Freddie's root beer

Background information: (from the website): "Throughout the challenges of floods, fires, tornadoes and even Prohibition, the American family-owned Buffalo Trace Distillery has never compromised. A timeless dedication to respecting the past while fearlessly innovating for the future has served us well for more than two centuries. No matter the challenge, be it Mother Nature or man, the people of our Distillery have been part of the story that shaped America and the spirit industry as well."

"Crafted with natural herbs, real birch oil & imported vanilla."

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Bottled under the authority of Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601. 180 calories, 44g sugar. Glass bottle with twist off top. https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/

Ingredients: Purified carbonated water, high fructose corn sweetener and/or cane sugar, pure vanilla, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, sodium benzoate (preservative) and phosphoric acid.


My thoughts: Back to a bottled root beer! I've mostly been finding new root beers in cans lately, so I'm glad to get back to the traditional glass bottle. While that doesn't necessarily promise a better root beer, it's how I prefer to drink mine.

It's been a long time since I've had a root beer, so maybe I'm just missing that flavor, but this one tastes really good! It has a vanilla-forward root beer flavor that is nice and strong, with a bit of mint to it (probably due to the birch oil), but not so strong as to give me that toothpaste feel. It has a very pleasant aftertaste and it might have a hint of anise, but I'm not totally certain on that one.

Okay, with a really good flavor, I hate to say it, but the carbonation is pitiful. There are hardly any bubbles and what little it has are fairly weak. I don't like my sodas flat, and this one is disappointingly so. The lack of carbonation and strong vanilla do give it a very creamy, almost root beer float sensation, so I do like the creaminess. And I feel like they got the right amount of sugar dialed in, even though I would have preferred real sugar instead of "high fructose corn sweetener and/or cane sugar".

I really like the flavor, but this one let me down with the almost complete absence of carbonation. I may want to give this a try with some dry ice to add in some of the lacking fizz, but that seems like a lot of extra work when I can just grab a bottle of good tasting and well carbonated root beer instead. I think if they got their carbonation issue solved, this would be a much more compelling contender.

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

carbonation: D