Professor Root Beer Has A New Site

Are you wondering why I haven't posted in a while?  I am posting . . . I'm just posting on a new site.  Visit me at www.professorrootbeer.com to see recent reviews on Rocky Mountain Root Beer, Red Arrow Root Beer, Bedford's Root Beer and Cicero Salted Caramel Root Beer.  And make sure to bookmark my new site because I won't be making any updates to this one!


Happy Root Beer Hunting,


Professor Root Beer

Virgil's Zero Root Beer

That tag line for this root beer is "you'll swear it's made in heaven."  Unfortunatley, heaven doesn't make root beer like they used to.  To be frank, it barely had a root beer taste at all.  It was clouded (probably a result of being made in heaven) with a huge diet taste of stevia rebaudiana leaf extract and that dang GMO-free caramel color.  Truth be told, I'm not on the up and up on the GMO, and this root beer is not really worth the couple of extra minutes to research it.

I do love the fact that it has zero calories and it's using a sweetner that doesn't cause years of soft-drink induced cancer.  I actually like diet soda a bit too much and it would be nice to find a tasty alternative.  Virgil's Zero Root Beer is not that alternative . . .  although it is a really nice alternative for muddy water.

One other thing that I absolutely love about this root beer can be found right on their web-site.  It says, and I quote, "no sugar alcohols that upset your intestines."  Awesome . . . simply awesome.

Although I've never been a huge Virgil's fan to begin with, I think they have a much "higher standard" to live up to - this brew is a big disappointment.

I give this root beer a   F

Duffy's Rowdy Root Beer

It's been a long time since the last review . . . about 18 months in fact.  My love for root beer hasn't changed, but I just can't drink it like I used too.  I didn't even drink the full bottle of this brew - I split it with my lovely assistant.

On to the beer.  I picked this because it said it's a Colorado legend.  Plain and simple, legends are cool.  It was originally created when a man was canned by a large soft-drink company.  Out of spite, jealousy or maybe it was just because he loved soda, he created a line of his own soft-drinks.  Fast-forward a couple of decades and somehow this soda was lost and forgotten, which isn't that hard to believe (more on that later).  And what was once old and forgotten was found in a locked safe and brought back to life in 1995 (there are some who feel it should have remained dead and buried).

The low sugar content was another reason I decided to pick this up.  Many root beers can get close to 45g of sugar in a 12oz. bottle, but Duffy's tops out at a meager 25g - and pure cane sugar no less!  For this reason alone I'd probably drink this again . . . and it's pretty darn philonthrapic to support local businesses.

Other than the low sugar and the local part there's not much going for this root beer.  It's alright . . . it's not offensive . . . it's pretty smooth . . . but that's about it.  The most exciting part of the soda was that my assistant and I had a spirited argument over whether there was any mint flavor present.  Sadly, the web-site doesn't provide any further info. on the mint or any of the natural flavors.

In a sea of root beer choices, this one sits squarely in the middle of the pack and sadly this brew probably won't be added to the new curriculum for "Root Beer 101."

I give this root beer a      B -

Zevia Ginger Root Beer

I have been checking this root beer out for quite some time. It is practically in every grocery store I visit, but the price on this baby is out of this world. I think the cost is over $6 for a 4 pack or a 6 pack. While I guess that is only about $1 a can, I normally don't like to pay that much for a canned root beer, and especially a canned root beer that looks like it's going to taste gross. I was lucky to find an individual can at Whole Foods the other day - so one and done baby!

Enough about cost . . . what makes this brew so unique is that it is a diet soda without actually being diet. It has no artificial sweetners and yet has zero calories!! Zevia uses a combination of stevia and Erythritol to sweeten the beverage. The interesting part is that even though there are no artificial sweetners - it still tastes a little like a diet beverage. Don't ask me how they do it - it just does.
But with that being said - I would drink this on occassion instead of a regular diet root beer. Hey - it is all natural, no calories, no cancer causing diet ingredients (well . . . at this moment stevia has not been shown to cause cancer, but give it a few years and I'm sure it will be labeled as a carcinogen), and the taste is okay. This isn't going to win any awards, but I'm sure it will be followed by a host of organic, all-natural type people who love this ginger flavored brew.

As far as the professor goes . . .I'm still undecided - my first couple of sips weren't too goodbut by the middle of the can it got pretty good. But now as I'm finishing the last couple of sips I think it is giving me a headache.

I give this brew a C -

Hannaford Diet Root Beer

Get excited now folks - this is your opportunity to read about a store-brand diet root beer! I did this review alone, as I really don't like to expose the little professors to diet sodas. Although, for the most part this is all I drink - so my diet taste buds are actually quite refined.

When poured the brew it had a pretty impressive root beer color and a pretty impressive head. But when I sipped this beer it went downhill pretty quick. Smack, slam, wake-up - this is one of the nastiest diet flavors that has ever been attached to a root beer.

Pretty bad stuff - but sadly I will drink the rest of the 2 liter bottle. No reason to let a bottle of aspartame go to waste.

I give this brew a . . . F

IBC Root Beer

Back at it again after a long absence . . . I already have an aversion to IBC Root Beer, because it tries to pass itself off as a hand-crafted micro-brewed root beer but it is nothing more than a Barq's, A&W, or Mug in a bottle. But be that as it may, it is really not all that bad (cough, cough).

Let's start with the downside - It has high-fructose corn syrup and a lot of it - 43g. And it has a pretty standard taste - nothing is really gonna blow your socks off. Good, but not spectacular. My little professors thought differently though. Professors # 2 & 3 said this was the best root beer they ever had (although I think they say this every time they taste a brew). Professor # 2 also said that this root beer was quite frizzy - kinda like when your foot falls asleep frizzy! I'm assuming she means that this root beer had a good amount of carbonation in it :) The picture show Professor # 2 holding a bottle of IBC.

IBC had a real nice head and it had a nice licorice/anise smell to it. I thought it was quite creamy, but it also finished with a good bite. And the packaging is great - a very very cool bottle! All in all - I must admit - IBC is really not all that bad. It is fun to be reviewing some brews again

I give this brew a . . . C +

Polar Classics Premium Root Beer

On a recent trip to Virginia I stopped in a Jewish market and I asked for some kosher root beer - they sort of looked at me like I had two heads.

But at a regular supermarket I did find some kosher root beer - Polar classics Premium Root Beer. I won't say much about this root beer, but I really liked the look of the bottle and the packaging. The flavor profile of this brew is actually pretty simple, but really good. The pure cane sugar, licorice and/or anise really shines. That's about all I have to say about that . . .

I give this brew a B +