On Sunday, September 28 we had lunch at Chili’s in Glendora.  After lunch we went to the nearby Beverages and More (BevMo) to get some root beer because I was out.  I normally drink Virgil’s Root Beer that we buy at Trader Joe’s and it’s now available at Ralphs and many other places.  I can’t have High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) that’s used to sweeten most of the popular sodas.  Virgil’s is made with cane sugar.  At BevMo there are many different brands of root beer in their “adult soda” section.  The section also has other rare and regional sodas such as Moxie and Bubble Up.  We looked around and picked out ten different kinds of root beers, all made with cane sugar with no HFCS and no caffeine.  We also picked out a soda called Apple Beer.  I reviewed them as I drank them and now that I’m done with all of them I can post the reviews in this blog entry.  My 5-star benchmark is Virgil’s Root Beer.

09/28/08: Mason’s Root Beer
Company: Real Soda (www.realsoda.com)
City: Atlanta, GA; Rancho Palos Verdes, CA listed on the bottle cap
Ingredients: carbonated water, sugar, caramel color, sodium benzoate (a preservative), citric acid, natural and artificial flavors.
The table is yellow-orange and states that it has a “Keg-Brewed” flavor.  It has a smooth and creamy flavor that almost seems bland when compared to the spicy flavor of Virgil’s.  The carbonation also seemed a little weak but overall it was decent and refreshing.  (***)

09/29/08: Apple Beer
Company: Apple Beer Corp (www.applebeer.com)
City: Salt Lake City, Utah
Ingredients: purified carbonated water, pure cane sugar, citric acid, natural flavors, vitamin C.
This is the only non-root beer of the bunch.  Despite it having “beer” in its name, it’s still just a soft drink.  The red, gold, black, and white label includes the phases “All Natural” and “The Soft Drink with a Head.”  Interesting that its ingredients don’t include apples.  Perhaps they’re part of the natural flavors listed.  It does have an unmistakable apple flavor.  The carbonation complements it well giving it a fresh, crisp taste.  It’s not overly sweet or spicy like spiced apple cider but simply refreshing. (*****)

10/09/08: Sea Dog Root Beer
Company: Pugsley Brewing LLC
City: Portland, Maine
Ingredients: water, cane sugar, caramel coloring, natural and artificial flavors (including wintergreen oil, anise, and vanilla), spices, herbs, citric acid, and sodium benzoate as a preservative.
The label is dark blue with orange trim and yellow lettering.  There’s the image of a white sheep dog in a fisherman’s rain hat had surrounded by a life preserver with the words “Old Style”.  There are also white paw prints.  This root beer has a very sweet flavor that’s just a bit creamy and spicy.  The flavor is just strong enough to be distinctive but not enough to repel in any way.  A solid beverage. (****)

10/17/08: Fitz’s Premium Root Beer
Company: Fitz’s Bottling Company
City: St. Louis, MO
Ingredients: filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors, caramel color, vanillin, sodium benzoate (preservative), and citric acid.
This root beer comes in a tall, less tapered bottle with a red, white, and blue label.  It says that the ingredients are the same as the original 1947 recipe.  It has a sweet, comforting flavor.  There aren’t any strong spices.  It does have a strong vanilla flavor so I’m guessing vanillin is similar to vanilla.  A great drink to help me relax after a long day or long week. (****)

10/24/08: Sparky’s Fresh Draft Root Beer
Company: Knox Brewing (831-649-0529 or www.sparkysrootbeer.com)
City: Pacific Grove, CA
Ingredients: carbonated filtered water, pure cane sugar, honey, natural and imitation flavorings, spices, sodium benzoate to preserve freshness, phosphoric acid and caramel color.
Sparky’s Root Beer has a red and white label on the shortest and stoutest of the root beer bottles.  Its stature is similar to that of the bottles of Red Hook Beer that I used to drink before I stopped drinking alcohol.  The upper label has the phrase “Leading the Root Beer Revival”.  Also like Red Hook Beer, Sparky’s has a very strong flavor.  Its spices and flavors overpower the sweetness making it very distinctive.  I could really taste the root flavor that’s almost like licorice.  But it’s definitely an acquired taste.  I wasn’t quite used to the bitter aftertaste after finishing the bottle.  This one’s not for the casual root beer drinker.  I suggest starting with something a bit milder to revive your taste in root beer. (***)

10/31/08: Capt’n Eli’s Root Beer
Company: Shipyard Brewing Co., LLC
City: Portland, ME
Ingredients: water, cane sugar, caramel coloring, natural and artificial flavors including wintergreen oil, anise, vanilla, spices, herbs, citric acid, sodium benzoate as a preservative.
I picked this root beer for the week of Halloween because it has a yellowish label, the closest thing to the fall color of orange.  It has orange and red lettering and a pictures of a boy in a rowboat wearing a helmet.  A large parrot is perched on his shoulder.  I’d actually tried Capt’n Eli’s before back when I first heard about root beers made with cane sugar three years ago.  It tasted good then and still does.  It has a sweet, smooth, syrupy flavor with just enough spice to be noticed but not overpower the taste buds.  All the flavors complement each other perfectly.  It may not be 100% natural like Virgil’s, but it definitely rivals it in taste. (*****)

11/5/08: Waialua Soda Works Root Beer
Company: Waialua Soda Works, Inc. (808-371-7556, www.waialuasodaworks.com)
City: Waialua, HI
Ingredients: carbonated water, cane sugar, Maui natural white cane sugar, natural flavor, caramel color, sodium benzoate (for freshness), citric acid, Hawaiian vanilla extract.
This is the first of the root beers I’ve had that has a clear glass rather than a brown glass bottle.  There’s only one other in a clear bottle that I have yet to try.  Waialua root beer has a light brown label with a drawing of a hula girl.  It includes the words “finest Hawaiian quality” and “natural flavored soda”.  There’re also some writing in characters that look Asian or possibly Arabic.  Are they Hawaiian?  I was expecting this root beer from an exotic location to have an exotic taste, but the flavor is dominated by the vanilla and carbonation.  There’s also some sweetness and maybe a little spice.  I’m guessing Waialua makes other sodas and root beer is just one of their flavors.  It does taste more like root beer-flavored soda than root beer.  Don’t get me wrong, it tastes OK, just unexceptional.  Maybe real root beer comes in a brown bottle? (***)

11/13/08: Buckin’ Root Beer
Company: Jackson Hole Soda Company (307.690.7632, jhsodaco.com)
City: Jackson Hole, WY
Ingredients: carbonated filtered water, real sugar, natural & artificial flavors, caramel color, citric acid, sodium benzoate as a preservative.
This seems like the root beer for cowboys.  It has a brown, black and white label with some yellow lettering.  There’s a picture of a bull throwing a cowboy off its back.  The company logo is on a sheriff’s badge below the words “batch brewed”.  Luckily, drinking it isn’t like being thrown from a bull.  It has a solid flavor just aggressive enough to be noticed but still appealing.  It’s sweet, a little bit spicy and cohesive.  All the flavors blend seamlessly with the root flavor dominating as it should.  It’s straight up and the only knockout is the great flavor. (*****)

11/21/08: Dad’s Old Fashion Root Beer
Company: Real Soda (www.realsoda.com (310) 326-9202)
City: Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Ingredients: carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, sodium benzoate (a preservative), citric acid, natural and artificial flavors.
Dad’s Root Beer is actually the name of a more common brand of root beer similar to Mug and A&W.  This bottled version still has the familiar black, yellow, blue, and orange/red label but it’s made with cane sugar rather than the HFCS that the regular Dad’s Root Beer contains.  It’s made by Real Soda but there’s also wording on the label that says: produced under the authority of the Dad’s Root Beer Company, LLC, Jasper, IN 47546 www.dadsrootbeer.com.  So maybe Real Soda makes a version with cane sugar and Dad’s makes the more common version with HFCS?  This bottled version has strong carbonation and a basic sweet flavor.  It’s fairly straightforward taste, nothing special.  It actually tasted a bit weak.  Dad’s should stick with the HFCS version. (***)

11/25/08 Faygo Original Root Beer
Company: Faygo Beverages, Inc., A National Beverages company (www.faygo.com, 1-800-347-6591)
City: Detroit, MI
Ingredients: carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, potassium benzoate (as a preservative), citric acid, natural and artificial flavor, gum acacia.
Faygo is one of the two (out of eleven) root beers to come in a clear bottle and the only one with the label printed directly on the bottle.  That fact, and its brown and white label give it a retro look.  On its heart-shaped main logo with a crown it says, “Est. 1907”.  So Faygo (the company at least and possibly the beverage itself) is over 100 years old.  It could be the oldest root beer of the bunch.  The label also states that it is draft style root beer.  Unlike the other root beer, Waialua, that came in a clear bottle Faygo has a solid taste with some spice, sweetness, and creamy flavor.  The spice and carbonation give it a bit of an edge at first sip but the sweetness and creamy flavor make it go down easy.  It tastes a bit like regular beer but in a good way.  It’s like a real friend not afraid to be itself, genuine, and good company.  No wonder it’s been around all these years. (****)

11/26/08: Berghoff Root Beer
Company: Berghoff
City: Chicago, IL
Ingredients: carbonated water, pure cane sugar, caramel color, sodium benzoate (preservative), natural flavor, and citric acid.
Well, I was wrong about Faygo being the oldest.  On the decorative copper, red, brown, and white label on the bottle of Berghoff root beer it says, “Founded 1898” above and below the main logo.  Berghoff is a famous restaurant/ bar/ brewery in Chicago famous for its root beer and German food.  I’m not sure if the restaurant is still around but I believe they still make the root beer.  The label also states that it is “Old Fashioned”, Draft Style, and “Chicago’s Famous”.  I could taste why it’s famous.  It has the right combination of spice, sweetness, and slightly creamy flavor.  It actually tastes very similar to Virgil’s.  It has bold but still unoffending flavor making it hard not to drink all at once.  After 100 years, they know how to make a good root beer. (*****)

Those are the eleven root beers from BevMo (actually 10 root beers and one apple beer).  I never knew there could be so many different kinds of root beer made with cane sugar instead of HFCS.  I remember when we went to Indy and a waiter at Loon Lake Lodge didn’t even know they made root beer with cane sugar instead of HFCS.  None of the root beers were better than Virgil’s but several were equally good.  I was also impressed with the variety of flavors.  I found it interesting that all eleven had some kind of preservative (usually sodium benzoate), something Virgil’s does not have.  Since I can’t have alcohol, this is my version of wine tasting.  Now that the holidays are here, we can raise our bottles both brown and clear to good, sugar-flavored root beer.