HEB "Old Fashioned" Root Beer

Ok, so i know i just reviewed this generic brand, but it turns out there are two official versions of this generic. And while they are both in fact called HEB "Old Fashioned" Root Beer, the difference is that this one is made with cane sugar. So i am just using the "Old Fashioned" title on this one to distinguish it from the other one. If you haven't read my post on HEB, i'll just fill you in on a few basics (since this won't be much different from the other one). HEB is the name of a grocery store based in Texas and is an acronym for "Here Everything's Better". I picked this one up in Houston on a road trip with my friend Richard. Here is the website.

I enjoy the label on this can better than i did on the bottle of regular HEB. That label just seemed so much more... generic. The same color scheme is used, but this one features a nice root beer bottle cap (something i am a small collector of) with the name of the root beer printed in old timey font. It's much more aesthetically pleasing than the 2 liter label.

I know i am rushing through this, but i feel like it's just a repeat of my last post (which was also very short and bland). I will say that as far as taste is concerned though, i enjoy this one more than the root beer with high fructose corn syrup. I think it has more of an original flavor, in so much as it is not a blatant rip off of A&W. It has a good root beer core with a nice vanilla finish. My wife says she likes the other one better. Either way, they are both good, and to be fair, i only moderately enjoy this one better. No big sweeping difference though.

My official review is that HEB Old Fashioned gets 7 (seven) IBCs. While i do like it more, it's not by much. And while this is an enjoyable root beer, it's definitely not an 8 IBC root beer. Therefore i can rate it no higher or lower than the HEB root beer containing high fructose corn syrup. However, given the choice on the spot, i would choose this one.

H-E-B Root Beer

This is another root beer i picked up on my last cross country trek with my friend Richard. We passed through Texas and in Houston we stopped at a grocery store to look for root beers. This is one of the ones we found. I don't have a website for the root beer, but store is called H-E-B (an acronym for "Here Everything's Better") and this is the website for the store. The label says this is bottled in San Antonio, but i don't know how long it has been around or anything. Not really important though. This is just another stop on the generic root beer assembly line so i can't expect to find out a lot of the details about it. I doubt much thought went into crafting this beverage in the first place.

I chose to pick this up in a 2-liter bottle since it was the cheapest option. The label is pretty standard for a generic root beer. Same tired bland format, repetative color scheme, and lack of imagination i've come to expect from a store brand. Pretty unremarkable really.

For as much as it sounds like i am getting down on this one, i have to say it tastes pretty dang good. And that's because it's another exact copy of A&W. I've said it before plenty of times, and this one just proves the point: if you're going to make a generic soda that you just want to make money on, you might as well copy the flavor of a popular and winning formula. H-E-B does this with incredible authenticity. My wife now feels as though A&W is just a whore, giving it's recipe to any willing buyer. Personally, i don't really care.

My official review is that H-E-B gets 7 (seven) IBCs. I realize this review is short, but really, i don't have much to say about this one. I think with root beers like this, you basically just want to know if it's good or not. And it is, so i will give it the same score as i gave A&W (cuz they taste the same). So there you have it. It's cheap, it's good, and it's in Texas. The end.

Shine Classic Root Beer

There is a line of grocery stores here called Fresh & Easy, which coincidentally is what i occasionally call my wife. It's a chain of smaller grocery stores that are supposedly more personal and sell local produce and what not, or something to that extent. Personally, i don't do much shopping there. I went in once and wasn't too impressed with the particular store i visited, but i have been to other ones which were nicer. Anyway, that's not really the point of this post. The point is that i ventured in one day to pick up some ice cream because it was on the way to another engagement and i stumbled upon their generic store brand in a happy accident. Well, maybe not happy. Not sad, but... just kind of middle ground i suppose. It's called Shine Classic Root Beer, a brand i had never heard of previously, and true to it's generic nature it comes in basically every flavor in the soda spectrum. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) i never found a website for it. It's that lame of a product i suppose. But whatever. It just means i have no extensive details on the origin or distribution of this beverage. I see on the label that it is bottled by Cott Beverages out of Tampa, FL. But truthfully, it probably doesn't matter cuz this stuff really isn't worth going out of the way for. Oh no, did i give it away too early?

I chose to pick up a 2 liter bottle instead of a 12 pack of cans. It embodies the generic root beer mantra down to the label style. Brown and silver design, some bubbles, and kind of a new age font, though this stuff is anything but cutting edge. It lacks a lot of imagination and if i weren't meticulously scouring the root beer section of every store i go in this one probably wouldn't have grabbed my attention.

I had a reasonable expectation for this one when i opened the bottle. The release of carbonation allowed a familiar A&W aroma to permeate the air and i was thinking i would be treated to another decent knock off of a true classic. However, i got much less than i bargained for. It honestly tastes like nothing. Not root beer, not soda, not anything. It's almost like drinking water, except not refreshing. It really does smell good, and i must admit there is a split second of remote root beer flavor right as it hits your tongue, but that fades so quickly that it almost doesn't register. Ultimately, i am left feeling cheated and bored. And i still have 2 liters of this crap to finish off.

My official review is that Shine Classic gets 3 (three) IBCs. Maybe i am being a bit harsh on this one. My wife seems to think so. But i really disappointed by it. So i couldn't in good conscience cut it any slack. Plus, it left a really bad taste in my mouth (also typical of generic brand). Yeah it's cheap, but don't waste the time or money. This one is simple not "woth it". (spelled wrong intentionally)

Ward's Root Beer

Hello root beer enthusiasts... i know it has been a couple months since i have posted and for that i apologize, but the good news is i just took a cross country trip with a friend and rounded up several more root beers to go through. Not promising a high volume of posts, but hopefully i will have less breaks in between. Anyway, we planned our trip so that we would pass along the southern united states from North Carolina to Arizona. Unfortunately we only made it as far as Baton Rouge, LA before Richard's car broke down and i had to catch an early flight home for work and school. BUT!... luckily we did pass through Mississippi before that, and that is where today's root beer hails from. Ward's is a chain of fast food restaurants in Mississippi. I heard about Ward's a few years ago from one of my friend's little sisters. She had married a guy from Mississippi and they knew i was doing this blog and told me i had to try the root beer there. He was emphatic that it was fantastic, but I figured i would probably never get a chance to get down there since i had no reason to go to Mississippi. Then my friend Richard moved across country and asked me if i'd help him drive, so i told him as long as i could plan out the route i was up for it.

Talking about the Ward's restaurant we visited in Gulfport, MS i can't say much. It was really small and typical of a fast food restaurant in structure and arrangement. We were there at 7:00 in the morning, but they served their entire menu all day. So naturally, Richard got the deep fried shrimp plate and i got a burger and fries. The fries were decent, but the burger was super bland. We didn't expect much though. Most of the reviews we read about the place said the food was not good (and they were right).

We both got drinks with our meal and helped ourself to the root beer that was so highly recommended. Normally this is the part of the blog where i talk about the bottle or can and the label, but this was just in a fast food fountain cup (not sure the volume in liquid oz.) and the label is the dumb Ward's logo on the cup in red and yellow. A triangle, some writing, you get the point. No big deal and nothing to get all excited about. i photoshopped the "root beer" onto the cup in the picture above just to make sure everyone knew what i was drinking. Also for me in case i forget. I sometimes do that.

Does Ward's live up to the hype of one guy i met a few years ago that is married to my friend's sister? Not really. It's not a bad taste, but i'm not a fan. I think i can nail it dead on by saying it tastes like syrup. Not like soda fountain syrup you mix with carbonated water to make soda, like syrup you put on your pancakes. Like maple syrup. It tastes exactly like a pancake. And it is SWEET. Too sweet. Way way too sweet. Now, i don't mind pancakes. I prefer waffles, but in both cases i use a generous amount of syrup. However, what i don't do is drink syrup directly from the bottle, which is basically what drinking this root beer was like. It was so rich and sweet that neither Richard or I could finish our cups and poured them out  about a third the way through to get something else a little less... diabetes inducing.

My official review is that Ward's gets 4 (four) IBCs. Like i said above, just way too sweet. Not a fan. It's not that it tasted bad, but i couldn't even finish the cup, and for that i couldn't even bring myself to give it a 5. I don't know how you would make this better (or even bearable). Maybe thicken it up and pour it on some pancakes? No, that would be ridiculous. Everyone knows waffles are better.

Surf City Root Beer

I wanted to review this one now for a couple reasons... one, it's been sitting in my fridge for well over a year now. Two, i feel like i have been phoning it in with boring reviews lately cuz i have nothing to say about the root beers i have reviewed lately, but this one comes from a really cool place i will talk about shortly. And three, my wife was supposed to bear our first child two days ago. Sadly, he's turtling and refuses to come out, making my wife increasingly miserable as he's just getting bigger the longer he stays in there. I swear we're going to have to pull him out by his feet while he maintains his kung fu grip on my wife's uterus and fights leaving his now cramped confinement. So what does that have to do with this root beer? Well although it's called Surf City, it is made at a place in Huntington Beach, CA called Brewbakers, and to me, that sounds like Babymakers. It's a stretch, i know, but sometimes my writings are desperate for clever, even poor showings like this one. Anyway, Brewbakers is a cool little spot in Huntington. I learned that they had their own root beer and thought it was a restaurant, but when my wife and i went there with some friends of ours last summer we found that it really wasn't geared toward being a restaurant. They did serve some food items (bread, pizza, pretzels and the like), but what draws customers there is the opportunity to individually brew their own little batches of beer (or root beer) using ingredients and recipes on hand. It was a really neat idea, and had we known we would have booked the time to actually make some Surf City ourselves. I have posted some pictures of the inside of the place, which is quite small but very neat.

There is basically just a long table in the middle of the room right when you walk in with a lot of bowls and weights and measures on it. Below the table are cabinets with large bins of ingredients; grains, flour, sugar, etc.

Along the right wall are several small kilns. Not sure if that's what they call them, but it's where the batches are brewed. To the left of of the counter is the cash register and bottles of different brews for sale. I would totally book the time to brew my own batch next time i'm in Huntington cuz it looks like a fun little evening activity to do with friends. As you can see from the pictures, it was pretty packed for how small the place is. Needless to say, this place is pretty popular.

The bottles are dark brown 12 oz. glass with no labels. The label you seen the one in the picture at the top is another one of my hack photoshop jobs. We bought two 3-packs because there were 4 of us and they don't specifically have 6-packs. Regardless, we got what we came for. They do other flavors as well, including a sarsaparilla, but i don't review those even though we did drink a couple. As far as the label i put on there, it's the logo of the soda line they create at Brewbakers. However, the other cool thing about the place is that you can actually design your own labels that go on your brewed batch. So if you decide not to go by a recipe on hand and make your own concoction and want to bottle and label it afterward, they are all set up to allow you to do that. Pretty cool set up. We were impressed.

As far as the taste goes, it's pretty good. It has a really nice aroma when you open the bottle, not much carbonation (although it HAS been sitting in my fridge for a year and i'm not sure the seal on the bottle kept it all in), and it doesn't taste like a cheap generic or a natural brand or anything. It's made with real sugar and is fairly sweet, and i can taste the anise which i don't normally care for but don't mind in this case. It's not an overwhelmingly obvious root beer taste, but it definitely works. By no means bad, and i think had i brewed it myself i would have enjoyed it that much more.

My official review is that Surf City gets 7 (seven) IBCs. I'm not particularly blown away with the taste. It's good, but not outstanding. But i must say most of my rating is applied toward the unique nature of the endeavor and the fact that is can be customizable and changed with each batch based on the taste preferences of the one making it. If you're ever in Huntington, look this place up. I'll definitely book some brew time next time i'm there.

Harris Teeter Root Beer

Here's a root beer from the east coast, brought to me by a friend of mine currently residing in North Carolina. Harris Teeter is a grocery store chain in the south east United States, and this is their brand name root beer. There is no site specifically dedicated to the root beer, but here is the website for the grocery store (if any of you really care). I don't really have much to say about this root beer's origins and beginnings, so maybe i will talk about my friend in NC instead. He's a dentist with the navy right now and keeps asking us to fly out there and visit, but we simply reply that for the same price we could fly to Hawaii and stay with my wife's cousin. So basically, he now has to sell us on the idea that NC is better than Hawaii. Granted, i've already been to Hawaii and have never visited NC, but it's still kind of a hard sell. And since he's already scoured the area over there for root beers to send me, that avenue has been closed off. Sorry Richard. Looks like we're gonna save our money. But you're more than welcome to come visit us if you'd like. Except you can't stay with us. We don't have room for you.

This root beer was brought to me in a 12 oz. can, but i am betting you can probably get it in a 2 liter bottle if that's what you prefer. The label is pretty typical for a generic brand; brown color scheme, simple design, lots of bubbles. It has kind of a cartoon quality to it, with pretty below average sketches of root beer mugs. But again, i can't fault them too much for lack of good design since the objective of a generic brand is to make a product as cheaply as possible.

As far as taste is concerned, i again don't have much to say. I'm at the point where i've tasted enough root beers to make it hard to pick out what makes one distinguishable from another unless it's obvious. But as is standard of generics, it tastes like this root beer is copying A&W. Good carbonation, standard taste, typically generic. It's probably really inexpensive though.

My official review is that Harris Teeter gets 5 (five) IBCs. Even though it tastes good, it's so unoriginal that i can't in good conscience give it anything higher than a 5. And again, i don't have much else to say, so i think i'll just leave it at that. 

BJ's Handcrafted Root Beer

I should have written this review a while ago when i went to dinner with my wife and some friends of ours. BJ's is a restaurant and brewery which brews its own beers. It's a franchise, so there are several of them around, and there is a large dining area as well as a sports bar area for people just looking to try their brews.  It was started in California in 1978, but the food and atmosphere seems to have a Chicago influence (i was probably tipped off by the fact that the BJ's logo says "Chicago style pizza" at the top of it, although i am still keenly observant without that little bit of help). It's not terribly expensive and i think everyone in our group that night really enjoyed their meals. But ultimately, i'm here to talk about the root beer. So let's get to it, shall we?

The root beer was served in a large glass mug, as seen in the picture. Please note, i have taken to editing pictures of root beer where no logo is present to include a logo. This is the case for the picture in this post. I don't know the dimensions of the glass, but i was free refills, so that's kind of irrelevant since once you commit to having root beer with your meal, you swim in it for all the restaurant cares. I like the whole root-beer-in-a-mug experience, but my only complaint is that it wasn't a frosty mug. A minor pleasure i concede, but i like seeing the frost on the mug when it's delivered and all the fun and excitement that accompanies that experience. I believe A&W drive-ins do the frosty mug, but it's been a while since i've been to one. All i will say is that any place that serves root beer in a mug that isn't frosty should reconsider their business model. Put the fact that it's in a frosty mug on the menu and i guarantee sales will increase exponentially (*note* all guarantees expressed in this blog are opinion based only and cannot be relied upon for future business projections whatsoever). I won't comment on the BJ's logo except to say it's fine just fine. It's technically the logo for the restaurant anyway, not the root beer, and what do i care about restaurant logos, right?

So is this handcrafted root beer worth the $2.95 you'll be paying for a bottomless mug of it? I would say go ahead and get it. I don't know that the root beer alone is good enough to draw me to the restaurant, but it is very good, and the food is great too so you really can't lose. It could have used a little more carbonation, but other than that i was impressed with what the BJ's crew could throw together. It was sweet, creamy, and had a good vanilla and root beer flavor to it. My guess is that putting ice cream in it would be an excellent decision. I don't know that the root beer had as much of a Chicago influence as the food and atmosphere, but the only other Chicago style root beer i can compare it to is Goose Island, which was also very enjoyable. Oh, and i guess Berghoff also, but i find this stuff much better than Berghoff. Ultimately though, i think Chicago may be on to something with the way the citizens craft root beer.

My official review is that BJ's gets 7 (seven) IBCs. I was impressed with it. Add a touch more carbonation and put it in a frosty mug and i think you've got a real winner there. There are a few BJ's locations here in the Valley of the Sun and several littered around California i know, but you'll have to check out their website to see if there is a BJ's near you. If so, take and evening and go enjoy some good food with some good root beer. I don't think you'll be disappointed.