on this one is pretty standard as far as height, however it lasted all the way to the last drop in the mug.

Flavor: No hidden flavors, but a good standard Root Beer flavor. The aftertaste is pleasant and the bite is perfectly good.

Overall: Another perfectly good Root Beer that doesn't mess with what a good Root Beer does best. C.

Purchased from Mariano's