Saint Arnold root beer

Background information: (from the website): "We noticed that we had a lot of families attending our tours with their children. As giving the kids beer, while legal in the state of Texas as long as they were with their parents, was frowned upon, we decided we needed an alternative. Root beer seemed like a fun idea.

And so the research began. Making root beer is much more of an immediate gratification process compared to beer. You heat up some water to dissolve the sugar, then you cool it down and add the root extracts. Most of the extracts are from real plants, but some, such as sassafrass, have pesky carcinogens in them and thus we opted to replace those with artificial flavors. We developed a good root beer base, but we wanted a great root beer so we started playing around with small amounts of other natural flavors. We finally found one that worked great and went with that. We could tell you what it is, but then we'd have to kill you. If we did tell you, you would immediately recognize it. Nobody has come up with it though without being prompted.

We use all cane sugar in our root beer which is stupidly expensive because of government controls on sugar pricing and imports. It creates a great mouthfeel to the root beer though and gives a much fuller sweetness than the thin sweet taste one gets with high fructose corn syrup.

We actually make no money on our root beer. We make it for fun and put no effort into selling it. Sales continue to climb on it even without our trying though. Oh well.

Strange fact: drinking root beer gives you very refreshing burps. It's the wintergreen."

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Bottled by Saint Arnold Brewing Company, Houston, Texas 77020. 140 calories, 36g sugar.  Glass bottle with pry off top. www.http://www.saintarnold.com/


Ingredients: Water, sugar, root beer extract (water, caramel color gum arabic, yucca concentrate, propylene glycol, ethyl alcohol, sodium benzoate, citric acid), sparkling foam (water, yucca extract, sodium benzoate), sodium benzoate (preservative), phosphoric acid.


My thoughts: Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been seven months since my last root beer. I am lusting after some new root beer and want to gluttonously consume them. I envy my neighbor who has a cold root beer in his hand and greedily want to hoard all the beverage for me, but I have been too slothful to acquire this nectar of the gods. I'm proud to say I now have one to drink, and if anyone tries to take it from me, they will face my wrath!

Bless me with your -WHOA! That's a lot of wintergreen! Yes, this is one minty root beer, with the main flavor of the day being wintergreen. I don't know if it's just been so long since I've had a root beer, but I don't mind the overwhelming mintiness as much as I usually do. Often they remind me of toothpaste, but this one not so much. There is a decent sassafras flavor underneath there, so it's definitely a root beer, however it's a little overwhelmed. There is a nice natural herbal and vanilla undertone, but again, it's overpowered by the wintergreen. The aftertaste does let these weaker flavors show off a tiny bit more.

Carbonation is pretty weak. Not a whole lot of fizz or bite to this one, which is a letdown. It comes across a bit flat for my preference. It is fairly creamy, however (thanks yucca extract!!!), so has a pleasant smoothness to it, though that may be helped along by the lack of carbonation. I'm always looking for that holy grail of sharp, biting carbonation with a creamy froth to smooth things out. This one is missing the first half of that equation. The sweetness is pretty good and I was surprised that it felt just a tiny bit sugary even though it runs on the lower end of the sugar content spectrum. Strange indeed.

So, is this one getting in through the pearly gates or condemned to burn in an everlasting pit of flames? I don't think it deserves either status. It's not a bad root beer, but it certainly isn't worthy of being exalted either. I'd drink another if it was offered, but won't go out of my way to buy again.
Rating: C
flavor: C
aftertaste: C
sweetness: B-
smoothness: B
carbonation: D+

Gene Simmons Moneybag root beer

Background information: (from the website): "My Moneybag sodas are made only with the most elite of ingredients. This is soda royalty!!! If you have expensive taste, drink Moneybag!"

Aside from this short blurb, the website seems to be quite light on actual information.


Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Gene Simmons Company. 180 calories, 45g sugar (bottle says "45mg" but I'm pretty certain that's a typo).  Glass bottle with twist off top. www.http://www.genesimmonsmoneybag.com/


Ingredients: Carbonated water, cane sugar, citric acid, sodium benzoate (used as a preservative), natural flavour and caramel color.


My thoughts: A root beer brought to us from legendary KISS rock and roller Gene Simmons? Sure, I'll give it a try. I can only hope it rocks my mouth like KISS rocked the Popcorn Club on January 30, 1973.

After my last root beer, it was nice to once again have a strong, rooty sassafras taste. It leans a little more towards the candy root beer flavor, with less emphasis on subtle notes of other spices, but there is wintergreen in there. It's not necessarily doing anything special, but it has the basics down. The aftertaste is pleasant, with the wintergreen growing a little more noticeable, but never too strong, and the rooty taste slowly fading.

It is a little on the sugary side from the ingredient list, but not any more so than any other average root beer. I do like how strong the carbonation is, with fairly aggressive bubbles initially though they fade to average by the last third of the bottle. It's not super smooth up front due to the strong carbonation, but become smoother as the bottle empties. Strong carbonation is generally a tradeoff with smoothness, and this does a decent job. It's not super creamy, but good.

Well, it didn't quite rock my face off the way KISS was known to rock their concerts, but it is a solid, just above average root beer. And some days that's all I need. It doesn't quite compete with the best out there, but I wouldn't hesitate to grab one of these out of the fridge. I also have to note that I find it interesting that Gene made his own root beer, seeing as how there's already a KISS Army branded root beer in existence (and one that seems to have similar flavor characteristics).
Rating: C+
flavor: C+
aftertaste: C
sweetness: B-
smoothness: B-
carbonation: B+

Ramblin' Butterscotch root beer

Background information: (from the Monarch 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 by Rocket Fizz under the authority of The Monarch Beverage Co., Inc. Atlanta, GA 30326. 150 calories, 37g sugar.  Glass bottle with twist off top. www.rocketfizz.com


Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Caramel Color, Potassium Benzoate (as preservative), Natural Flavor, Quillaia Extract, and Phosphoric Acid.

My thoughts: Having reviewed the regular Ramblin' root beer as well as the Ramblin' Maple root beer, I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this one. Ramblin' has never been strong on the rootiness, with a thin, watery sensation to the root beer flavor. So we'll see if the tradition continues.

Whereas the Maple variation had a very strong scent to it, there is only a subtle hint of butterscotch to the smell of this one. I like butterscotch, so expect this to be good and it's... *UGGH!* It's terrible! The butterscotch tastes like chemicals. I can't quite identify what it is, but it's awful. There is a slight butterscotch taste to it, but it's overwhelmed by the chemical taste. Gross. The aftertaste isn't much better, but a hint of rooty sassafras taste comes through.

Like it's predecessors, sweetness is pretty good, but it's hard to get a great grasp on it as I can't get past the horrible taste. Carbonation is good, with small, moderately aggressive bubbles. I don't know how well that carbonation sticks around through the bottle as I couldn't get more than about a quarter of the way through this one. While it does have quillaia extract, it isn't as smooth or creamy as I would expect and continues the streak of disappointment with this drink.

I'm pretty sure I've finished all the bottles of root beer I've tested except for one or two. This one gets the great distinction of being added to the list. I would, under no circumstance, recommend this one. Major fail.


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