Virgil's (can) root beer

Background information: (from the website) "REEDS, Inc. is making extraordinary beverages and confections using very old-fashioned, natural methods and wholesome, fresh ingredients. We are a growing family of passionate entrepreneurs who have developed food and drink, which in our opinion exceed any products within their categories in taste, quality and imagination, as we are certain you noticed by now!"

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Manufactured for Reed's Inc., Norwalk, CT 06851. 170 calories, 42g sugar. Aluminum can. https://www.virgils.com/ (listed on the can, but website isn't functioning)

Ingredients: Sparkling filtered water, cane sugar, natural root beer flavor, natural cream flavor, caramel color, citric acid, natural mushroom extract (to protect quality).


My thoughts: Virgil's comes, in a can. They were put there by a man, in a factory downtown. If I had my little way, would I drink Virgil's every day? Let's open the can and find out.

Okay, my initial taste impression is pretty good. It has a good rooty sassafras flavor with some anise (licorice) and vanilla going on. The aftertaste doesn't reveal any spices that I wasn't tasting with the initial flavor, but after letting the aftertaste sit for a while, it has a strange, extremely subtle soap taste/sensation. It's so subtle that I almost doubted it was there at all, but after several tries and really letting it sit and paying attention, I still feel like there's a soap feeling maybe more than a flavor. It's very hard to describe, as it's not strong enough to really say for certain what it is; just that the sensation it leaves reminds me of soap for some reason. It's very weird.

The carbonation on this one is pretty good, with medium sized bubbles and a fair amount of them, which keeps this feeling peppy all the way to the end. Partly due to the not-too-aggressive carbonation, this one feels pretty smooth and creamy, though not overly foamy. Sweetness is spot on, giving a tasty drink without feeling overly syrupy or leaving my mouth coated with too much sugar.

So, I'm a bit mixed on this. It has some interesting things with the flavor that are good and not so good, but nothing amazing or outright terrible, though the soap sensation throws me off a bit. I've heard they reformulated this since I last reviewed it in bottle form, and I don't know that they've really made an improvement.

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

carbonation: B+