Jonathan's Rootbeer Blog

A&W Root Beer

Today, in my mail, I had an overnight package. It came from A&W. Yes, that A&W. Apparently, A&W knows about my blog. WOO HOO! And so they sent me a letter and some "stuff." The stuff first:

1. An A&W 90th Anniversary T-shirt;
2. An A&W 90th Anniversary Mug; and
3. An A&W 90th Anniversary Book.

Okay, so we all know I like free t-shirts. This one is brown. I understand brown is the new black. And a free mug? This isn't one of those cheap plastic mugs. This is a good glass mug that is good for drinking a cold root beer! And the book? Well, as Meatloaf said, two out of three ain't bad! Okay, the book is cool too, but I don't read. YUCK! I am kidding!!!!

Back on track: A&W wanted me to spread the word. What word? Three cool things:

1. Friday, June 19 from 2 to 8pm you can get a free A&W Root Beer Float. FREE! FREE! FREE FLOATS!
2. Saturday, June 20, a national cruise night at participating restaurants. Okay, if I had a classic car that would be sweet!
3. Sunday, June 21 is Fathers Day and you can treat your dad to an A&W Papa Burger for 90 cents. Dude, that is less than a dollar.

WOO HOO! I will be getting my root beer float tomorrow!

Abita Root Beer

Abita Root Beer is brought to Katie Broussard. She is the same Loretto High School student who brought you Dog N Suds. Don't hold that against her.

Abita Root Beer is a craft brewed beer made in LA. Not Los Angeles, Louisiana. The website talks about their beers, but not their root beer.

My take: good root beer. It has some good flavor. It is made with cane sugar, which I always prefer. But, it is lacking that oomph to make it great. It is worth drinking, but I would not go out of my way to drink it.

Score on a scale of 1 to 10 cases: 5 cases.

Let me know if you like Abita.

Dog N Suds Root Beer

Dog N Suds Root Beer is brought to you by Katie Broussard, a student at Loretto High School and soon to be a student at University of Nevada - Reno.

So, Dog N Suds is apparently a drive in restaurant that also makes root beer. Lets make this a short review: Dog N Suds should stick to food. Unless this was made by a dog. In that case, it may be okay.

This may be the worst root beer I have ever had. Bad. Bad is not a strong enough word. This makes AJ Stephans taste good. If I could drink this or nothing, nothing would win - by a lot!

Score on a scale of 1 to 10 cases: 1 case and that is being generous.

If you have had Dog N Suds, let me know.

Vanilla Frostie

Vanilla Frostie is brought to you by Bill and Rachel Conrado. They are good friends of mine who got me the coolest birthday present - a variety of root beer! Who could ask for more?

I previously wrote about Frostie here. I consider myself a bit of a root beer fuddy-duddy. I like my root beer cold and smooth. But, Vanilla Frostie is good. It is actually better than regular Frostie. It has a good flavor to it and a good kick. It is different. Smooth, goes down easy, and nice flavor.

Score on a scale of 1 to 10 cases: 6 cases. Give Vanilla Frostie a try. (Oh, and to my friends at Frostie - make your regular root beer as good as your vanilla!)

Let me know if you have tried Vanilla Frostie and your thoughts.

Dad's Root Beer

Today's root beer is brought to you by Themis Bar. If you are a law student or looking to take the bar exam in another state, check out Themis. Good people with a great program.

Dad's Root Beer is not something home made by my dad. Nope, it is a brand of root beer. And its website is quite lacking. But, take a look at it anyway.

My take: I like Dad's. I am biased. Dad's was my dad's favorite root beer. So I grew up with it. It is a cane sugar root beer. And cane sugar root beers are good, better than corn syrup root beers. So, it has that going for it.

Score on a scale of 1 to 10 cases: 9 cases!

Email me your thoughts on Dad's Root Beer.

Update: Dads emailed me and gave me their website. Check it out here.

Hansen's Root Beer

Today's review is brought to you by the West Lake Soccer Club - the fine people who decided that I could coach a soccer team or two. They may be regretting that decision..........(watch how I work this in to the review).

Diet Hansen's Creamy Root Beer is made by Hansen's root beer. The website says: Hansen's Diet Root Beer Soda has that old-fashioned taste made from real Madagascan vanilla beans, licorice root, birch bark and wintergreen. Our sodas contain all natural flavors and have no sodium, caffeine, aspartame, preservatives, or carbs.

My take: You know how West Lake may be regretting allowing me to coach? Well, I am regretting having a six pack of Diet Hansen's. I have had bad root beer before, and I have had ugly root beer before. But, if I had a new category, I would put this in that category. The root beer has no root beer flavor. It tastes like a cold, carbonated drink with a bad aftertaste. Really, I should have had water and it would have tasted closer to real root beer.

So, what's your take on Diet Hansen's? Email me and let me know!

Jones Root Beer

Our root beer today is brought to you by Avvo. Avvo is the cool way to find an attorney. It helps you find an attorney by rating attorneys and providing you with access to information to help you make the right decision. And, the people who run Avvo are some of my favorites! And they write a great blog!

Jones Root Beer is made by the Jones Soda Company. The Jones website has some great pictures of the labels of the root beer, but nothing about the root beer itself. And the label on the bottles I drank (yes, I drank several since I had so many) tells me a lot about Jones and a little about the soda. Actually, it tells me nothing except the ingredients and that I should recycle the bottle. That's my biggest negative!

My take: Good root beer. You can tell it is made with PCS (pure cane sugar). It has a very good flavor. Jones Root Beer does not taste like a mass marketed, mass produced root beer. Rather, it has a flavor like it was developed in the early 20th century with a recipe that continues today. Now, some people will tell you it is too sweet. And it is quite sweet, but I like sweet.

Score on a scale of 1 to 10: 8.5 cases of root beer.

Let me know your thoughts on Jones Root Beer and check out Avvo to find an attorney! 

Frostie

The final anonymous root beer in this batch. So, this one is brought to the coolest water gun you can buy: Firetrucks4hire.com. Okay, so technically it is not a water gun, but it counts in my book. These fine folks rented me a fire truck for a water fight and I won - easily. Give them a call!

Frostie Root Beer has a website. I would tell you what it says about Frostie Root Beer, but it doesn't say much except for the history of the root beer. News flash to root beer makers: I don't want to know the history of your company - I want to know about your root beer!

My take: Of course, the website matches the root beer: not a lot to tell you. You see, Frostie used to be made with cane sugar. Now it is made with HFCS (I feel a bit like Rachel Ray when I use initials for food ingredients) which is high fructose corn syrup. It would kill the flavor, but there was not much flavor to begin with. If you see it and you like the bottle, it is worth a drink. If you have other choices, consider them.

Score on a scale of 1 to 10 cases: 3 cases.

By the way, don't let the low score scare you away from Firetrucks4hire.com - the coolest water guns on the planet!

Let me know your thoughts about Frostie - the root beer, not the snowman!

Boylan Bottleworks Root Beer

One more anonymous root beer. This one is brought to you by HARO - Help A Reporter Out and by HARO - Reporter's Page. Its simple - if you are a reporter and you want access to 16,000 potential sources, use HARO. Did I say there are 16,000 potential sources? And did I tell you that some of them are really cool, including me? And Peter doesn't let us pitch off topic. If you are in PR or you can provide information to reporters, sign up and be a sources. Three funny emails a day from Peter and a great way to get some publicity. Did I mention the service is free? (Maybe I should be Peter's PR department!)

Boylan Root Beer is made with sweetened cane sugar. The website, which by the way needs an SEO update, says it is an "authentic, traditional tasting root beer." The website also says Boylan thinks customers will tire of the vanilla laden root beers being mass produced today.

My take: Boylan is good. Its sweet, but not as sweet as I would like. It does not taste like a modern, mass produced root beer. Instead, it does have some of the characteristics of a crafted root beer. It does not have the flavor of a Sprecher root beer, but it does taste like it is small batch brewed. I thoroughly enjoyed my Boylan and would definitely have another.

Score on a scale of 1 to 10 cases: 7 solid cases.

Have you tasted Boylan yet? Send me your thoughts. (And then join HARO!)   

Abita Root Beer

One more anonymous root beer. This one is brought to you by San Juan United Soccer Girls U-17 team, proudly sponsored by me. (By the way, these girls play some great soccer and you should watch them if they come to a town near you.)

Abita Root Beer is made with pure Louisiana Cane Sugar. As the website says: "Abita brews its root beer with spring water, herbs, vanilla and yucca (which creates foam). Unlike most soft drink manufacturers, Abita sweetens its root beer with the pure Louisiana cane sugar. The resulting taste is reminiscent of soft drinks made in the 1940's and 1950's before bottlers turned to corn sugar and fructose. Like earlier root beers, Abita is also caffeine-free."

My take: I do not know how Louisiana cane sugar is different from other cane sugar, but the yucca does make it a nice, foamy root beer. I like foam. I also like sweet. And this root beer is sweet. It has a nice flavor to it, with just a hint of the vanilla. That makes for a nice contrast to the sweetness.

Score on a scale of 1 to 10 cases: 8 cases. Very solid showing.

Share with me your thoughts on Abita root beer.