Triple XXX Root Beer

This is another root beer with a family restaurant background, which i am finding is a popular way to start making root beer. Triple XXX Bottling Company was started in 1895 in Galveston, TX. It's been around for a long time and has seen a lot of action. Not necessarily the kind of action you might find in the terrible Vin Diesel movie Triple XXX, but action none the less. For those of you not too familiar with the geography of Texas, Galveston is located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. This means it is susceptible to hurricanes and tropical storms. One interesting note i pulled off their site was that the company basically made themselves a hurricane-proof fortress in which to brew and bottle beverages. Well, maybe it was just a wall, but i like to think of it as a fortress. Anyway, after a number of set backs in Galveston with the hurricanes and Prohibition and what not, Triple XXX eventually was purchased by Dr. Pepper and production was moved to Houston, TX where they are currently headquartered. It's not all that far from Galveston though, so i am sure they maintain operations in Galveston.

The typical 12 oz. bottle is adorned with a simple, yet bold label of brown, metallic red, and yellow. I like the simplicity of it. Not much going on, but it doesn't really need it. It caught my eye in the store. Then again, i seek these things out, so maybe that's a bit slanted. Another point of interest was that on the website it mentioned that despite the demand for retail bottles, Triple XXX is only available through restaurants and food outlets as a fountain drink right now. Perhaps this has recently changed, and i'm glad it did.

The tag line on the bottle says, "tastes like root beer used to taste". Recently it seems like i am less kind to the "old time" root beers, because they just over complicate things with the flavors and ingredients and being all natural and all that garbage. But i was pleasantly surprised by this root beer. It's quite good and has a simple and straight forward taste. To be completely honest, i think it basically taste's exactly like Stewart's, and that's not a bad thing. I like Stewart's, ergo, i like Triple XXX. It has that great, classic root beer taste with a smooth carmel finish. It was a pleasure to drink and it complimented my meal (a plate of homemade nachos, which is a staple in my diet) quite nicely.

My official review is that Triple XXX gets 7 (seven) IBCs. It's a lot less easy to find than Stewart's is, but i think i might try and drink them side by side to try and distinguish between them. Maybe like a blind taste test. Come to think of it, that might be interesting to do with all the root beers i have tried thus far. Hmm...

Sorry, i got side tracked there. Anyway, it's a good one and i recommend it if you can find it.