Yacht Club Root Beer

I'll be honest... i have no idea where i got this root beer. It's been in my fridge for so long i really can't recall where it came from. Probably the Root Beer Store. Regardless, today i am reviewing Yacht Club Root Beer. Yacht Club comes to us from Centerdale, RI and has been around since 1915 with a varied line of flavored sodas, making it one of the oldest root beers i have reviewed. They don't have much of a website despite having what appears to be a very active twitter account, but i was able to get that the company is big on being green and recycling, so much so that the state legislature named Yacht Club "The Official Soda of Rhode Island". They have run a bottle return program for a long time where you could get a credit for your returned bottles. They then clean and reuse the glass bottles. According to the site the program was being suspended while the bottle washer was getting refurbished. No word as to whether or not it is back up and running of not. But i don't live in Rhode Island so this has little to no impact on me. However, kudos for the green effort. I think anything you can do is valuable, especially if it has a practical effect like this. On the other hand, this bottle i drank from has had countless other mouths touch it, which is a little unsettling.

The other bit of info i got from the website is that Yacht Club only sells their beverages in glass bottles and no other containers. This bottle is a 12 oz. clear glass bottle and it's not what i would call a "stubby bottle", but it is a little shorter and different shaped than a typical bottle. The label is fantastic. In the background it shows an image of a very colorful and pristine shoreline as viewed from the ocean with the big Yacht Club logo and the Official RI Soda seal up front. The brown background for the logo (the upside down triangle) changes color per label based on the flavor of the soda, and sometimes the logo color will change as well presumably as to not clash with the backing. Overall i think the label is top notch. I dig it a lot.

The website also mentions the importance of good ingredients like pure cane sugar for the integrity of the soda, even if it ends up costing more. So i appreciate that they want to make sure they are making soda the right way. Unfortunately in this case it doesn't really translate into a superior soda. It's not bad, it's merely fine. Some may say unremarkable. My 6-year-old son says it just tastes like regular root beer, which i can't really refute. It really doesn't stand out in any way. The only other thing i would say is that it leaves a bad taste afterward, which is not much of an endorsement either. But it's by no means bad. In fact, i'd go as far as to say it's rather good. But good is the enemy of great, just like a treadmill is the enemy of my wife. She's more of a couch kinda gal.

My official review is that Yacht Club Root Beer gets 6 (six) IBCs. It's simply just ok. I like the label. I like that they promote and encourage recycling. I like that they use premium ingredients. But i'm only sort of impressed with the drink itself. So... yeah. Not sure what else to say. The end.