Hosmer Mountain Sarsaparilla Root Beer

On a recent visit to Bear Lake, ID for a family reunion i was formally introduced to a game from my wife's childhood called Loopin' Louie. I say formally introduced because i've heard about this game incessantly whilst never having played it on account that the childhood set belonging to my wife's family lay in a tattered box under my bed for the majority of my marriage, filled with half missing/half broken parts. It was, needless to say, useless, and as such, trash. In fact, that is where my wife rescued it from soon after we were married and she discovered that her father had thrown it out. Unrelated, my wife really likes that show Hoarders. She's seen 'em all...

Anyway, it was significant to her because it was a game she played with her now deceased grandfather with whom she had a very loving and close relationship. So i understand that. What i have a harder time understanding is the lore of the game Loopin' Louie itself. For the uninformed, Louie is a middle-aged pilot who is vaguely Germanic looking and flies an old WWI/WWII era prop-plane, and for whatever reason he really really hates chickens. Oh and also, just an aside, when the game is assembled it slightly resembles a swastika. It's a 4 player game of which the object is to protect your chickens from Louie as he blindly follows his innate instinct to fly his plane directly toward them to presumably murder them. Each player is outfitted with a different colored paddle to bump Louie's plane up and over the chicken coop to prevent a grisly death when the chickens met the business end of a propeller. Some members of my wife's family assert that the color of the paddle makes the difference. Several are in the camp of "red always wins", and indeed the winner of the family tournament was using the red paddle to claim victory. But i contested that there was no way red has an advantage. Everyone had the same opportunities and limitations because the game is pretty simplistic at the core. Yes, the only hope we had was to nudge Louie out of the way on his murderous tirade and hopefully guide him toward our opponents, inwardly hoping the death of their chickens will satiate his bloodlust for at least a few moments. But it never will... It never ever will... Louie just loops around and around to tag each chicken coop again and again. He just loops. He loops and he loops. He's Loopin' Louie. And he won't rest until every chicken is dead. Every... last... one. 
While the question of Louie's motive quickly jumps to mind and whose answer is still a mystery, i found a more interesting line of inquiry when my brother-in-law posited the question of what role we the players had in this debauchery. Were we farmers trying to protect our flocks from an insane pilot in the early stages of dementia? Were we the chickens fearing for our own lives and narrowly escaping (and sometimes not) the stinging blades of death raining down from the heavens above? But the answer, i told my brother-in-law, is so much simpler than that. You see, we're the paddles. We don't control the paddles, we ARE the paddles. It's plain to see. It doesn't matter what color you are because Louie only sees one color. Red. Not the red paddle, the color of blood. And once you realize that, only then can you truly understand Loopin' Louie. 

Like my wife with this game, i have a long and sordid relationship with the root beer. I wouldn't call this my white whale but it's been on my most wanted list for sure. I can't remember when i first even heard of this root beer but it's been at least 5 or 6 years. That makes it sound like this is some legendary root beer of yore, and i don't intend to ascribe it that. I simply mean that this is one that i have heard of but i have found difficult to find through my regular channels. Hosmer Mountain Sarsaparilla Root Beer is brewed and bottled in Willimantic, CT. This is one of an extensive line of sodas crafted by the folks at Hosmer Mountain Springs Bottling Co. The company has a long history in the area and began making sodas in 1948. It started as a family business and i think it is still run by the sons of the guy who started it. I will give them credit for longevity and adapting the business as the times dictated. And i know i'm late to the game with this one and all, but they point to a specific root beer review for confirmation of their standing within the industry, and i just gotta say... come on... we all have the same credibility here. This is just a vanity project. No one takes these things seriously, but if they did then this is really the only review that should affect the layout of your website, that's all i'm saying. 

The shape of the glass bottle is fun, it's a little different, dare i say elegant even. I like the old school paper and glue label, sticking to the old ways of doing things. The clear glass gives me a good look at how pale looking this root beer appears, though it may be no different than others. When i cracked the cap i got very little aroma and most of the carbonation escaped leaving this on the more flat side of the beverage. Not my favorite thing, but it does well to make up with the taste. This soda is sweetened with both white and brown sugar and flavored with a sarsaparilla extract. The label calls this a sarsaparilla root beer but they also offer a sarsaparilla flavored soda in their line. I wonder if any distinction is made other than the name or if they simply are identical in taste and only differ in the marketing. Regardless though, that's a good classic flavor for root beer. It feels a little thin, but still has a refreshing finish to it. I would say that by any reasonable standard this is a solid root beer. 

My official review is that Hosmer Mountain Sarsaparilla Root Beer gets 7 (seven) IBCs. This is a close contender for a score of 8, but i think it just lacks the little something to nudge it over the edge. Solid showing though, really showcasing the abilities of the Hosmer Mountain Bottling Co. I'd be very interested to try more or their 30 flavors of beverages. And perhaps if Louie had refreshed himself with a cold Hosmer Mountain beverage it may have finally abated the carnage he is destined to unfold upon all chicken-kind.

But it never will. It never ever will. Cuz Louie? Well... he's just gonna keep loopin'.