Hoover Dam root beer

Background information: (from the website) "Ryan Morgan and Rich Shane own The Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shops, LLC. It was founded in 2007 by Ryan and Robert (Rob) Powells. Rich joined in 2012 as the company’s CEO.

The original store opened in 2009. The Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop is the largest and fastest growing soda pop and candy shop franchise brand in America.

All of the Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop locations throughout the U.S.A. and Canada are franchised and are independently owned and operated. Rich, Ryan, and Bob Campbell (our Vice President of Franchising) carefully select each Rocket Fizz franchise store operator."

Product details: 12 fl. oz.  Bottled and distributed by the Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shops, LLC. 170 calories, 42g sugar. Brown glass bottle with pry off top. https://www.rocketfizz.com/

Ingredients: Carbonated artesian spring water, pure cane sugar, citric acid, ester gum, caramel color and natural flavors. No preservatives: flash pasteurized for safety.

My thoughts: Okay, two Rocket Fizz produced root beers in a row. It would be a dam shame if this one is another mediocre Rocket Fizz root beer attempt.

This is a pretty straightforward root beer. It has a thicky, rooty sassafras taste with a good helping of vanilla. The flavor sticks around instead of fading away quickly, which I appreciate. The aftertaste reveals a touch of wintergreen, though it's more of the telltale cooling sensation than an overt flavor. The mint flavor did become more prominent in the aftertaste as I reached the end of the bottle, but never "toothpaste" levels of mintiness.

Carbonation is not great, as it's barely there at all. The first swig or two felt slightly carbonated, but then after that it was more of an "aftertaste" of carbonation that I could just barely feel at all. I thought it was appropriately sweet and didn't leave too much of a sugary coating behind. I described the flavor as "thick" and would also describe the texture the same way. This isn't a watery, light feeling root beer, with a heavier, more substantial texture to it so it feels very smooth and almost creamy to drink, though the lack of carbonation probably contributes to that.

For a basic, no frills root beer flavor, this one is good. It doesn't have an exceptionally complex flavor profile, but what it does have it goes all in on. They must have damed up the carbonation machine, as this is one flat root beer. I don't know if if was produced that way, or if the bottle is old. The Rocket Fizz location I went to (between Beverly Hills and Santa Monica) had super dusty shelves, with all the bottles coated in dust, so who knows how long they've been sitting there (and there's no manufacture date on the bottle itself). Either way, lack of carbonation is a damning trait to have. I would really like to try this with proper amounts of carbonation, as I think it has the capacity to be a "dam good soda" (but not a dam great one).

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

carbonation: D-