Background information: (from the website) "You don’t have to be from Texas to know that nothing beats the taste of a refreshing, ice‑cold sip of H‑E‑B Old Fashioned Root Beer Soda! This uniquely flavored drink delivers seriously delicious taste, and is perfect with home style BBQ, poured over ice cream, or just straight from the fridge."
Product details: 20 fl. oz. Made with pride and care for H-E-B, San Antonio, TX 78204. 270 calories, 74g sugar. Plastic bottle with twist off top. www.heb.com
Ingredients: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, potassium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), natural and artificial flavor, citric acid.
My thoughts: Continuing with my branching out to non-glass-bottled root beers, here's the in-house HEB brand. HEB is a Texas grocery store chain, so this one can't be found in other states. We'll see if that means you're missing out or not. I also have to admit that this one sat around for quite a while and I only noticed the "best by" date was almost a year ago, something I looked at after taking the first swig and finding no fizz at all.
As far as flavor is concerned, this is a run of the mill root beer. It has the generic rooty flavor with wintergreen. It's not what I'd consider a "minty" root beer, but is a little more noticeable than some of the others. I don't mind it at all, and I generally try to steer clear of the overly minty, toothpasty flavor of the stronger mints. There isn't much to be discovered in the aftertaste, as they seem to have eschewed any other notes of spices.
The 74g of sugar is right in line with the proportionality of the usual 12oz bottles I drink and it has an appropriately sugary feel to it. As I mentioned at the top of my thoughts, this one is past the "best by" date and I assume the total lack of carbonation is due to that, so I can't offer a fair evaluation at this time (I'll update if I find myself in Texas again). Smoothness is also nearly impossible to judge, as it's typically intertwined with the level of carbonation, though this one lacks the creamy sensation even when flat, so it's not a top-tier creaminess contender.
Well, with what information I have, this is a perfectly adequate root beer that is more or less the same as any other big grocery store chain generic branded drink. Nothing worth getting excited about, but perfectly serviceable in a pinch.
Rating: C-
flavor: C-
aftertaste: C-
sweetness: B
smoothness: n/a
carbonation: n/a
HEB has 2 in-house root beers. The one you sampled is the corn syrup version. They also have a pure cane sugar version, which is IMO better tasting. The pure cane sugar edition comes in cans only.
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