Gale's Root Beer

This was another root beer recommended to us by one of the hippies in the Pop Shop. Again, i couldn't find a website for the root beer itself, but i did find that the recipe was actually made by a famous chef name Gale Gand. Her website has the root beer listed there. It is distributed through Gale's company, Gale's Bread and Butter Inc. in Riverwoods, IL. Here is a picture of Gale. According to the story on the bottle, she owns a number of restaurants throughout the nation and claims to serve this specific brand of root beer in them.

I think we are lead to believe that the cartoon picture on the bottle is of none other than young Gale with her faithful terrier "Rootie". I kinda like the design behind the label. It almost looks to me like an old 1800's medicine bottle, like you see in old apothecaries or on display in drug stores and doctor's offices for decoration. She should bottle the root beer in old bottles like that. That would be sweet. The writing on the top of the label is essentially Gale's story, told in first person about living and cooking in England for a while and missing root beer so much that she acquired a dog, named it Rootie, moved back to America, and began making her own recipe of root beer. Neat. Not sure what your dog has to do with that, but if it sells root beer for you, more power to you.

The label also says it is cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla flavored. The problem is, i could basically only taste a little of the vanilla in the aftertaste. The initial taste is a very sharp and bitter taste that takes you by surprise, but then fades into a nice vanilla. I know a lot of root beers use yeast and fermentation as a method of carbonating the soda, and it's almost like i could taste the yeast in the initial drink. I didn't think it tasted bad, but my wife didn't seem to like it much. It's definitely different, i'll give it that, but i am not sure i love it. I don't even know if i like it. It wasn't half bad, but i don't crave another one. I will say it was a nice contrast between the bitter and sweet tastes, and being a professional chef perhaps she was going for that. (Man... i am really official sounding. I even impressed myself with that one.)

My official review is that Gales gets 6 (six) IBCs. It's not really what i expected from a famous chef, but i am not all that familiar with Gale Gand and her style of cooking or specialities. Maybe root beer might not be one of them though. And who knows, maybe it is. Either way, her root beer is original and interesting, but it might be appealing to only a specific crowd. I'd say try it if you'd like, but it's probably not what you'd expect in a root beer.