Whistler Classic Sodas Lemon Root Beer

Sam's Club. A membership store full of good deals, items sold in bulk, and ornery customers. My wife and i took our kids with some of their neighborhood friends to Sam's Club recently to get some ice cream. Just a little treat as we are heading into Fall Break. The cafe at Sam's Club offers some good deals on some not great food. I concede Costco is much much better in regards to the food offerings they serve at the cafe, but we don't have a Costco membership. We have Sam's Club, with it's inferior pizza but decent hot dogs. And because the food is so affordable from the cafe, the lines are always so so long. The day we went recently was no exception. There were a lot of people waiting for their food and the staff at the cafe was visibly busy working behind the counter to fill all the orders. One customer in particular was very vocal about his discontent regarding the situation. He continually harassed the employees, asking where his order was even though he was clearly standing behind multiple other people who simply stood quietly and waited for their food. The staff told him they were doing the best they could and they would get his order out once they finished all the orders before him. But that wasn't good enough. He just wouldn't let it drop. That's when my wife spoke up. This isn't common for her to do, so i was surprised by it, but she simply told the guy they were doing the best they could and that he didn't need to talk to them like that. For the record, i was and am completely on the side of my wife and she was handling the situation differently than i would have. I would have just ignored the guy, but she chose to engage him and was telling it straight. She didn't need any help from me, so I sat back and paid attention to the conversation. The guy kept getting heated as they argued but my wife remained calm and kept assuring him they are doing their best and it's not like they are sitting in the back smoking or not working, they were clearly all hands on deck at this point. 

"Then they need more people," the guy exclaimed. "They should go get more help." 

"What do you want them to do about that? They are all working", my wife replied.

"Then do you want to go back there and help them?" the guy asked snidely. 

"No, but if you're that worried about it maybe you can go talk to a manager and get them some help, but i think you should just leave them alone cuz they are working."

Then the guy throws a, "that's cuz you're an idiot" at my wife. 

I had been patiently sitting and listening to this exchange waiting for this, the moment it escalated when i would be forced to say something. "Hey, easy guy." That's all i said. I was previously invisible to him as he was focused on arguing with this woman in line. But when the guy made eye contact with me i saw the realization wash over his face that the woman he was talking to at that point was my wife. He then turned around and didn't say another word. Now, i'm a classic weakling and a coward with no skills when it comes to physical confrontation, which is why i wouldn't have engaged this guy at all. And i don't consider myself a threatening presence in the least, but i was a good foot taller, probably 50-60 pounds heavier and at least 10 years younger than this guy. But more than our physical differences, what this guys actions said to me is that this guy is comfortable throwing his weight around when talking to a 100 pound woman but wouldn't say those kinds of things to another man. A true coward.

Just at that moment the guy's wife walks up to catch the tail end of this standoff. She doesn't say anything to us and goes up to her husband and they quietly talk to one another. Soon after their ice creams arrive and they collect them and walk past us. As they do, i look away trying to avoid further confrontation. My wife looks at them and smiles. And i didn't see it, but my wife says, "oh, don't roll your eyes at me," to the wife of this guy. She is much bigger than my wife (and her husband for that fact) and she squares up to my wife and shouts, "F*** you, Karen!" She and my wife exchange a couple more words and her husband mutters, "let's just go," and they both saunter off. This is the end of that whole confrontation, but it's one of those ones where you sit and think about it for hours afterward. What i would have said had i thought of it in the moment is that lady is 100% using that term wrong. SHE is calling MY WIFE a Karen? SHE'S the one who has the husband complaining because Sam's Club isn't making his $1.60 ice cream fast enough. I'm convince she has that 180 degrees flipped. What did my wife wish she said? "You're just mad because your husband can't pick you up." A bit of a low blow, but given the abuse she endured i would have allowed it. However, I told her if she would have said that this lady would have charged her, and i'm not sure i could have pulled her off. Anyway, i guess the moral of this story is don't be mean to people unless they deserve it. 

Sorry for my pointless meandering story there but i was looking for a way to pad this review. This is another root beer sent to me by my friend in Minnesota. Whistler Classic Sodas are made in Spring Lake Park, MN and distributed by Blue Sun Bottling. One of the flavors they offer is a Lemon Root Beer. I found a Facebook page for the company because the website listed on the bottle led me to this site which says the domain is for sale (and not really a bargain if you ask me). I personally don't care to traffic much on Facebook and don't have a profile on that platform, but it looks like a fun little operation. The 12 oz clear glass bottle has a fun shape to it, all twisty and stuff (like that guy's ice cream from Sam's Club) but the label is pretty sad.

The Whistler logo is on the bottle... and that's about it. The defunct website is listed near the bottom of the bottle and on the back is a barcode and some info about the bottling company. That's all. The only way to tell this is root beer is by looking at the cap to see a poorly printed and lazily placed sticker with the flavor and very difficult to make out ingredients listed. This was not impressive to me in the least. I like the logo but from the slap-dash nature of this i thought someone threw some root beer in a random recycled bottle. I will say though that the piss poor labeling does not match the caliber of the taste of this soda. This is a good tasting soda. It's very sweet with a pervasive lemon backbone to the flavor. The carbonation is good and it has a nice, sweet finish. I think my main criticism of it is similar to the last root beer i reviewed; i would not call this a root beer. The flavor of this doesn't remotely resemble that of a classic or even rudimentary root beer. It tastes like a candy or a dessert. Again, it's good, but it ain't root beer. 

My official review is that Whistler Classic Sodas Lemon Root Beer gets 6 (six) IBCs. I really did enjoy this soda, which was refreshing considering i expected to hate it. But i deliberately called it a "soda" and not a "root beer". It's just not even in the same category. Had it even a hint of root beer essence to it i would have rated it a 7 or an 8, cuz this is a good soda. I'd be eager to try some of the other flavors in their selection. However, i am gonna be firm on this account. If you're going to call it root beer it needs to taste at least somewhat like root beer.