Old Red Eye Root Beer

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

Smell: Was turned off right away by the overwhelming scent of anise. Not a great opener.

Head: Not much to say here, because there's not much in general, as you can see.

Flavor: Despite the scent preparing me for one thing, I in fact was sent in the opposite direction. A nice sweet Root Beer, with the anise only being a hint in the aftertaste. And speaking of the aftertaste it was not bad!

Overall: Yes, the scent and the head left a lot to be desired, but the taste alone brings back up into the average territory. I'm not really knocking off "points" anyway, this is a good standard Root Beer. Nothing to complain about as far as drinking it.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Reading Draft Root Beer

Ingredients: Triple Filtered Carbonated Water, Pure Can Sugar, Natural And/Or Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness).

Smell: Pleasant and sweet, without and overly anise scent.

Head: Not especially tall, but long lasting. Lasted the entire drink.

Flavor: Matched the scent. Sweet and good, no bad aftertaste, really very little to say, but that also means very little to complain about.

Overall: Another poster child for a C grade. Nothing to complain about, but nothing out of the ordinary either. This is a high C though, really, it's a tasty drink.

Purchased From: Rocket Fizz

O-Zell Root Beer Float

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Hawaiian Cane Sugar Blend, Caramel Color, Natural Flavor, and Phosphoric Acid.

Smell: This smelled really tasty, it actually did have the scent of a Root Beer Float, rather than a plain Root Beer.

Head: Even my new mug could not contain the froth. And it stay at about half the glass the entire drink. Very Impressive.

Flavor: This really is going for the reproducing the flavor of a Root Beer Float. Lots of vanilla in the flavor, almost milky. The drink even had more creaminess than I would say is normal, and no bite whatsoever. However, whatever they did to get that vanilla ice cream flavor left a really gross aftertaste.

Overall: From opening the bottle to drinking it, it's actually very good, no real complaints. I'd probably be giving this a B if it weren't for the gross aftertaste. Also, as I've noted this isn't so much a Root Beer, as it a drink trying to reproduce a Root Beer Float, and I think it's very successful at that.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Anchor Ginger Root Beer

Description: "As a tribute to all the Sea Dogs and Scallywags looking for adventure on the high seas. Anchor has the sweet taste of root beer with a soothing touch of ginger to help keep you sailing all day - Enjoy!"

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (A Preservative), Ginger.

Smell: It's a pretty normal licorice scent you get, but there is sort of a back end of ginger.

Head: Nothing to see here, in fact, this picture was taken at its highest point, and it just went away after that.

Flavor: And here's where it shines. Now normally I do not like a Root Beer where the anise is the flavor that shines the brightest. But, the mix of ginger in this one tweaks the flavors just enough, that it changes the flavor of licorice into something much tastier than normal. While drinking it, you could taste some hints of vanilla, but it really comes up in the aftertaste.

Overall: So, what we have here is an enigma of sorts. A more anise based flavor that actually turned out tasting really good. However the things that put a Root Beer over the edge into greatness weren't really with this one. But still it's surprisingly good, and it gets a B.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Rally Root Beer

Smell: Average scent of sweet, with an anise background.

Head: Not super tall, but lasted the entire drink.

Flavor: Reminded me of your generic Dad's or Mug. Strong anise flavor, not a very good aftertaste.

Overall: As far as I can tell, this was brewed or bottled for some sort of charity event. No ingredients listed, clearly this was just out there to sell for a good cause, and not to blow anyone's mind.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Bulldog Root Beer

Description: "Unleash the Taste"

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Honey, Maltodextrin, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Benzoate, Real Vanilla, Phosphoric Acid, Salt.

Smell: I love it when you get the sweet scent of sugar, and then realize you're getting a hint of honey as well.

Head: Negligible. As you can see, short, and lasted for only a moment.

Flavor: All the things I love about a good root beer. Creamy vanilla, honey, sweet. But there was a mysterious lack of bite, almost to the point where it tasted sort of flat.

Overall: We're talking about a thin line between A and C. Why not B, because it was so disappointing, like it was almost an amazing drink, but there was a lack of bite, lack of fizz, and the aftertaste wasn't anything great either. C isn't a bad score, but this was so close to being a favorite.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Tractor Soda Co. Root Beer

Ingredients: Ultra-Filtered Carbonated Water, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Blackstrap molasses, Organic Aged Bourbon Vanilla, Organic Wintergreen, Organic Sassafras, Organic Sarsaparilla, Organic Sweet Birch, Oragnic Bark/Roots/Spices (Including Organic Licorice, Organic Nutmeg, Organic Cinnamon), Organic Caramel Color, Organic Juniper Berry Extract, Organic Quillaja.

Smell: Sometimes you just automatically something's not going to go well from the scent. This one hits you as very sweet, with wintergreen on the back end.

Head: Look! A new mug has appeared. I was wondering if the new bigger mug would interfere with how the head develops in any negative way. In the case of this drink it did not, but then the head dissipated almost immediately anyway.

Flavor: You can taste the sweetness and the birch right off. It is a very sweet, almost cola like flavor. The aftertaste is the wintergreen, which wasn't unpleasant.

Overall: I've noticed now that these "natural" or "organic" root beers all share a similar trait, and that's that they very rarely taste like a normal root beer. And in some cases they're still a fine cola, but they would never be something I'd recommend as a Root Beer. Now, despite all that, I can't even say I liked this on a soda level in general. Also, that ingredient list is hilarious.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Death Valley Root Beer

Description: "A Taste of the Old West"

Ingredients: Indian Wells Spring Artisan Spring Water, Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Natural Flavor, Real Vanilla, Citric Acid.

Smell: Nothing much to say here, nothing I particularly noticed that was out of the ordinary.

Head: Not shabby, lasted the whole drink. Had a deep brown color I noticed as well.

Flavor: As I was drinking it, I had similar feelings towards it as I had towards Bedford's the other day. Nothing spectacular, but a solid drink. But then after it was finished, it left me with the aftertaste of anise.

Overall: This one would have been another easy C, if the aftertaste hadn't been of licorice.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Three Stooges - Wise Guy Root Beer

Ingredients: Spring Water, Can Sugar, Citric Acid, Ester Gum, Caramel Color, and Natural Flavors.

Smell: I was pleasantly surprised by an aroma of vanilla mixed in with sassafras.

Head: When starting to pour this, there was no head to be seen. Then suddenly, it started to grow, not only that but it remained for the whole drink! It looks like what you'd want from a root beer, very attractive.

Flavor: First off, this falls on the side of anise more than sweetness. But it's very strange that the mixture of sugar and anise actually compliments each other well in this case. It was very creamy, and perhaps that also helped offset the usually overwhelming taste of licorice that this drink seemed to avoid. While drinking it I had the though that it tasted like root beer barrel candy. You're left with that specific flavor lingering for a long time after as well.

Overall: Now this may be a case of low expectations getting the best of me, but I had gone in assuming that a licensed root beer wasn't going to be anything special. Yet this was surprisingly delicious. Since it was so candy like I found myself almost craving the root beer barrel candy itself. Either way, this was a solid drink.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Bedford's Root Beer

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

Smell: Smelled sweet right away, nothing overpowering, just a tasty sugary soda scent.

Head: Nothing special here, quickly grew and fell. Filled the cup about half way before it began to shrink.

Flavor: Now this guy had a good bite and a good flavor. And my very first drink almost left a fruity sort of taste on my tongue. It wasn't bad either, just kind of surprising. Nothing fancy, just a sweet sugary root beer flavor.

Overall: It had been a while since my last review, so I was sort of hoping for something stellar, but instead I got a solid brew that doesn't break the mold. My only real thought after finishing this was, "I don't have any complaints, but I don't have any praise either". So this is a solid "C", just an average, but good, Root Beer.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Americana Root Beer

Description: "The era of soda poppery began in the early 1990's. Early soft drinks or 'tonics' were brewed in a variety of flavors. Our extracts and flavor ingredients are brewed to duplicate the authentic production methods of yesteryear - we think this method creates the most flavorful soda. Enjoy well chilled. Cheers!"

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Honey, Citric Acid, and Phosphoric Acid.

Smell: I immediately figured I'd enjoy this, the scent of vanilla hits you right off the bat, as well as something else that I couldn't put my finger on until I got a taste...

Head: I don't usually have a back up brew, and of course in this case, my camera wasn't ready. I will describe it as best as possible. The head as you can see, had filled about half the glass, but went down nearly immediately after the pouring had stopped.

Flavor: Now, the head was indicative of my one main gripe with this one, it didn't have a very good bite. It was one of the few times I might say that a brew was TOO sweet. I'm not saying it was bad, not at all, but it definitely brought it down a whole letter. But one thing that brought it back up, was that other flavor that was hinted in the scent was honey! I really enjoy a good soda with honey in the ingredients, as I personally think it's a superior flavor to sugar. Not much of an aftertaste to mention.

Overall: If it just had the bite, this might have gotten a solid A, but it just lost too much in the texture of it that I feel like heightened the sweetness too much. Still, I give this a HIGH C.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Frostop Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Phosphoric Acid, and Sodium Benzoate to preserve freshness.

Smell: Something was kind of off about the scent, almost kind of a musty scent. Like old water or something. Otherwise, behind that it was a fairly normal Root Beer smell.

Head: Not shabby, very photogenic. I'm joking of course, but it did last for the duration of the review. Not super tall though.

Flavor: I'll say right away, this would have been a standard C grade brew. Nothing out of the ordinary, but not bad. But that... musty scent came back as an aftertaste, and was just not enjoyable. The drink itself wasn't bad though.

Overall: I've read other reviews for Frostop, and they aren't quite as negative as this one. Perhaps this bottle wasn't stored well originally or something else. But I have to assume it was as it should be, and that aftertaste really ruined it for me.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Point Premium Root Beer (2016)

Description: "Made with 100% real sugar, Point Premium Root Beer is hand-crafted in small batches with the purest water, genuine Wisconsin honey and all-natural vanilla. This Gold Medal winning recipe is refreshingly delicious, rich, creamy and caffeine free - giving it a time honored traditional draft root beer taste."

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Honey, Caramel Color, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Sodium Benzoate, Phosphoric Acid, Citric Acid, and Vanilla Extract.

Smell: Nice and sweet, with hints of vanilla.

Head: Cannot be contained! Mostly joking here, but seeing as this is only one of a couple time that a head has overflown, it's actually quite impressive. Lasted the entire drink.

Flavor: Sweet Root Beer flavor, with a nice vanilla aftertaste.

Overall: This is another Root Beer has gone down the route of switching from high fructose corn syrup to just using sugar. Which is a benefit no matter what. Where as it made a significant difference in the IBC brew, it hasn't changed this one very dramatically at all. Which is a good thing, as Point Premium already had a wonderful flavor. I almost wanted to give it an A just for the simple fact it stopped using HFCS, but seeing as the change in flavor isn't very dramatic, it doesn't really warrant it.

Here's the original review for comparison: Point Premium Root Beer

Purchased from Mariano's

Rocky Mountain Root Beer

Ingredients: Triple Filtered Carbonated Water, Evaporated Cane Sugar, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid.

Smell: Anise and Sassafras.

Head: Sad, dissipated quickly. Made me think that the Root Beer had gone flat.

Flavor: Not especially sweet. Good bite, but a bit overly carbonated as far as that goes, which also went to prove that it wasn't flat. The spices weren't really the kind I enjoyed, too much anise as the smell presented.

Overall: I've actually read a few different reviews for this, as I like to see what my peers have to say as well. The interesting thing about this brew is that it appears that each batch can be strikingly different from the next. Perhaps my batch wasn't one of the better ones.

Purchased from: Rocket Fizz

Virgil's Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg

Description: "Using natural ingredients, we brew a Root Beer so pure, so rich and creamy, you'll swear it's made in heaven."

Ingredients: Purified Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Herbs and Spices. No Preservatives or Artificial Anything! Gluten Free. GMO Free.

Smell: Strong anise just like normal Virgil's. Definitely some hints of mint, perhaps Wintergreen, and nutmeg on the back end.

Head: Again, similar to the classic Virgil's, no head.

Flavor: Complex is the word that automatically came to mind. It's not sweet, but there's a lot to taste in each sip. Anise and licorice are on full display, as is common with Virgil's, but you can taste wintergreen, and clove, and the nutmeg really kind of surrounds your tongue. There's even some sort of cinnamon in the aftertaste, which isn't very long lasting, but not bad.

Overall: Again, a lot of the complexity in Virgil's tends to outdo the flavors I enjoy the most. Vanilla, molasses, and even the cane sugar are outdone by mint and licorice. The nutmeg and cinnamon were a welcome addition, and made this an even better brew than classic Virgil's, but I was really hoping for something more special from this.

Purchased from: House of Jerky

IBC Root Beer (2016)

Ingreditents: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Modified Corn Starch, Citric Acid, Quillaia Extract.

Smell: Back again, and still met with a surprising strong scent of anise. Made me wonder how much, if any, the formula had changed at all.

Head: Interestingly enough, not as tall as the old mix. But still as long lasting. I had a nice foam the entire drink.

Flavor: It's hard to review this without constantly remembering how the previous mix tasted. The anise is way more downplayed now, and it's a much sweeter Root Beer. You can taste little hints of other flavors in the background, but really it falls more in line with standard sweet sassafras flavored Root Beer.

Overall: The bottle only touts that there was a switch from corn syrup to real sugar. Maybe I'm just being fooled by slick marketing, but this doesn't taste as much like licorice as it used to. And that's definitely a step up. This puts IBC back up from being and under performer to a standard bearer again.

Here's the original review for comparison: IBC Root Beer

Purchased from: Meijer

Dr. Brown's Root Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Gum Acacia, Citric Acid.

Smell: Anise is the first thing that hit me. But there was a sweet undertone that gave me some hope.

Head: The size of it was actually pretty impressive, but it didn't linger for very long and shrunk away before I even began to drink.

Flavor: Okay bite, but a bit too much anise than what I prefer. Wasn't as overpowering as the scent made me believe it would be. The aftertaste was very much that anise flavor though.

Overall: There's a right mix for anise, sassafras, and the other additives that make a good Root Beer, and this one falls just a smidgen over the wrong side, but still not bad. There was enough sweetness to keep it from falling below average, but admittedly it was close.

Purchased from Alsip Home & Nurse