Round Barn Root Beer

We are getting ready to go back to Arizona for the holidays and i know that i won't review a root beer there (most likely), so i wanted to get at least one in the books for this month while i had time. The truth is i am running low on my reserves in my fridge, but i know of a lot more root beers out there right now that i need to get my hands on to review. But anyway, i will keep this one brief as well. You're all probably rather weary of hearing my endless babbling anyway. Round Barn Root Beer is branded by Pops Restaurant on historic Route 66 in Arcadia, OK. I guess the round barn is an iconic/historic landmark there. I'm not really interested in that myself as several times on this blog i have already displayed my lack of enthusiasm for anything Route 66 related. But i get that others are happy about it and long for the days of yesteryear, when the threat of nuclear annihilation was almost certain and were driven by irrational fears like the Red Scare and desegregation. Bunch of dummies if you ask me.

This root beer came in the traditional 12 oz. brown glass bottle and features a picture on the label of the titular round barn that is said to be so iconic to the area. It's a nice label, colorful and vivid. One of the better one's i've seen. I think the restaurant itself has a nicer iconic landmark though. Pictures i've seen remind me a little of a place in Gilbert, AZ called Joe's Farm Grill (a great place to eat). So the fact that they went with a barn for the name of the root beer and picture on the label seems as misguided as those people wandering Route 66 in search of a past era that really doesn't seem all that great to me. Regardless though, i think they did a fine job with the label. 

And as far as the root beer is concerned, i think they did a pretty bang up job with that as well. To be honest, i wasn't expecting much from this one. I've kind of been on a run of mediocre and bad root beers, so i figured this one would be par for the course. But i am afraid that streak as been broken, because we've got ourselves a pretty decent root beer here folks. The first thing i noticed about it after opening it was the strong wintergreen aroma (an automatic plus for me). It has a nice carmel undertone with a moderate wintergreen base and a creamy finish. I like it quite a bit. It's not super original or ground breaking, but it hit a lot of the things i like best in a root beer. It's also sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and has decent carbonation. Really the only thing bad i can say about it is that it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth at the very end. Overall very enjoyable though. 

My official review is that Round Barn Root Beer gets 7 (seven) IBCs. It's a good root beer that kinda crept up on me from out of nowhere. I really wasn't expecting it from this one so it was a nice surprise. I have driven through Oklahoma City before and don't know that i will ever afford myself that opportunity again, but if i find myself out that direction i wouldn't mind checking out Pops and grabbing another one of these. Seems like it could be a pretty cool place. 

Pallino Root Beer

I think i am going to keep this post brief. I am trying to get this done before Walking Dead comes on, and frankly this one is on the lower side of the scale so it's probably not worth much time anyway. I got this either from the Root Beer Store or from my stupid friend Richard, but i wouldn't get it again. Pallino Root Beer doesn't have a lot of info online from what my limited research found. The label isn't much help either. It's part of a line of Pallino Signature Sodas, but most other references to Pallino are for Italian restaurants and the like.
I know pallino as the small ball used in bocce ball games. Someone who speaks Italian once told me it means something like "little ball" or something, but that is unconfirmed. Google translate tells me it means "bullet, cue ball, spot, or shot". It's something to that effect.

This root beer was procured in a traditional 12 oz. brown glass bottle. The label is fairly devoid of information. It barely lists the ingredients in small print around the circumference of the circular area. The image on the front is of two transparent crossed bottle necks. Other than that, it's very plain and straight forward. Typical color scheme, large font, and nothing to speak of really. Pretty lame.

I don't like it. It's watery and nearly flavorless and leaves a really bad taste in your mouth. It's sweetened with cane sugar, but has barely any carbonation and has nothing really discernible about it that would tell you it's root beer. I mean, if doing a blind taste test, i think you could come to the conclusion that it's root beer flavor. But i'm also certain you wouldn't like it. There just isn't anything to it.

My official review is that Pallino Root Beer gets 2 (two) IBCs. It's gross. Don't drink it. I didn't pour it down the drain and actually finished the bottle, but i wouldn't drink another one if it were offered to me. Play bocce cuz thats a fun game. But that's all the association you need with Pallino.

Caruso's Legacy Robusto Root Beer

Happy Halloween everyone. I hope everyone had a nice time this year. And as your special treat, i'm bringing you a root beer that has absolutely nothing to do with Halloween whatsoever. Caruso's Legacy is a small line of sodas distributed out of Redding, CA by WIT Beverages Co. This one came to me by way of the Soda Emporium, a website i use frequently to obtain root beers. The soda recipes are said to have been handed down in the Caruso family in a long tradition of family traditional longness tradition. Family. Tradition. You get the point. Started by a husband and wife (or maybe i am extrapolating that from the term "couple" used on the label), there are four flavors of Italian style sodas as well as a root beer. The root beer in particular was created by "Grandpa Pete". I'm not sure if he is one of the two members of said couple or if it is indeed his portrait featured on the label (more about that later), but i am willing to bet that both of those assumptions can probably be considered absolute fact.

I got this root beer in a traditional 12 oz. brown glass bottle. It has a nice label on it that seems professionally done with typical color schemes. It features a portrait of a man and a woman, the couple alluded to before who started this long family tradition of creating soda recipes and saying to their kids, "pass it down, dummy." 

It's a good looking label to be sure, but an interesting story about this root beer is that i actually purchased it long ago through Soda Emporium and was planning to review it but i dropped and broke the bottle i had then before i could sample it. That bottle had a very different label, still similar in some ways (i.e. the portrait), but take a look at what the "old" label looked like. I think i might like the old one better. A different color scheme on a stout bottle that makes the label pop more. I know this has nothing to do with the taste, but anyone who knows my rating system by now knows the label plays a factor in the scoring. It's gotta grab people, and in my opinion i think the old label does a better job of that. Do you have any thoughts on the topic? Well if you do, keep them to yourself cuz i don't care.

The website for the distributor gives a little more info about the ingredients than the label does, saying it contains pure cane sugar, vanilla, spearmint, and other Italian spices. I can taste the vanilla pretty well, but the spearmint is lost on me. I wouldn't have ever guessed that had i not read it. It does have a certain "spiciness" to it, but it's fairly watered down tasting and ultimately quite tame. Not a bad soda, but i think it lacks the bite of other full bodied root beers. Looks like Grandpa Pete's recipe was watered down during that long traditional handoff throughout the generations.

My official review is that Caruso's Legacy Robusto Root Beer gets 6 (six) IBCs. Definitely not a bad root beer. I dare to even say i like it. Better than a lot of them i've tried for sure. But in the end, it's simply a watered down root beer without much to say. It gets the job done, but it certainly doesn't scratch the surface of greatness. Give it a shot if you'd like. You won't be disappointed. But you probably won't be impressed either. 

Old Town Root Beer 66

Yet another root beer with a name that is so similar in theme to many others that it's hard to differentiate this root beer from like ones when only mentioning the brand. Old Town Root Beer 66 is a root beer that came to me via my friend Richard in California. The Old Town Root Beer shop is near his house out there and he sometimes stops in and finds me things to review. The shop has been around since 2000, and i am assuming they have been brewing and selling their labels of root beer for just as long. This root beer is easy enough to forget on name alone. I think i've reviewed an Old Town Root Beer (brewed by the same company), a Route Beer 66, a Root 66 Beer, and some other ones that are similar in many ways. It's hard to keep them all straight. All i can really pull out from my foggy memory of them is that Root Beer 66 is disgusting. I think i rated it a 1 or a 2. You'll have to go back and check, but for goodness sake please don't drink it. Anyway, this root beer is cashing in on the Route 66 theme, which is something i detest having grown up in a tourist town along Route 66. The place was so littered with Route 66 merchandise that it was laughable, not unlike the scene in this pic. Now the whole road is lined with roadside attractions for small towns to prey upon travelers. Not sure what prompted Old Town to brand a version of their root beer under this name, but here it is in all it's fabulous lack-of-glory. Just a word of advice to anyone in the root beer game... just because "route" and "root" are homonyms doesn't mean people should start interchanging them to sell goods and services. It's stupid, so knock it off. Now if you'll excuse me, i have a dental appointment for a scheduled route canal.

This 12 oz dark brown glass bottle is dressed with a stylish enough label. It's something a little different from the normal themes we usually see. It is structured under the iconic/played out Route 66 road sign graphic with a map of the continental United States showing the path that Route 66 carves all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles across our great country. The map even lists several of the more prominent cities it passes through (my hometown is excluded of course, but nearby Flagstaff made the list). It's weird to think for how long the road is it only inhabits 8 of our 50 states, but most of the states it does cross are some of the larger states in our nation in terms of land mass (Texas and California being among them). Several tag lines are listed on the label as well, such as "Get to the root of Route 66", "The finest root beer on the route", and "Get your sugar fix on Route 66". All of these irritate me, but the last one especially since it's a play on the old trope "Get your kicks on Route 66". I really don't see a need for all these tag lines. Are they just testing them out? Well guess what Old Town, we don't care. Just pick one. It doesn't matter which one cuz they are all terrible. Knock it off (that's twice now i've told you to knock it off).

As angry as the theme of this root beer makes me, i can't say much bad about the taste other than it's pretty standard and nothing special. It's not gross or bad by any means, but lacks a good aftertaste and fades fast. It's sweetened with cane sugar for those of you who care and it has a hint of honey so small that i didn't detect it until i read it on the ingredients and specifically tried to pay attention to tasting it. The carbonation was adequate and the overall experience was something i'm about as eager to revisit as i am my hometown.

My official review is that Old Town Root Beer 66 gets 5 (five) IBCs. This root beer is perfectly average at best. It deserves less praise than i am giving it, but as a fair judge and reviewer of root beers i have no reason to dissuade my readers from trying a refreshing root beer when it's available. It tastes fine. I don't want to kill myself after drinking it. But let's all just please agree that the golden age of the Route 66 is dead and gone. This road should have the same connotations as the Trail of Tears; a shameful embarrassment for our country during a misunderstood time long ago. So let's all just pretend it didn't happen.

Ritz Root Beer

So i had one more generic in my fridge that i needed to get through, and then this is the last one for a while, i promise. Ritz Root Beer is a generic brand from as well as i can tell. I found it at a supermarket here in Florida called Bravo. I think it caters to the Puerto Rican population of Florida. They have some kind of weird stuff in there, including some funky flavors or sodas. I wish i could remember some of them now. I want to say one was ham flavored. I'm sure that's not right, but the flavors available were along those lines. Anyway, i don't have a lot of info about Ritz (the website really wasn't very helpful), but i found this pic
of a really old can of Ritz Root Beer, showing that these guys have either been around a long time or have just very recently upgraded their packaging. It is distributed by Beverage Corporation International out of Miami, FL, and really that's about all the info i have on this one. Sorry... it's just that generic.

Again, i had the option to get this in a 12 pack of cans, but i elected to go with the 3 liter bottle since it was the cheaper option. The label has all the elements of the generic theme to it. It's brown, there is a mug of root beer, and it's fairly plain and straight forward. I don't hate it and it's definitely not the worst label i have seen, but it's not very inspiring either. I kinda had to search to find this one. It didn't just jump out at me like a good label will. But ultimately, i'm not going to hold this one up to high standards. It's simply not top tier stuff.

I wish there was a way to explain the taste besides saying "meh". It doesn't make me want to stab a hobo or smash a kitten, but i can't say it gives me any bad feelings either. Wait... i think that came out wrong. But you get the idea. This stuff is very bland and middle of the road for a root beer. It's sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and leaves a bad aftertaste in your mouth, it's very well carbonated, and it tastes like root beer. Everything about it is just kind of blah. I don't like the aftertaste, but it's nothing i'm unfamiliar with as it is a common side effect of sub par root beers. Other than that, i don't really care one way or the other about it.

My official review is that Ritz Root Beer gets 4 (four) IBCs. It's a very standard generic recipe that can be found by picking up one of many other generic brands. Ultimately i don't care for it and won't be making a trip back to Bravo solely to buy more of this stuff. Now a refreshing glass of ham soda, well... that's another story.

Dougie Dog Butterscotch Root Beer

What?! Two reviews in one month?! I'm on a roll right now. It's been a couple months since i've done more than one review in a month. But i just finished doing a lot of work on my new house, getting it painted and what not, and i figured i would treat myself (and you guys) with a nice refreshing root beer to celebrate. Dougie Dog Butterscotch Root Beer has an interesting story. The founder, a Canadian who calls himself DougieLuv, took a trip across America to research different hot dogs. He made a documentary along the way which he lovingly refers to as a "dogumentary". You clever Canadian you. DougieLuv took his movie and research back up to Vancouver and got a food truck to start serving his creations on the go. The website shows several celebrity endorsements and boasts of the amazing and genuine goodness of these hot dogs. The story sounds like something out of Portlandia, the food truck capital of the world according to imakeupmyownstatistics.com. But to his credit, DougieLuv had the good sense to couple his hot dogs with a crafted root beer. So cheers to you DougieLuv. You've bucked the Canadian tradition of being completely worthless to me. This root beer is one i ordered off either the Soda Emporium or the Root Beer Store. Not really sure which one i got it from and i can't find my cheat sheet (receipt) right now to verify which, so unfortunately i am unsure of which site to give the credit to. However, i fully endorse both sites. They are great. So take your pick of which one you choose to use if you decide to try this root beer out (assuming you don't have access to it locally of course).

This root beer comes in a typical 12 oz. brown glass bottle. The label is plastered with the Dougie Dog logo over a big ROOT BEER text in the background. The label is simple in design, but not cheap or generic looking. It's original, and while doing more to promote the hot dogs than the root beer, it gets the point across. I get it. The guy has to forge his brand, and i've got no problem with that. So i won't fault him for making taking the attention away from the root beer. I just think he's setting a bad example for the youth of America, that's all. What do you have to say to that, CANADIAN?!?!

The thing i left out about the label is probably the key factor regarding the taste. The label prominently displays the fact that this root beer is butterscotch flavored, so it was no surprise when it tasted overwhelmingly of butterscotch disc candies. I mean, there is a base root
beer flavor lingering in there, but it's basically just butterscotch discs.
I think this is the first butterscotch root beer i have reviewed, but it's definitely not a unique twist. I have at least one other root beer in my fridge which is butterscotch flavored and i am sure there are a few (if not several) others out there. I enjoy butterscotch. It was one of my favorite candies as a kid and it was easily my favorite dilly bar flavor. So when you combine it with a root beer flavor, it works out pretty well for me. With the cane sugar, it's a bit sweet. But ultimately, i think it's a well made root beer.

My official review is that Dougie Dog Butterscotch Root Beer gets 6 (six) IBCs. I liked this stuff. it's better than a lot of garbage out there. Maybe one of Canada's "premier" root beers (pun intended). You know i kid you Canada, but it's only cuz i love ya. I wouldn't mind trying out a Dougie Dog if i ever visit Vancouver, which is a place i really would like to visit. And i might as well try the poutine if i travel all that way, cuz i love a good poutine when it's done right. But since i can't promise to do that anytime soon, why don't you all get on up to Vancouver and try out a Dougie Dog for me and give the butterscotch root beer a shot as well.

Brigham's Brew Root Beer

I took a little trip out west this 4th of July weekend and spent some time with my family in Utah and Arizona. While in Salt Lake City i took some time to track down this root beer that i have long known about but was geographically unable to physically obtain. After getting a hot tip on a place that sells this root beer (a little place called Jed's Barber Shop), i talked my brother into driving me down there to pick up a few bottles. It's literally a barber shop and they just happen to sell this root beer. I was kind of expecting an old fashioned candy store and soda fountain shop for some reason. Not sure what i was thinking. Oh... wait.... this is it. But anyway, it's a full blown barber with just a little glass case of refrigerated Brigham's Brew Root Beer for sale. I later found out that i probably didn't need to go to all the trouble to visiting Jed's since this stuff is brewed by the Wasatch Brewery (named after the Wasatch Mountains where all the great ski resorts in SLC are located) and that this stuff is readily available at many locations throughout the valley. The brewery isn't technically in SLC, it's in Park City, but Wasatch Brewery products are stocked in most local grocery stores around the valley (and i may be going out on a limb here, but dare i say throughout the state as well). Three of my brothers live in the SLC area and one of them keeps trying to get me to move there also. I have spent a lot of time up there throughout my life (that's the 3rd time i've said "throughout") and all i can say is that while it's a lovely area and the skiing is terrific, it's really not somewhere i see myself residing. While it's full of friendly people and charming scenery, there are enough things about it that i just don't care for. And for those reasons, SLC will always only be a nice place i sometimes visit.

It's a classic brown glass 12 oz bottle with big picture of the founder of the city of Salt Lake, the state of Utah, and leader of the Mormon migration across the Great Plains, Brigham Young. His iconic picture is pasted on this root beer either satirically or as an homage. I can't decide which. I think if it were a true alcoholic beer, it would be satirical since Mormons preach abstinence from alcohol. But since it's a well known fact that Mormons love root beer, i think i prefer to consider it an homage. Either way, the bottling is stellar. I'm a fan of portraits on root beers, all except for Henry Weinhard's pathetic attempt. Seriously man, you just look desperate.

The one thing that everyone going into this can be rested assure of is that Mormons know what good root beer is, and this my friends is a really good root beer. It's been a while since i've had one i've liked as much as this. First off, it's heavy on the wintergreen, which is a personal favorite of mine. It also has a nice vanilla finish on it which gives a good creamy aftertaste. And for those of you who care, it's sweetened with pure cane sugar. Personally, i think whatever they are doing is working very well. I just wish i didn't live so far away from it now.

My official review is that Brigham's Brew gets 8 (eight) IBCs. It's been quite some time since i've seen one of this caliber. The Wasatch Brewery cooked up a gem with this one. Still, there is some room for improvement. But i mean, 8 is nothing to snub at. Go out and try this stuff guys, seriously. There aren't many around better than this.