Henry Weinhards Root Beer

Talk about some serious and long-lasting head. The foam tastes really good as well. I remember having a root beer a while back that had great head, but it tasted sort of foul – not this brew!

I have been waiting to taste this brew for quite some time. I got this at Leo’s Diner in Cambridge, MA. Cool little spot with a few unique sodas that you really can’t get to easily on the East Coast.

The interesting ingredients in this root beer are vanilla extract, honey essence and acacia sassafras extract. I’d say all of these three flavorings are noticeable in the taste. The sassafras gives it the slightly bitter after-taste and it competes with the smoothness of the vanilla and honey. In fact, this after-taste can be a little too much at times.

I would love to know a little more about the honey though – just what is honey essence?? And what about the acacia?? I read up on acacia a little bit, but I won't try to explain it right now. If you are interested in knowing more about acacia then check out this web-site - http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Acacia .

To top it all off I really love the packaging of this root beer – very cool indeed. Overall though, this is a really smooth, creamy brew with a nice overall flavor. Not quite enough be an “A” brew, but still very solid.

I give this brew a B +

Lost Trail Root Beer Co.

Lost Trail gets the dubious distinction of being the first root beer reviewed. This is actually one root beer that I have never tried before. Got this at a really cool diner in Cambridge, MA that has a few different root beers that are not local. Can’t remember the name of the diner for this post, but it will come to me at some point.

I am really thirst right now, so I practically have this 12 oz. brew drunk in about 2 gulps – so I will try my best. The head was real small and the carbonation was real light. I’m not sure if it is supposed to be this way or if the bottle was old. I actually prefer a lighter carbonation anyway. A very, very creamy root beer indeed.

Overall, this is a real enjoyable brew. Not really anything spectacular, but definitely something that I would drink again. There is one distinct flavor that comes through – I think it might be licorice or anise. Other than this flavor it is certainly not a complex root beer.

It is made with real sugar which is always a plus and it only has 37 g of sugar for the whole bottle.

I do love the label and the root beer story from the journal of Joe Marshall back in 1848. I’ll give it a few extra points for that.

I give this brew a B

Rating System

If root beers are to be reviewed on this site than there needs to be a rating system.

Being that I am a professor, it would only make sense to give the brews a letter grade. The best root beers will of course receive an "A +" and the worst ones will get an "F -". This is a great system to use , because we all have used this at some point or another.

I've seen that some unaware and ill-informed bloggers have held A & W or IBC as the standard by which to grade all other root beers. I promised you that my reviews will not stoop to this level of ignorance.

When I judge a brew I will focus on the complete package. I may comment on the smell, carbonation, after-taste, packaging, and foam among other things. But the bottom-line for any review is taste. I could review a brew that falls short in packaging, smell, and foam, but if the taste is killer than I am going to give it a good letter grade.