Aaah, back to caffeine free root beer.    Dad’s cloudy bronze color comes out with a good fizz, introducing it’s strong bite.  The flavor is slightly sweet with a little syrupiness on the back end.  Like the flavor, the smell is also quite subtle.  However, I found that pouring it over ice brought out the flavor a lot more and you could taste the root beer much stronger and it was much more enjoyable.  It’s sweetness comes from the 40 grams of sugar it contains.  It seems we’re starting to get up there on sugar content.

Over all, I give Dad’s a 6 out of 10.  My recommendation is that it be enjoyed on ice. 

I am about to die, and not in the good way.  I’m only half way through this Bawls High Caffeine Guarana Root Beer and my heart is already racing.  I’m beginning to question if this review is hazardous to my health.  Containing High Fructose Corn Syrup, lots of caffeine and guarana extract, this has to be the worst root beer for you on the market and it carries over into the flavor.

At first, the light amber color looks like any other root beer, and when you first open the bottle, the smell of root beer wafts over you, but then it’s gone.  The fragrance quickly dissipates into something that is hardly a smell at all.  Although it comprises a good bite, you can taste the guarana in it.  It tastes more like an energy drink with a little root beer mixed in.  Other then that, there is almost no flavor.  I assume that this drink is more for people looking for an energy drink who like the novelty of root beer then someone who is truly looking for a root beer to drink.

Over all 4 out of 10.

“Third time available in 420 years” as the label reads, Jack Black’s bottle is full of funny extremisms like “Better Dead Red then just  plain Dead!” and “Once you’ve had Jack Black, you’ll never go back!”  Exclamation pointed each time.    Now does its flavor match up with its drama?  The reddish tint holds true to its name and the bouquet has a molasses hint to it.  However, the flavor has a light syrupy essence to it and the bite is modest despite its large sudziness when poured.  Overall, it’s an okay root beer, however I’m afraid the label does resemble to root beer in that it has a large head, but little follow through.

There is still more fun to be had by the bottle however, with cryptic messages on the cap advertising their other beverages, this one in Spanish for some reason “Beba BrainWash… Refrigerante que dá Lingua Azul!”  This means, “Drink Brain Wash… Refrigerate to get a blue tongue!”

Despite its mediocryness (word?)  I’m giving Jack Black’s a 6 out of 10.  Sometimes something just gives you a good feeling 

Zuberfizz has a strong bite to start which I like.  There’s not much of a smell to it but the dark cloudy brown color foreshadows the creamy flavor to come.  The taste is not sharp, but has a smooth creaminess that isn’t too sweet but just right.  Produced by the Durango Soda Company in Durango, CO, they use pure cane sugar, giving it just enough sweetness without being overpowering.  The gum arabic is a natural gum made of hardened sap and is used as a stabilizer and probably what gives the root beer its cloudiness.

All in all, I give Zuberfizz a 7 out of 10 for its creamy goodness.

Made with pure Louisiana Can Sugar, Abita is not too sweet, but just right, and definitely not syrupy.  It’s light brown color and moderate fizz give you a slight bite to accompany it’s moderately rich flavor.  Even the smell is subtle.  “Mild” seems too cruel a word to describe this root beer, so I would call it genial; perfect for the masses, but not nearly strong enough for the root beer connoisseur.

Overall, I’ll give it a 6 out of 10. Although I would give it extra marks for having no additives or preservatives.  That’s quite a feat! Pretty much every other root beer has sodium benzoate in it as a preservative.  Sodium benzoate is bacteriostatic and fungistatic under acidic conditions (in this case carbonic acid), meaning it keeps fungus and bacteria from growing.  While sodium benzoate is on the whole harmless, there is research that shows it may be unhealthy in certain conditions or large amounts.  For instance, in combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen. Heat, light and shelf life can affect the rate at which benzene is formed.  But if you simply don’t drink OJ with your root beer, this won’t be an issue.  Bleh, get chills just thinking about mixing the two.

However, some claim that sodium benzoate by itself can damage and inactivate vital parts of DNA in a cell’s mitochondria, which is the energy producing powerhouse of the cell.  So again kudos to Abita Root Beer for nixing the preservatives.

The first thing you notice about Sparky’s Fresh Draft Root Beer is not the smell, which is actually very slight, but the loud fizz of the super carbonation of this delectable beverage.  It’s uniform blondness pours clearly and creates an immediate and ferocious head.  Pouring it into your mouth, you feel the sharp bite tickle your tongue.  It’s just enough to invigorate you but not overdone to the point where you taste the carbonation.

The taste itself is pure root beer flavor.  The mysterious “spices” in this root beer hold the key to the nigh perfect root beer.  I think the addition of honey gives it a sweet taste without being syrupy or overpowering.  For those naturalists out there, Sparky’s uses pure cane sugar, no artificial ingredients, and has a kick ass sassafras taste.  Definitely a high recommendation on my list.  However, since I’m an optimist, I’m gonna hope for even better things along the way, so I’m going to give Sparky’s an 8 out of 10, although it may perhaps be a grade below what it deserves.

Drive-in Style Dog n Suds Root Beer starts off with a nice robust root beer bouquet.  You can almost taste the root beer by smelling  it.  When poured, it is a clear amber color, lightly carbonated.  Dog n Suds brought back memories for my dad growing up in Arkansas when he would go down to the drive in or soda shop and enjoy the fizzy beverage with a hot dog.  Although he said Dog n Suds hot dogs were delicious, he was never too impressed with their root beer and I’m going to have to agree.  The smell of the root beer seems to be its best trait.  Much like Burger King fanning their artificial hamburger scent from its drive in, Dog n Suds Root Beer does the same thing. It calls you in with fragrance, but lets you down with its light flavor and syrupy taste.  Furthermore, the bite of this dog is nothing to be afraid of; a very tame root beer to say the least.

Over all, I give Dog n Suds Root Beer a 5 out of 10.

Upon further examination, the inclusion of High Fructose Corn Syrup to its ingredients would explain the syrupiness.  Although its 30g of sugar might seem like a lot to some, it’s mild in comparison with where we’re going on this root beer journey.  We’re off to a rough start, but there’s plenty more where that came from.

Before we jump into the tastings of root beer.  We’ve got to know a little more about its making and what we’re looking for in a flavor.  Root beer was originally brewed using sassafras root.  This same root can be filed down to a powder and is put in many gumbos as a spice.  Sassafras can also be steeped into a tea until the FDA banned sassafras in cooking oils and foods in 1960, siting lab reports that claimed ingesting it led to liver damage and certain types of cancers.  Of course today, they’re more then happy to let us ingest high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils, but let’s not get off topic.

After 1960, soda companies were forced to switch over to artificial sassafras flavorings and spices to recreate their flavors, that is until 1994 when the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed, eventually lifting the ban on sassafras use in foods.  Today, most root beers are still made with artificial flavorings along with some of these ingredients:

• Pimenta dioica – Allspice
• Vanilla planifolia – Vanilla
• Trigonella foenum-graecum – Fenugreek
• Myroxylon balsamum – “Tolu Balsam”
• Abies balsamea – “Balsam Fir”
• Hordeum vulgare – “Barley” (Malted)
• Myristica fragrans – Nutmeg
• Juniperus communis – “Juniper” (fruit or “berry”)
• Cinnamomum zeylanicum – Cinnamon (bark)
• Cinnamomum aromaticum – “Cassia” (bark)
• Syzygium aromaticum – Clove
• Foeniculum vulgare – Fennel (seed)
• Zingiber officinale – Ginger (root)
• Illicium verum – Star Anise
• Pimpinella anisum – Anise
• Humulus lupulus – Hops
• Mentha species – Mint
• Hypericum perforatum – St. John’s Wort
• Cane Sugar
• Molasses
• Honey

Most of which will be hidden under the clandestine “spices” label in the ingredients section to secure each maker’s secret recipe is not revealed.

Each brand has its own history to their specific root beer, but to North America, root beer was invented by Charles Hires, a Philadelphia pharmacist who according to his biography discovered a recipe for a delicious herbal tea while on his honeymoon. The pharmacist began selling a dry version of the tea mixture and also began working on a liquid version of the same tea. The result of was a combination of over twenty-five herbs, berries and roots that Charles Hires used to flavor a carbonated soda water drink. The Charles Hires’ version of a root beer beverage was first introduced to the public at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial exhibition. The Hires family continued to manufacture root beer and in 1893 first sold and distributed bottled root beer. Charles Hires and his family certainly contributed greatly to the popularity of modern root beer, however, the origins of root beer can be traced further back in history.

The historical root beer was analogous to small beer, in that the process provided a drink with a very low alcohol content. In spite of roots being used as the source of many soft drinks in many countries throughout the world (and even alcoholic beverages/beers), the name root beer is almost unused outside of the United States, Canada and the Philippines. Most other countries have their own indigenous versions of root-based beverages and small beers but with different names and branding.

December 4 is International Root Beer Day (IRBD). IRBD was first celebrated on December 4, 1995 in Venezuela with American root beer imported from Curaçao.

Alright kiddies, that’s enough background on the beer of root, let’s get fizzin!

Happy New Year everyone!

For Christmas I got 24 bottles of different types of rootbeer from my parents!

And so of course I must blog about them as I try each one.  You may be wondering “Why would someone buy a case load of rootbeer for someone?”  Well you inquisitive reader you, if you’ve seen my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, you’d know that I want to taste test 12 different types of rootbeer, now I have 24! And by the end of all this, you too shall know which rootbeer is truly the best.

I’ll be rating based on taste, bite, color, smell, and overall rootbeeriness.  I’ll give an overall rating from 1 to 10, but I’m a harsh judge, so 10 would have to be the best frikkin rootbeer I’ve ever tasted.

So stay tuned for every Mon and Wed for a new rootbeer update!

Man, it’s been a busy month.  I waited until December 1st before buying gifts and before I knew it, it was December 15th!  It just flew by.

I started out in Ellensburg, WA which was kind of stressful cause of a mix up in flight arrangements, then I flew to Little Rock for an account and  met some really nice people there. I’ll be honest, I hate the midwest, it’s flat, there are tornados a large portion of the year and there’s very little to do there, BUT the people are great; really down to earth, just want to have a good time sort of people. Flew in on Friday at 6p and raced home to change and go to a Christmas party with Rosario’s family.  It was a lot of fun and we cut a rug on the dance floor pretty well. MMmmm, just remember the taste of the tres leches, sooo good.  The next day, I got up early and went to the Alamo Ritz Draft House to rehearse for the Mortified show I was doing that week.  i got to hear all the other journals which were great, but we didn’t have time for me. That was okay though, i’d done it once before earlier this year. After I left there, picked up Rosario and we drove up to Fort Worth for a friend of mine’s wedding. The joining of Lyle and Caroline was quite lovely and afterwards, we retired to share a hotel room with my parents. We played farkle till the wee hours… well like 10 or 11. 

Drove back to Austin on Sunday and stayed up way too late trying to get stuff done I should’ve gotten done over the weekend. Then got up on Monday at 5 to get to work in Kyle by 7am. Worked there until Wed.  Wed night I did the Mortified show which went over fantastically. The laughs in my pauses were actually going on so long I had to start talking over them so I didn’t drag on too long.  I did get to intereact with the audience though which I loved; little improv always feels good.  “Where were you girls when I was in Junior high?”  Those of you who were there know what that means.  Everyone did a great job, it went so well.  I wish I could talk about everyone’s peice but like I said: busy month and much to talk about and it’s MY blog so I take priority.    Couple highlights though I will comment on.

Nat: cried on the page of his journal, circled it and wrote “tear”
Lynn: so much fingering going on for her, loved it. It’s so great to hear those things that you didn’t expect to say to anyone, it’s so opening.  You feel like you can trust that person so much more.
everyone did a great job, those are just two that stick out in my mind. Oh and the band, I think they were called the “After School Specials”, they were so good.  I need to find them in Austin somewhere

::off to facebook to look them up::

On Thursday and Friday, I was back up in the Dallas area working. Over the week, I had started getting sick. Made it through MOrtified without getting a sore throat, but by Friday, I was coughing pretty severely. Plus my bowels hurt. I might have a peritenial infection, but nothing to worry about. Will need some minor surgery this coming year, but we’ll talk about that later.

Then Rosario and I were off to Vegas for 4 days.  Met Arno and Lauren there and we had a grand ole time. I lost a lot of money, but got to see some great shows.  Mystere was AMAZING! You must go and see it. There were two strong guys doing some amazingly difficult things, a guy with a rotationg cube on rings, pole jumpers, a huge fat baby and more! As for David Copperfield, I’ll say two things: DON’T go see his show and He’s a deush.

Walked around Aria and City Center; it had just opened the week before. Reviewed some tv shows, including one new one coming out called Life Unexpected. It was pretty good, I’ll look for it in the coming year. Other then that, just ate ALOT, drank, took pictures and danced around the cacinos.  Oh and the decorations in the Bellagio were very nice, but I still liked the fall decorations better.

Flew back in from Vegas and left the next day for my parent’s place.  Rosario flew to Cali for her nephew’s wedding and Christmas.  My Grandma, aunt, and uncles are visiting too so it’s a full house, but my parents new house has plenty of space. We’ve been playing games and chatting during the day. Around 10p when everyone goes to bed, I’m finally able to work and catch up on all the stuff I need to get done; like my blog!

That’s pretty much a summary of what’s happening here.  Oh! For Christmas I got 24 bottles of different types of rootbeer! That was one of the things on my list (suggested by Kristen Carter, thanks Kristen).  So now I get to blog about rootbeer tastings. Sweetness!  Merry Christmas all and goodnight.