Rat Bastard root beer

Background information: I couldn't find any information on the website relating to this root beer. In fact, the website looks like it was designed to be a Geocities page in the 90's and never updated.

(from the bottle) "Quit being a dick   drink it."


Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Real Soda in Real Bottles, Ltd. 190 calories, 40g sugar.  Glass bottle with twist off top. http://realsoda.com/


Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Molasses, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Caffeine, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Herbs: (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).


My thoughts: As one of the odder ingredient lists of all root beers, I had no idea what to expect. Most of them, however, aren't the usual suspects. The label says "It's us against them." I aim to see whether I'm on team "us" or team "them".

I was a bit worried that with all the random ingredients, the flavor would be substantially compromised. My worrying was in vain, however, as this tastes like a run-of-the-mill root beer. It has a bit of sassafras taste and some vanilla, but not a whole lot else. The aftertaste is sort of the same, the flavor slowly fading away. Burping (excuse me!), however, brought forth an unpleasant taste/smell.

This drink seems a bit on the sweet side. It leaves more of a sugary feeling than I care for, but not terribly so. Where it really let me down was the carbonation, falling flat quickly. I think this lack of carbonation also contributes to the syrupy consistency that makes it seem sugary. It's hard to rate smoothness, as the lack of carbonation makes it hard to compare to a properly carbonated beverage, but it's probably average.

Overall, the flavor was more average than I expected from all the weird ingredients, but it was fairly lackluster. The lack of carbonation was a major letdown and probably the single biggest negative influence on my final rating. There are much better root beers out there, so I can't really recommend this one.


Rating: D
flavor: C
aftertaste: D
sweetness: C-
smoothness: B
carbonation: F