Saturday, June 17, 2023

Jimi's Hey Joe Root Beer

I don’t know if I mentioned this already but my wife and I invented a national holiday called Ice Cream’s Birthday. I have no idea when ice cream was really invented, and I doubt the internet does either which is why I refuse to Google it. We choose to celebrate the birth of Ice Cream on June 17th every year, kinda like how Jesus wasn’t really born on Christmas. And wouldn’t you know it, that means Ice Cream’s Birthday is… TODAY! We just figured it should be during the summer time, which is peak ice cream season, and this arbitrary date holds a bit of personal significance to me that is completely un-ice cream related. It’s something we came up with 20 years ago this year when we were just friends and before we ever dated. We were hanging out at night in a park eating some ice cream and the conversation led us to creating this holiday that is now celebrated annually by a very small group of people. But I’m hoping to make it catch on, so please spread the word (all 4 of you that read this blog). This year we are going to a new ice cream shop that we haven’t been to before. That’s one of the more popular ways we have done this in the past, but I’ve also celebrated by bringing ice cream sandwiches to work and handing them out to people in an attempt to get this thing to catch on. And in case I need to say out loud what everyone already knows, it hasn’t. I’m not affiliated with any ice cream stores and I’m not plugging or shilling for anyone’s personal business. I’m not interested in being compensated or even recognized for creating this glorious holiday, I just want it to be celebrated. I’m just saying go eat some ice cream on June 17th, people. 

Now, another completely un-ice cream related topic, Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix is considered one of the greatest (if not the greatest) guitar players of all time. His career was cut short when he overdosed at the age of 27. Still, his music is celebrated world wide and he definitely left his mark with his iconic appearances at huge music festivals like Woodstock. Still, for me he was only a passing casual listen. My best friend growing up was obsessed with Hendrix so i've definitely had exposure to most of his catalogue of songs, but even now i don't ever just throw on some Hendrix while I'm driving or working or what have you. 

So what does he have to do with root beer? Nothing, as far as i'm aware. This is another cheap exploitation of a famous person to sell sub-par root beer by the candy store we've all come to know and love; Rocket Fizz. They probably put the same generic root beer into the same bottles as all the other ones and then allocate which ones get which labels. Nothing about this root beer distinguishes it from any other run of the mill average basic root beer. It is flavored with cane sugar and has a thin, weak, watery root beer base flavor laced with a light carbonation. It also leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Truly a terrible root beer to disgrace this man's legacy. I say boo to you Rocket Fizz for this one. I'm about to review a KISS root beer that likely tastes identical to this but still seems more rightly fit for such a mediocre beverage.


My official review is the Jimi's Hey Joe Root Beer gets 4 (four) IBCs. I toyed with giving this a 3 because of how insulting it is to use Jimi's name on this, but on it's merits it's still not an absolutely garbage root beer. It's bad, but i've had worse. And do not be surprised at all when i review the KISS root beer and give it the same rating because i'm fairly certain it's the same liquid in both bottles. 

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