Bedford's Root Beer

This is another root beer i ordered from the Soda Emporium. Bedford's Root Beer comes from Port Angeles, WA and has been around since 1984. I know this because it says so right on the label. The root beer is currently distributed through Orca Beverages, same as Red Arrow Root Beer. Little else is known by me about this root beer, but the name Bedford's is a little generic. There are tons of things that come up in Google when you enter Bedford's... a roofing service, a town in England, several inns/motels in various locations, and even some weird oceanic creature called a flatworm, which is just one more reason i hate everything in the ocean. But finding more info on the root beer named Bedford's was more difficult for me than all these other (un)interesting topics sharing the same name. For the most part though, i got what i wanted straight from the bottle.

This root beer comes in a classic (i've taken to calling it classic now, cuz i'm fancy) 12 oz amber glass bottle. The label isn't over the top amazing, but it is eye-catching. The big letter B in the center swirled in what appear to be some kind of vines or something draws your attention away from the fact that this is probably the only root beer i've seen where the name "Bedford's" is actually below the words "Root Beer". So reading in the traditional Western practice of left to right, top to bottom, it reads Root Beer Bedford's. A little clunky for my liking, but it's all about what you're used to i suppose. For example, here in America we would call the longest river in the country the Mississippi River. In contrast, over lovely friends over in England call the river dividing the city of London the River Thames. Neither is wrong, just a different way of saying it i suppose. I suspect it's part upbringing and part preference. But just between you and me, those people over in England are saying it wrong.

This stuff isn't half bad. It's quite sweet (made with pure cane sugar) and has a faint molasses taste to it, but it's not unpleasant. It has a good root beer flavor and decent carbonation. The flavor does fade fairly quickly though, and it leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth (literally, not figuratively). But for the most part, it's a decent root beer. Much better than Red Arrow, which is distributed by the same company.

My official review is that Bedford's gets 6 (six) IBCs. It's a good root beer. Not my first choice, but good. Really not much else to say about it, so... yeah. Lets just leave it at that.

Tower Root Beer

Here is another root beer i got from the Soda Emporium site. Tower Root Beer has a lot of history attached to it. It comes from Somerville, MA and has been serving the Boston area since 1914. The site has a big write up on the history of the family run company, complete with some cool black and white pics from way back. The company that produced Tower Root Beer was called Prospect Hill Beverages, LLC which was a location where a tower stood atop a small hill for which the root beer is named. It was started by three brothers (i assume they are brothers, although it never really specifies) from Italy named Domenick, Giuseppe and Felice Cusolito.

Very Italian mob boss sounding names. During the years of prohibition, the company thrived and expanded to service much of New England throughout the Depression and into the 1960's. In 1969 the company was sold to a conglomerate and a franchise was run by Domenick's son Richard until 1978, at which time Tower went off the market. Then in the late 90's, Domenick's grandson Larry found the old recipe and brought the root beer back into production. All this can be seen on the website. Kind of a neat story i guess.

This root beer came in a stout brown 12 oz glass bottle, but the website tells of a time that the root beer was bottled in clear bottles until the acquisition of several 7 oz amber bottles from a beer brewery that was shut down during Prohibition. Ever since then, the brown glass bottles were used. I like the label. It has the old timey look of something you'd find in a pharmacy or apothecary. The font and colors selected are classically in line with the way it has always been made. The small circular depiction of the tower in the center includes the words "better than the best". While i admire the brash show of confidence, it has already been established that nothing can be better than IBC. Nothing gets 10 IBCs except IBC. Sorry Tower, you're just wrong on that one.

Keeping true to the old recipe, Tower is sweetened with pure cane sugar. But the ingredients on the label don't give any other indication to the flavor of the root beer. I think it has a very subtle molasses base which thankfully is not overpowering. But aside from that and the cane sugar i can't say i really get a root beer taste from it. That doesn't make it bad. In fact, i find myself enjoying this stuff quite a bit and perhaps without justified reason because i can't really defend it. I just like it. It's not amazing, but i wouldn't mind having another any time soon.

My official review is that Tower gets 6 (six) IBCs. I teetered on giving this one a 7, but i don't think it's quite deserving of that high a rating. But it's enjoyable, satisfying, has good carbonation and a pleasant taste, and therefore is easily deserving of a 6. Well done Tower. And welcome back.

Red Arrow Root Beer

A few months back i made a couple large online orders for root beers from a couple different sites, so the next several root beers that i will review will be from one of these sites i used. Red Arrow Root Beer was found on the site Soda Emporium, which has turned out to be quite useful as they cycle through new things all the time. They usually have the option to order individual bottles of a root beer, but sometimes they are only available in 4 or 6 packs. Shipping is always the killer with acquiring sodas this way, so it's only viable for me to order as many as i can/need at a time rather than one by one as they become available. But like i said, this is a good site for getting new root beers. Red Arrow is distributed by a company called Orca Beverages operated out of northern Washington state. They distribute a lot of older/classic sodas that aren't in regular circulation right now. I didn't spend to much time on it, but it's kind of a neat site.

The bottle is a tall 12 oz. dark brown glass bottle and the label is very simple and straight forward. I don't want to say lack luster because it really contains everything it needs and still caught my eye with the basic design of it. Sometimes simple is good. I like it.

I gotta say though, i wasn't as impressed with the taste. It had a nice hint of wintergreen aroma as i first twisted off the cap, but the taste left me wanting. It was very watery, sweet tasting from the cane sugar, but other than that i couldn't decipher much of a root beer flavor from it. I got a bit of anise flavor from it and it has somewhat of a sharp, almost spicy aftertaste (not uncommon to many root beers). It got better the more i drank it, but still was overall a bit of a let down. All the flavors were quite subtle and when all was said and done i had basically forgotten it.

My official review is that Red Arrow gets 4 (four) IBCs. I was leaning hard towards a 3 at first, but talked myself into a 4 after drinking it for a while. I realize that the reviews most people are interested in reading are the root beers which are very highly or very lowly rated. I want to deliver on those types of reviews, but the truth of the matter that the majority of root beers out there are just middle of the road. This happens to be another one of them, although i would consider it slightly less than middle of the road. Not the worst thing out there, but not my style. Go ahead and skip it.

Thomas Kemper Purely Natural Root Beer

I reviewed Thomas Kemper Root Beer a long time ago near the beginning of this whole root beer journey i've been guiding us all through, and at the time i reviewed it i thought i was done with Thomas Kemper. But it appears there is a new chapter in the book because in addition to the original brew, Thomas Kemper also makes a variation called Purely Natural which uses all natural ingredients (or in layman's terms, cane sugar). This was brought to my attention by a new acquaintance i have made courtesy of my root beer nemesis. My new acquaintance is also in the root beer reviewing racket and has offered to do some open trading with me as well. His first offer was for this TKPN, which he claims is off the market now and very rare. I took him at his word, but later saw that the Thomas Kemper site has a page dedicated to this supposedly now obsolete brew. Makes me wonder if this stuff really is discontinued. Either way though, i had no access to it so i was happy to trade.

The Purely Natural bottles are the standard tall 12 oz. bottles, which are different from the original TK stout bottle. The label is very different as well. It's a clear sticker and very stripped down of the pageantry and elegance of the original TK label. It doesn't look bad, but it definitely lacks the luster of the other label. Not sure why they didn't stick with the same bottle and label design. Maybe "natural" root beers are too good for all of that...

My review of original TK wasn't very favorable. It was the first root beer i reviewed that had a heavy (and i mean heavy) honey flavor. So i will always associate other honey root beers with TK even though they may not get as harsh a rating. And i gotta be honest, i don't really see any difference in the taste of TKPN. Maybe it's a little sweeter from the cane sugar and it's definitely a lot less gritty than i remember, but it's been so long since i've had a TK that i can't give it an accurate comparison. All i can do is describe what i taste in TKPN, and to sum it up nicely i would say it tastes like honey. Wasn't expecting much different though. Maybe a little bit of a gingersnap taste to it, which i am not sure where that flavor is coming from, but ultimately i am not a big fan. Maybe even less of a fan of this than original TK. That's hard to say though without having another original TK, and i really can't be bothered with that stuff anymore. I have lots of other better tasting root beers to drink.

My official review is that TKPN gets 4 (four) IBCs. Not a fan, not of this stuff nor the original brew. Just not my style of root beer. I have a friend who just moved to Portland whom i plan to visit sometime soon hopefully, so i am curious to research the availability (or lack there of) of this stuff in the Portland region, but other than that i couldn't care less to ever drink it again. Oh, and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The end.

Addendum 7/30/12: i should just tell you now that this new root beer acquaintance i made is named Eric and so far he's turned out to be a helpful guy in a lot of respects. I also now know that he reads my reviews (or at least this one) because he emailed me the following correspondence with email address attached from the President of Thomas Kemper Soda:

Eric,

Thanks for your note. Unfortunately we've recently discontinued our Purely Natural Soda line. We loved the product but had difficulty in production.

Regards,

Bill Germano

President, Thomas Kemper Soda

I am gonna go ahead and say this is probably legit. Good enough for me. If you choose to not believe it, well then that's on you dummy.

Side note: either Eric has a lot of swing or Bill isn't that busy a guy.

Saint Arnold Root Beer

This root beer comes from the great big state of Texas and was acquired on my latest cross country trek that i have mentioned in recent posts. Saint Arnold Brewing Company is located in Houston, TX and has been in operation since about 1994. The main focus of the brewery is making several beers which they claim are popular in the area, but in addition they also brew a root beer (and no other flavors of soda so far as i can tell). The website gives some fairly vapid history of the brewery and quite a bit of history and legend about the actual historical figure Saint Arnold who lived from 560-640 AD. I didn't find it very interesting, but if you'd like to read up about it you're welcome to do so. I'll give you a bit of a spoiler though for the sake of the blog. In short, the brewery is named after him due to a legend regarding pilgrims carrying his remains to a final resting place who were thirsty and without drink. One of them prayed to Saint Arnold that he would provide and the remnants of the beer they had with them ended up multiplying to be enough to quench all of them till they arrived home at the end of their journey. Neat, right? Yeah, i didn't really think so either.

I like the stout 12 oz bottle this one comes in and the label is definitely different from traditional root beer labels i have seen. It has a lot of color, striped background, and an illustration of the man himself, Saint Arnold, complete with a glowing halo around his pope hat (but just to be clear, he was never a pope). There are some little children on the sides of the picture too, maybe signifying it's ok for kids to drink this stuff. Arnold's a beardy man holding a frothy mug of brew. Oh, and he's got some snazzy looking robes on too. Very well done label, i must say. Reminds me a bit of the Virgil's label. Was Virgil a saint too? I don't know these things, but perhaps i should since they pertain to root beer.

Saint Arnold is fairly sweet start to finish, but it's not sickening or overwhelming. It's pretty typical of a root beer sweetened with cane sugar, which this one is. It also has a nice hint of wintergreen flavor, which i like. Kind of lacking in carbonation, but not completely flat. To be honest, the root beer flavor itself is fairly subtle, but this stuff isn't bad. There is a lot i like about it, but it's still somewhat forgettable, proved by the fact that i drank a bottle of this several months ago when i got it and couldn't remember how it tasted when i reviewed it today. All in all though, it's not a bad root beer and could assuredly quench a thirst on a hot day.

My official review is that Saint Arnold gets 6 (six) IBCs. It's better than a middle of the road root beer, but i am not craving it constantly (like i do with IBC). This stuff is supposed to be all over Texas, but we had to go to the brewery specifically to buy it. So outside of that, i am not sure where you'd find this. It's a decent drink though, so don't shy away from it if you get the chance to have one.

P.S. happy 43 anniversary of the Moon landing today, which i assure you was NOT faked. Keep your comments to yourselves haters.

Piggly Wiggly Root Beer

The last generic root beer i currently have is this; the Piggly Wiggly Root Beer. I have often heard of this little store called Piggly Wiggly, but never visited one until my last trip driving across the Southern states. Piggly Wiggly is a grocery store chain started in Memphis, TN in 1916 by a guy named Clarance Saunders. They give this guy a lot of credit for creating the whole concept of a self-service grocery store. Anyway, the chain is very popular in the South and other select areas, but they don't exist out here in the West/Southwest. The one i stopped in was in Georgia in a place called Grovetown outside of Augusta. I was wondering why they called it Piggly Wiggly. I think Richard (my travel companion) said it's cuz they sell every part of the pig there. But the website alludes that there is no real answer and gives a few theories which i guess are generally accepted as truth:

"Saunders' reason for choosing the intriguing name Piggly Wiggly ® remains a mystery; he was curiously reluctant to explain its origin. One story is that he saw from a train window several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, and the rhyming name occurred to him then. Someone once asked him why he had chosen such an unusual name for his organization, and Saunders' reply was, "So people will ask that very question." He wanted and found a name that would be talked about and remembered."

Again, the easiest/most inexpensive way to get this was in a can. Luckily i didn't even have to buy a six pack. The label follows some of the traditions of most generics as far as color scheme and logos are concerned. Honestly, it just looks kind of cheap to me. The Porky-Pig-looking mascot (cleverly dubbed Mr. Pig) kind of throws it off for me. I mean, i know this root beer is not trying to make anyone take it seriously, but the cartoon pig just overstates that in my opinion.

The taste is nearly identical to A&W, another proven generic method to copy such a popular flavor. It has decent carbonation as well. It's not bad. I can't fault it on taste. It will definitely do the job at a hot summer afternoon picnic or in a root beer float. And it's cheaper than A&W, but given the choice i would probably still just spring for the A&W. Don't really know what else to say about it. Maybe just... "meh".

My official review is that Piggly Wiggly Root Beer gets 5 (five) IBCs. This will conclude our tour of generics for the time being. I have a lot more root beers to go through and i just kinda wanted to get these out of the way, sad as it is to say. But that's part of being THE BEST ROOT BEER REVIEWER IN THE WORLD. And in case there is still any confusion, i am talking about myself. You're welcome world.

Hill Country Fare Root Beer

I have a few more canned generics i need to get through, and this is one of the ones i picked up on my cross country drive at the beginning of the year. Hill Country Fare Root Beer is one of the root beers i found in Houston, TX at the local HEB grocery store there. HCF is one of the brands sold by HEB and from what i gather is similar to Kroger in that HCF makes a wide variety of products. Anything from food to personal hygene and more. I guess root beer falls under that wide umbrella. I couldn't find a site for this one, not even a proper page on the HEB website. But it's known that HCF makes more flavors of soda than just root beer. From the can i think it may be made in San Antonio, but that could be completely wrong. No way to tell how long it's been in existance. Really though, it's just another product from a giant faceless corporation, so i can't imagine the backstory is all that interesting.

Like most generics, this one came in a variety of vessels, but i just wanted the cheapest and least space consuming means of transporting this across the country with me. So i sprang for the standard aluminum can. Nothing to say about the label really. Company logo, bland color scheme, big font, you get the point. I don't really mind reviewing generics, but 9 times out of 10 i struggle to find things to say about the labels because they are so bland and formulaic. This is one of those times.

I remember i drank one or two of these at the time i bought them on my trip, but it must have been as unremarkable as now because i have no memory of the experience. This stuff doesn't have a bad taste, but it's quite tame and forgettable. The flavor fades fast and it's a bit watery. It also leaves a bad taste in your mouth afterward. The carbonation seems a little off too, as i expected more than i got. Other than that, it's the stardard root beer flavor, no doubt made from a concentrate syrup bought in bulk. I can't really fault HCF. They are pumping this out in large volume to glean a little off the soda market. However, to HCF's credit the can says if you're not happy with your experience they will "cheerfully refund your money". I doubt i will take those measures as i am not particularly unhappy, just not very impressed.

My official review is that Hill Country Fare gets 3 (three) IBCs. I don't really mean to be harsh on this one because it's ultimately not terrible. But it's definitely on the lower side of the generics, meaning it lacks a lot of flavor and character. Truly, this root beer is adequate and is very inexpensive. But if you invest just a little more money there are a lot better options out there. So if you see this in the store, just get the HEB brand. It's in the same place and gives a greater ROI.