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 -

Doumar's Root Beer

Doumar's is located in Norfolk, VA and it's claim to fame is not the root beer, but rather it's ice cream cones. Abe Doumar was the first to create the cone itself - he first sold it at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. Doumar's still makes their own cones today and they are still made on the same machine that Abe Doumar created! My whole family had ice cream cones and they tasted pretty fantastic.

I also tried their root beer which is a unique root beer although I don't think they make it at their store. They put too much ice in the cup, but the ice was chopped into small bits and my daughter (little professor # 2) loved the slushy root beer effect. The root beer was a little syrupy with heavy licorice and wintergreen flavors shining through. This root beer should probably not be rated too high, but because of the cool atmosphere and neat ice-cream cone experience, I have a lot of happy endorphins flowing through my brains so . . .

I give this root beer a B -