Diet Barq's

Printed in big bold letters is the phrase "artificially flavored". It almost seems like they are proud of it - whatever . . .

I tend to drink a lot more of diet soda than regular ones - so here it goes!

Every sip of this brew (I don't know if it should even be called a brew) gets worse and worse. This actually doesn't even taste like a root beer - it is sort of fruity with maybe a little bit of a cherry taste. The carbonation, smell, head, and color don't really even seem to matter - because it doesn't seem like a root beer to me.

As far as the "dietness" of the taste goes - I have had a lot worse. I don't sense a lot of the artificial sugar taste - although it does have a bite and I guess part of that could be related to the aspartame. Oh well . . .

I give this brew an F

Deerfield Trading Company

Old Fashioned Root Beer

Deerfield Trading Company Root Beer is packaged exclusively for Walgreens. But when I checked out walgreens.com, there was not mention of the root beer or the company. There were some other Deerfield products - but it was called "Deerfield Farms" and I suspect that it is a different company.

Anyway - it is pretty neat that Walgreens would have a gourmet root beer in addition to their generic brand. I was expecting a half decent brew - given that they would take the time and effort to make a root beer with no "high fructose corn syrup" and that they would bottle this instead of plopping it in a can or plastic bottle. Unfortunately, I was "big-time" disappointed!!

I've read some half-decent reviews of the brew on other web-sites, but I didn't find anything half-decent at all. This root beer had virtually no head with a light root beer color. The brew tasted very watery and it was extremely light on taste. One of my family members commented that it didn't really even taste like a root beer at all. There was a bite at the end of each swallow of beer, but it didn't make up for the overall lack of root beerness in this concoction.

I give this brew a F+

Natural Brew Draft Root Beer

When I began reviewing root beers about ten years ago this was one of the first root beers I reviewed. In Virginia this was so plentiful, but in the north this is the first I have seen.

I think that this is what an "all-natural" root beer should taste like. Too many root beers end up tasting the same, but this has a unique flavor that sets it apart. I know that some people think it is nasty, but I could drink a lot of this brew. It is a very creamy beer which stems from the bourbon vanilla extract - and to me the wintergreen and the birch oil really stand out - but not in offensive "in your face" kind of way. Other special ingredients include anise, sarsaparilla, and licorice root. It has a light root beer color, a small head, and a really (I mean really) light carbonation. It also keeps below the 40 g of sugar threshold (it weighs in at 39 g of sugar).

My youngest little professor said that she loves it and that it tastes super!! And I have to agree.

I give this brew a B

Keg Style Root Beer

This is the first review of 2010 and the first review in almost a year. My son and daughter (professors in training) got the itch to taste and review more root beers - so here we go!!

I will begin to comment on what my son said about this root beer. He commented how the root beer smell came out of his nose when he drank the brew. And he also began to dip his popcorn in the soda and thought that it tasted great.

I thought that this Keg Style Brew had a good bit of foam with a nice, rich, dark root beer color. It was a very sweet tasting root beer - actually too sweet for my taste (it has 46g of sugar per serving). This concoction is actually distributed by Walmart and being a "cheapo" brand it could be a lot worse. Don't expect a lot from this soda, but at the same time it is not all that bad. Unfortunately, I really don't have much else to say about this root beer.

My son wants to give this brew a C + But . . .

I give this brew a C

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.