I don’t often drink caffeine, even less rarely have energy drinks. in fact the only times I have had them were root beer ones that I was reviewing for this very site. ok, actually the first part is not exactly true. I DO have caffeine almost every saturday morning when I do my long brick workout and during longer races because of the athletic benefits of it. but I do not drink coffee or other such beverages to get going on the morning or keep me going every day or even every month. so because of all this caffeine affects me a bunch and I have to consume it early in the day or not sleep that ..read more

I feel like there is a new wave of craft root beers coming out these days. or perhaps I am just getting more word of such things as people come together on social media even more. or maybe there happen to be more that are canned or bottled lately. or some combination of all of the above, which is more likely really I think. in any case, I was lucky enough to obtain some of this root beer made by Crider Brewing in St Louis, MO. or maybe 2nd Shift Brewing? I’m not quite clear on that. I should probably call this ‘Crider Brewing Busy Bees Root Beer’ because of this but unless they come out with ..read more

I have gotten so many new sodas lately! I am tempted a bit to go back to weekly posts but I suspect this is just an extra good period and I will run out quickly again if I do such a thing. so I shall stay at every other week to be safe. I had a few people tell me about this one so I was excited to get it. plus I am a sucker for the whole aesthetic, kind of 60s sci fi style going on. there is a soda bottle shaped space shuttle sort of deal bursting through the clouds along with some polka dots and junk in the sky, perhaps indicating it is another planet entirely. good stuff. does the soda liv ..read more

yet again, they have tinkered with this one. well, actually it is now made by Sprecher, but it a different recipe than the one root beers they make. that seems a little weird acquisition to me, but perhaps not as Sprecher is a midwest brand and if they want to have a regional east coast brand this would be a fine way to do it. I guess. it might just be easier to sell Sprecher root beer out east, but I will trust their business doings much better mine as I have none and they have lots. I really have not had Old Brooklyn since I reviewed the last version a bunch of years back so I am going int ..read more

I was completely unaware they had changed the recipe of this brew until Robert messaged me and let me know. granted, it is not a huge change, but really anything is enough for it to qualify as a new root beer in my book. as I recall, the previous version was pretty good, rather unusual. as they removed the roasted barley malt, that seems like this would be better since that does not sound like a tasty addition to root beer. hhhmmm, this is not bad. interesting for sure still. nothing really overpowers the overall flavor but I can taste the anise, licorice and mint all in there as well as the ..read more

I found out that this art store called “Saint Drools” had their own line of sodas. I suspected it was too good to be true that they were their own recipes, but being the eternal optimist I am, I placed an order for the root beer, birch beer and sarsaparilla. I even ordered extras of the root beer so that I could trade it with other people. but when it arrived I was sad to find out they were all really made by Private Label. but as luck would have it I never reviewed the birch beer and the sarsaparilla was a different recipe so that is a win anyway. I now realize I most likely told this same ..read more

a soda I have been waiting to review! the first review of 2024 seems like a good enough occasion to me so here goes! the brave and tireless gourmet, doctor Eric provided me with this one from his travels across the globe! this is especially kind as he does not review either plastic bottle sodas or sarsaparillas so he had to bring this large, heavy bottle across oceans to send it to me! so thank you once again kind sir. others don’t seem to enjoy the Australian take on sarsaparilla but I myself have found it rather tasty in the past. I had no idea Schweppes had an international presence, let ..read more

trades trades trades, gotta love the trades! I should really try to do some more as I am running low once again. well, we shall see, hopefully I can make it work for a good while yet. I am excited to try this soda out, it sounds good and really any regional soda maker is a thing I encourage fully. I have never been to Oklahoma myself although I do hope to one day. a lot of this great nation I have at least drive through in a car, bus or train but never Oklahoma. this is what makes being able to trade sodas such a glorious thing. well, this is at least a little different, so there is that. I ..read more

once more a trade result, this time from the gourmet doctor himself. it seems in 1972, A&W in Canada was bought by Unilever thus separating from A&W in the USA, at least as far as the restaurants go. I have always been a little unclear on if the soda and restaurant are fully connected but it seems they are. supposedly the A&W restaurants in Canada are vastly superior to almost any other fast food chain. I have only been to a couple in the United States and they are not really anything special or even particularly good. the consensus seems divided on the root beer as well, but see ..read more

I acknowledge that this is a somewhat far reach of a review as the recipe has only changed very slightly. but when it is quite difficult to get new sodas to review, I take what I can get at this point. I have a lot of very good memories of Saranac root beer. when I was in college in the Hudson Valley it was the most unique and local root beer we could find, so us kids who did not drink would go get a six pack or two on the weekends to consume and be nutty about. this was before I even started this website but definitely it was instrumental and influential in the decision to begin finding new ..read more