Thursday, October 29, 2015

Frostop root beer

Background information: (from the website) "Ever since L.S. Harvey opened his first root beer stand in Springfield, Ohio in 1926 the name Frostop has stood for the creamiest and tastiest root beer in America.

From the twenties to the outbreak of World War II, Frostop root beer stands covered the landscape.  high school sweethearts, families and anyone looking for a refreshing treat would stop at their local Frostop to grab an ice cold mug full.

With the war over, Frostop soda shops once again opened their doors and became the place to go to enjoy the rich vanilla taste of the best root beer you could buy.  By 1958 there was at least one Frostop Soda Shop in every state in The United States!

Today, we are still in Ohio and we are still making the creamiest and tastiest root beer in America.  We ship our root beer and all of our great soda flavors all over the United States and have even sent it to our armed forces in Afghanistan!  And with the addition of Frostop Direct and Frostop Catering to our corporate family, we can now provide our products over the web or as part of our on-site catering service.

Times have changed, but we still serve our refreshing treats in the big brown bottle, and we still make our root beer, and all of our sodas, using the finest natural ingredients available.  And just like back in 1926 when Mr. Harvey was running the store, when it comes to taste, NOTHING TOPS FROSTOP BUT THE FOAM!"


Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Distributed under authority of trademark owner: Frostop Beverages, Inc., Columbus, OH by C-B Beverage Corp, Hopkins MN 55343, USA. 1650 calories, 48g sugar.  Glass bottle with twist off top.  http://www.frostop.com/


Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Corn Syrup, Pure Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Phosphoric Acid and less than 1/10 of 1% of Sodium Benzoate to preserve freshness.


My thoughts: The root beer flavor is very up front and center, delivering a strong but artificial flavor, sort of halfway between root beer candy and a more natural tasting root beer. But underneath, there seems to be a little more going on, with vanilla making quite the showing. I like it, but at the same time I don't really like it a ton. Sure, it's got a bold flavor, but it feels very two note, with no additional spices that I can detect.

What really caught me off guard was the sweetness. It might just be my imagination, but I swear I can even taste the flavor of sugar. This guy goes overboard on sweetness, with the sensation bearing out the greater than normal sugar content listed on the label. But all is not mediocre, as the carbonation is pleasant, delivering a nice fizzy drink that doesn't feel harsh. As such, this drink goes down smooth. It's not super creamy, so could still stand to improve in that aspect of smoothness, but it's not bad.

This root beer would probably make a good float, as the bold flavor would be nicely balanced by the ice cream (which tends to mask subtler spices anyway). But as a straight-up beverage, it has definite room for improvement, but isn't a bad drink. I'd drink it again, but won't go out of my way to procure it again.


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

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