Root Naturals Apothecary root beer

Background information: (from the website): "The year was 1937, the country was in the midst of the Great Depression and the entire City of Cincinnati was flooded as the Spring waters jumped the banks of the Ohio river. It was in this bleak setting that a young Deno Spaccarelli (pictured below!), perhaps acting on the challenge of President Roosevelt that there was “nothing to fear but fear itself” decided to open his first apothecary on Erie Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Cincinnati. It was here that he would compound custom prescriptions in the pharmacy and custom sodas at the fountain. And that is where our story begins. Eight decades later when the last Deno Apothecary was closed and the books were settled, we set out to keep the family tradition alive by bottling our apothecary sodas for all the world to taste."

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Root Naturals, 9891 Montgomery Road #115, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242. 160 calories, 42g sugar. Glass bottle with twist off top. www.rootbeverage.com

Ingredients: Triple filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, botanical extract blend, natural flavor, caramelized cane sugar.


My thoughts: I like the marketing on the label for the "botanical extract blend" and calling it an "apothecary craft soda," as this brings to my mind rich, complex flavors that go beyond the basic rooty sassafras, vanilla, and wintergreen combo that so many employ. I'm hoping they mix things up with a few more of the lesser used spices, so we'll see if they deliver or not.

This has a strong, rooty sassafras flavor that has good flavor. There are hints of vanilla and wintergreen, though this one keeps the wintergreen a bit tamer, which I appreciate, not letting it dominate the taste. I feel like there are some other more subtle spices at work, but I'm not quite sure what they are. All I can say is that they lend a bit of a more sophisticated flavor profile than your usual root beer. The aftertaste is mostly a continuation of these flavors, though maybe I detect a hint of anise/black licorice? Maybe I'm imagining things as I search for the hidden flavors, but I would not be at all surprised to find out this is on the list of flavors they sparingly use.

It's a shame that a good flavor like this is paired with such a weak carbonation. It's a pretty flat root beer with only a smattering of bubbles, which shifts into almost entire flatness about 2/3rds of the way into the bottle. It's very disappointing. Sweetness is just about perfect, with a very minimal sugary feeling being left behind relative to other sodas. The flatness makes it pretty smooth to drink, but it doesn't have any of that frothy creaminess that make for a top tier soda. And anyway, having carbonation is kind of a key component to this aspect.

I like what they are doing with the flavor, but the root beer experience is really shattered by the incredibly weak carbonation. Fix the carbonation problem and this becomes a much better root beer, but in its current state, it's not something I'd seek out again.

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