Sunday, February 25, 2018

Ramblin' root beer

Background information: (from the website) "A quick history of Ramblin' Root Beer. Following its introduction in 1979 Ramblin' became one of the most popular root beers in America.

The vintage brand's first commercial featured a cameo by a young Sarah Jessica Parker, and the accompanying jingle, "Ramblin' Root Beer's something more!" would be in the minds of Americans for years to come.

Today, with a lineup of new flavors and fresh, new package designs, the best root beer is back and brought friends along to remind the passionate fans what they've been missing."

So yeah, the website is pretty light on information. Not the worst I've seen (there have been some extremely sparse websites), but very basic.


Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Bottled under the authority of The Monarch Beverage Company, Inc., Atlanta, GA 30326, USA 800-241-3732. 150 calories, 37g sugar.  Glass bottle with twist off top.  https://drinkramblin.com/


Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Natural Flavors, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Quillaja Extract, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Potassium Sorbate (Preservative).


My thoughts: Speaking of Ramblin', sometimes I enjoy prefacing my review with a bit of a ramble on a semi-related topic, usually related to the name of the root beer. Now, it might seem questionable to be so verbose when all people are looking for is a simple review about the beverage. I'd like to think that I'm whimsical and charming in my approach, but real life has revealed to me that I'm not quite so appealing and that I mostly come off as annoying in the real world. But what is the real world? Are we a simulation? A three dimensional projection from the two dimensional surface of a black hole? Perhaps we are part of the multiverse, where every possible version of ourselves exists somewhere out in the infinite cosmos. Science has a lot to say about that and...wait...what was I talking about before I started to ramble on about other stuff? Oh yeah, the root beer. So here are my thoughts.

This root beer has a very strong vanilla presence, which I like. It is certainly rooty, with a bit of the classic sassafras flavor root beer is known for, but falls a bit short on strength as that rootiness feels slightly watered down. Are there other flavors in there? Maybe, but the power of the vanilla overwhelms whatever else might be going on. Aftertaste is also dominated by the same.

Sweetness is pretty good, though perhaps a tad on the sugary side, as it leaves a moderately stronger than usual sugary feel in my mouth. That sensation is odd, seeing as how it has less sugar (37g) than the average root beer (generally 40-45g). Carbonation is decent, with a very fine bubble structure that doesn't prick the tongue. I wouldn't mind a slightly more aggressive effervescence to it, but it certainly isn't flat. As for smoothness, this is one of the creamier root beers, likely aided by the inclusion of quillaia extract, which usually lends a hand in this regard. It goes down nice and smooth.

Overall, this is a solid drink. It bests the generic store shelf cans of root beer, even if it does fall short of being one of the better ones. The vanilla makes a good showing, but the rest of the flavors don't pack quite enough punch. I'm sure that somewhere in the multiverse, this is the best root beer there is, and that isn't necessarily a bad place. In this part of the multiverse, however, there is stiff competition and plenty of alternative root beer options I could reach for when choosing a drink.


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

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