Surf City, USA root beer

Background information: BrewBakers is a pub and brewery located in Huntington Beach, California. The location is showing up as permanently closed, so this may not be produced any longer.

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Brewed for BrewBakers, Huntington Beach, CA. n/a calories, n/a g sugar. Glass bottle with pry off top. https://www.averysoda.com/

Ingredients: Carbonated spring water, sugar, raw honey, artificial flavor, vanilla.

My thoughts: This root beer is actually somewhat local to me, so it's fun to try one from around here. The "Surf City, USA" name makes me think of The Beach Boys, and all the fun, energy, and good times they would have, so I'm expecting this root beer to live up to that image.

The flavor of this one is a decent, rooty sassafras with a noticeable honey flavor and some vanilla. While the flavor is pretty strong, it does fade away fairly quickly, with the aftertaste mostly just a diminished version of the initial flavor. I really like what the honey is doing to the aftertaste, though. And I don't necessarily taste wintergreen, but I am feeling the slightest cooling sensation, which I like.

The bottle I got was pretty flat. It has a tiny bit of carbonation at first, but was pretty much totally flat about halfway though the bottle. I'm not sure if this is maybe some old stock since they are no longer in business, which may explain the low carbonation. Sweetness is really good, and I like that the honey is pulling some double duty as a flavor and a sweetener. While it does leave a sugary feel, it leans towards the honey side and doesn't seem as objectionable. Since it is so flat, I have a hard time judging smoothness, but it does have a semi-thick consistency (as opposed to watery and light); not syrupy or anything, just it has some body to it.

The words "Surf City" bring to mind the rolling waves and active ocean, which to me, would be a soda with lots of carbonation making the liquid feel alive and energetic. Instead, we get more of a flat pond, which I find disappointing. I really do like the flavor, even if it's just a honey-enhanced basic formula, lacking some of the wider range of spices that normally get me excited. This one is different enough, however, from a standard root beer that I'd like to give it another try and maybe I'll get one from a fizzier batch if that's possible.

Rating: B-
flavor: B+
aftertaste: B+
sweetness: A
smoothness: n/a

carbonation: F+

Avery's root beer

Background information: (from the website) "herman F. Avery began making soda in the red barn on Corbin Avenue in the summer of 1904.

Avery's quickly became known for its variety of flavors, especially the Cream, Birch Beer, Root Beer and Ginger Ale.

Using a horse pulled wagon, Mr. Avery delivered soda to the homes and stores in and around New Britain, Connecticut, and it wasn't until 1914 that he purchased his first delivery truck.

This 100-year tradition of old-fashioned customer service continues today and Avery's commitment to a quality product has earned a loyal following across the country.

Our sodas are still handcrafted using methods and recipes from generations ago including real cane sugar and the finest quality ingredients.

Each flavor is carefully made in small batches and is packaged only in glass bottles to preserve the wonderful old-fashioned flavor."

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Avery's Bottling Works, New Britain, Conn. 06052. 150 calories, 38g sugar. Clear glass bottle with twist off top. https://www.averysoda.com/

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Pure Cane Sugar, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, and Sodium Benzoate (a preservative).

My thoughts: With an old timey label design, I want this root beer to transport me to the past, with root beer made with real spices and natural ingredients. With no flux capacitor nor a DeLorean to take me back in time, I must rely on this root beer to break the known laws of physics for me. Will it leave me saying, "Great Scott!" or will it end up being the Biff of root beers? Let's take it for a spin and see if I really will "Always ask for Avery's".

The flavor has a decent, upfront rooty sassafras taste that we all know with vanilla tones. There really isn't much else in the spice department that stands out. The aftertaste, as the main flavor fades away, gives me the slightest hint of wintergreen, but only the tiniest amount.

Carbonation is not at all detectable in the bottle I got. Old stock? Perhaps. But with a lack of any manufacture or best before date on the bottle, I just have to assume this is how the root beer is. So a complete failure in the carbonation department. Sweetness is okay and doesn't feel too syrupy. I'll have to leave the smoothness rating empty, as I can't truly judge it in the complete absence of any effervescent attributes.

Well, just as Doc Brown managed to steal the plutonium from the Libyan nationalists, it appears somebody stole the CO2 from this root beer, leaving the carbonation lower than Biff's IQ. Beyond that, the flavor is pretty much just a generic, run of the mill root beer with nothing special to offer. Too bad I can't go back in time and warn myself not to ask for Avery's That said, it's not awful or anything, just not one I'd grab considering all the other options I have.

Rating: C-
flavor: C-
aftertaste: C-
sweetness: B
smoothness: n/a

carbonation: F-

Black Bear root beer

Background information: (from the website) "Today Sprecher is one of the only breweries in the U.S. that uses fire brewing to create craft beer and soda with bold flavor. It is fire-brewing, plus Raw honey, that makes Sprecher Root Beer the best-tasting root beer in the United States. Don’t believe us? Ask the New York Times. The popularity of Sprecher’s unique craft beverages has led to continued expansion of the Glendale, Wisconsin facilities. In February of 2020, Randy Sprecher retired having achieved his dreams. He wanted the company to stay in local hands, so he sold it to a small team of Milwaukee investors.

 In these capable hands, Sprecher will continue to fire-brew delicious craft sodas and beers in the Milwaukee area. Visit today to see what we are up to! Take the tour to see our lab, brewhouse, and production area, and learn all about our history and craft brewing process. Then, relax in our beer garden and sample craft beverages while munching on local snacks. Become part of the Sprecher story—visit today. Prost!"

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Sprecher Brewing Co,. Glendale, WI 53209. 140 calories, 5g sugar. Glass bottle with twist off top (though I had to pry it off since it was so tight). https://www.local1860.com/

Ingredients: Carbonated water, glucose syrup, contains 2% or less of: natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, gum arabic, sodium benzoate (preservative), citric acid, phosphoric acid, yucca extract, propylene glycol alginate.

My thoughts: I haven't had the best opinion of Sprecher root beers, with them failing to deliver on many fronts, though consistently disappointing in the flavor department. Will this side brand finally deliver the goods, or will it just be bearable? Let's pull out those claws and find out.

My initial flavor impression is that this is a fairly basic root beer. It has a bit of the expected rooty sassafras flavor, though a little watery feeling (maybe due to the carbonation, which I'll touch on in a moment). I can't really call out any specific spices, though the aftertaste (which fades away extremely fast) gives me just the slightest impression of cinnamon.

Okay, time for the carbonation...well, time for the complete absence of any carbonation. I heard the expected hiss of gas escaping when I popped the top, but inside is a completely flat root beer; not a single bubble to be found. I don't think I've ever had a root beer this flat before. There is no date of manufacture that I can see on the bottle to indicate if maybe I got an old one off the shelf. Sweetness is good, and I don't feel like it leaves an overly syrupy coating in my mouth. Of all the things this root beer is getting wrong, at least they got this one right. The nutrition facts list this at 35g, while the normal root beer is around 40g (+/-2g), so this one is less sugared than usual and I don't find it lacking at all, so job well done, even if it's not a cane sugar. With the complete lack of carbonation, I don't feel I can give this an accurate smoothness score, so am skipping that criteria in this review.

Well, this is completely disappointing. The lackluster flavor profile mixed with the absolute absence of carbonation made this a less than ideal root beer experience. The flavor follows in classic Sprecher form, with nothing special going on. What's odd is regular Sprecher carbonation is at an A-level, but then their maple and now this are awful. Between the three, I'm starting to think Sprecher should reconsider being in the root beer game at all, as they're not succeeding.

Rating: D+
flavor: C-
aftertaste: D
sweetness: A-
smoothness: n/a

carbonation: F-

Old Keg root beer

Background information: (from the website) "We’ve traced the Old Keg root beer back to 1941. The Excelsior Bottling Company in Reading, PA bottled beer, porter, brown stout, ginger ale, seltzer, and carbonated drinks. including root beers. The company was owned by T. J. Fessler and S. G. Dunkelberger. Not much is known of the distribution or other brand names and flavors. The Old Keg root beer is often praised for its classic, nostalgic taste, featuring a smooth, creamy texture with a good amount of carbonation, making it a beloved choice for those seeking a traditional root beer experience. Our Old Keg Root Beer, made with honey and brewed to have a full, smooth, rich flavor, will surely be one of your favorite root beers."

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Old Keg is a trademark of Orca Beverage Inc., Mukilteo, WA 98275. 170 calories, 45g sugar. Glass bottle with pry-off top. https://www.orcabeverage.com

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

My thoughts: Orca beverages has been slowly acquiring various brands of soda under their manufacturing roof. It's hard to say if this is good or bad, as Orca has a pretty good distributor reach that smaller labels would struggle to achieve, making many of these available in places they otherwise wouldn't have. Bottling all at one bottler may remove some of the uniqueness, however, as processes are more corporatized. Whatever small changes may have been made, I hope these root beers are able to retain most of their core identities. Okay, enough of my corporate observations, you're here for the root beer itself.

Old Keg opens up with the smell of vanilla wafting out. It has a good rooty sassafras flavor up front with vanilla undertones. As those two basic flavors fade into the aftertaste, the honey flavor makes itself known, adding a little bit of complex sweetness that I find quite pleasant. I can't say I really detect any other spices hiding underneath the somewhat basic root beer flavor, so they're not swinging for the fences in flavor profile, but it is a solid root beer taste.

Carbonation is moderate, with bubbles that are both moderate in aggressiveness as well as quantity. This mellow level of carbonation is fine, even if I am a fan of slightly higher levels. Sweetness is excellent, combining both cane sugar and honey for an added benefit that shows up in the flavor, as mentioned above. I like what honey does in my root beers. Even though the sugar content is on the slightly high side at 45g, it never feels syrupy or like it's leaving an unpleasantly thick coating in my mouth. The moderate carbonation lends itself to a smooth drinking experience, though I do with it had a little more of a creamy froth to it.

For being such a basic root beer flavor with a simple spice profile, I think it's fairly good. The honey does a lot of the heavy lifting to add some flavor variation to this recipe and I think it pays off, even if it can't quite elevate the whole profile in a way that more spices can. That said, it's quite enjoyable a little better than a basic level, mid-tier root beer.

Rating: B-
flavor: C+
aftertaste: B+
sweetness: A
smoothness: B-

carbonation: C+

Deadworld Creeper root beer

Background information: (from the website) "Dead World Premium Zombie Soda is a premium craft soda beverage line conceived and marketed by Caliber Entertainment LLC, located in Michigan. Based on the Dead World comic book series published by Caliber Comics.

Currently, the Dead World Premium Zombie Soda beverages are available in FIVE flavors. What makes the zombie sodas unique is our partnership with various comic book artists who have provided their own creative spin to the bottle labels with depictions of various zombie images. Primarily based on the characters and events that take place in the Dead World comic book universe."

Deadworld used to be produced by Intrastate Distributors (who also made Frostie and Towne Club root beers) and came in 12 different flavors. Fast forward to today and they are now made by Orca Beverage and only come in 5 flavors. Orca is a pretty large conglomerate that houses many sub-brands under its roof.


Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Produced and bottled by Orca Beverages Inc., Mukilteo, WA 98275. 170 calories, 43g sugar.  Glass bottle with twist off top. http://www.deadworldzombiesoda.com/


Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Pure Cane Sugar, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Phosphoric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (A Preservative), Caramel Color & Blue #1.

My thoughts: This is the third Deadworld root beer I've tried, having already reviewed their Twilight Shuffler and Slow Decay vanilla root beers, both of which I liked. It appears both of those root beers have met their doom, however, and this new Creeper root beer has risen from their worm-infested corpses to live again.

This is a very strongly flavored root beer, though the actual sassafras rootiness isn't super prevalent, with a sweet vanilla and butterscotch-like flavor dominating the flavor profile. In a way, it reminds me a bit of a root beer vanilla ice cream bar. The vanilla/butterscotch taste holds over into the aftertaste, where there is little "root beer" to be be found. If you really like butterbeers, butterscotch, and vanilla profiles, then this hits all those notes.

As mentioned above, there's a sweet vanilla butterscotch flavor that gives this a kind of candied sweetness. Perhaps a touch sweeter and sugary feeling that I prefer, but it's not syrupy at all. The carbonation is good, with a fair amount of bubbling and it persists throughout the duration of drinking the whole bottle. I'm a big fan of super aggressive carbonation, which this is not aggressive, but I was still pleased with it. With the vanilla/butterscotch flavor comes the sensation of a creamy smoothness. It doesn't quite froth up as much as my very top tier rankings for smoothness do, but it offers a pleasant drinking experience.

With the old version of Deadworld root beers (produced by Intrastate Distributors) having been put in their graves, and this new one risen in their place, Creeper root beer, like its human zombie counterpart, has lost something in this death and zombification process, rising as a lesser version of its former self. While I still like it, it's a bit less of a "root beer" and more of a "sweet vanilla butterscotch treat" drink, so I have to knock the flavor score down a bit as this is a "root beer" review. But if I'm not confining it to just root beer, then it's a fine soda on it's own and one I would certainly not mind enjoying again.

edit: I went back and looked at my Slow Decay vanilla review from a decade ago and I see almost identical thoughts on the flavor, so I suspect this "Creeper" version is just a rebranding of the "Slow Decay vanilla" flavor they offered before, with very minor changes in formula (such as the 5g sugar increase). You may notice I gave Slow Decay vanilla an "A" at the time while this is getting a "B". While I'm guessing there isn't a big change in taste, I suppose the score drop reflects a change in philosophy that an "A" flavor drink doesn't necessarily make for an "A" level root beer, so consider my scores in that context.

Rating: B
flavor: B
aftertaste: B-
sweetness: B-
smoothness: B
carbonation: B

All Natural (Local 1860) root beer

Background information: This root beer is manufactured for Big Bear, CA based clothing retailer Local 1860. They have a very sparse website with no real info about their root beer on it, though their social media posts state that "Big Bears All Natural California Root Beer. Starts as a Root Beer ends as a cream soda."

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Bottled under the authority of We Wandered West by LA Bottleworks, Montebello, CA 90640. 160 calories, 40g sugar. Glass bottle with twist off top. https://www.local1860.com/

Ingredients: Carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors, sodium benzoate (to preserve freshness), caramel color, phosphoric acid.

My thoughts: I didn't realize until going to review this "All Natural" branded root beer that it was one I've been intending to get from Local 1860 the next time I found myself out in Big Bear, CA (usually only once every few years). But apparently this is made specifically for this retailer and I just happened to find it at their Los Angeles based supplier/distributor.

I was surprised just upon opening up this bottle, as I was met with a thick, almost smokey-like scent that reminds me of molasses and brown sugar. My first taste reveals a strong flavor anchored by the molasses scents I first detected with some vanilla undertones. The aftertaste is a deep caramelized flavor that reveals a bit more of the vanilla and almost a butterscotch flavor.

The carbonation isn't too fizzy, relying more on a low-key effervescence that persists throughout the bottle, but doesn't necessarily tickle my tongue. It's a fairly sweet root beer and leaves a faint sugary coating, but not out of the ordinary for a soda. It does feel very smooth, though, with a very pleasant heaviness to the texture.

I'm very pleased with this and immediately after finishing the bottle, wished I had more. While it doesn't have the strongest rooty sassafras flavor, I really like what they are doing with the other flavors. It's an interesting take on root beer that may not line up exactly with what is traditionally expected, but not so far out that I would consider it to be a non-root beer. Like many others I've tried, I would have liked to see a bit more aggressiveness from the carbonation, but I do like mine with a little extra bite. This is certainly worth giving a try.

Rating: A-
flavor: A
aftertaste: A-
sweetness: B+
smoothness: A

carbonation: B-

Slice Prebiotics & Probiotics root beer

Background information: (from the website) "Since ‘84, Slice has been a household favorite. Now, we’re back with a new attitude. Real ingredients. Bold flavors. Gut-friendly benefits. We’ve kept the fizz, ditched the junk, and brought the fun. Slice is the OG soda with a modern twist."

"Prebiotics: Think of prebiotics as the snacks your gut’s good bacteria can’t get enough of. They’re like fuel for the party, keeping the probiotics energized and ready to work their magic. No prebiotics, no party—it’s that simple.

Probiotics: Probiotics are the cool crowd of good bacteria that live in your gut. They’re the ones keeping everything in check—helping with digestion, boosting your mood, and making sure your immune system stays sharp. Basically, they’re the MVPs of your microbiome.

Postbiotics: Postbiotics are the after-party vibes—what’s left after the probiotics have done their thing. These are the health-boosting byproducts that support your immunity, and keep you feeling amazing. Small but mighty, they’re the cherry on top of gut health!"

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Manufactured for Slice, Oceanside, CA 92056. 30 calories, 3g sugar. Aluminum can. https://slicesoda.com/

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Slice Gut Blend (Soluble Vegetable Prebiotic Fiber, Bacillus subtilis DE111, Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347), Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Maple Syrup, Apple Juice (from Concentrate), Natural Flavors, Caramel Color, Organic Vanilla Extract, Stevia Leaf Extract, Citric Acid, Kosher Salt.

My thoughts: Yet another pre/pro/post-biotic root beer from the classic Slice brand. Slice used to be a lemon-lime soda (like 7-Up and Sprite) that closed up many years ago, but has been brought back as a "healthy soda" brand. While I'm not big on these types of root beers, I feel it necessary to test and review, so here we go.

This one has a more root beer taste than many of the similar products I've tried. While the rooty sassafras flavor is slightly weak, it isn't overwhelmed by the prebiotic flavored tinge nearly as much as others. There's a bit of vanilla in there as well, but the whole flavor profile -and especially the aftertaste- is a little overwhelmed by the Stevia, something I tend to find with most of the Stevia sweetened beverages. I really don't care for the taste of Stevia and try to avoid drinks with it.

I like that the top popped with the sound of bubbles and this doesn't disappoint in the carbonation department. The bubbles themselves are smaller and not too aggressive and, while I like super aggressive effervescence, this one is still satisfying. Unlike some other prebiotics, this one doesn't have a thick texture to it, feeling a bit more like a traditional soda. It's not particularly creamy, but smooth enough. As I mentioned earlier, it has a definite Stevia taste to it so, while appropriately sweet, I don't like the quality of that sweetness.

I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed in this. I got a few cans of other flavors of Slice a couple months ago just to try out since they were on sale for 50 cents (root beer wasn't yet available at that time), and I thought they were fairly decent. As a root beer, however, I don't think they quite deliver. If you're more Stevia tolerant than I am, then this is a root beer worth trying. For those of us on the anti-Stevia bandwagon, I'd say you should avoid this.

Rating: D+
flavor: D+
aftertaste: D+
sweetness: C-
smoothness: C+

carbonation: B+