craft root beer/soda

[munchausen]

Anyone else into this stuff?

Some really good drinks I've found:

Virgil's. Everything I've had of theirs is good, but the best by far is the Black Cherry Cream Soda. So delicious.
Reed's Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer. The ginger beer is quite bracing. Probably an acquired taste but I find it goes really well with food.
Boylan's sodas are all good, especially their birch beer, which is one of the few examples of the style that seem to be regularly available
Sprecher sodas are good, although since discovering Virgil's I like them less

 

[edmorel]

I drink Boylans Ginger Ale and Cane Cola although I have a place close by that gets Mexican Coke so I've defaulted to that. If I am drinking soda with dinner, I like GUS cola, very little sugar and goes well with food. Honestly, between mexican coke and RC cola, I'm pretty much set on the soda front.

 

[Rambo]

virgil's root beer is the ****. nothing's been able to come close IMO.

Munch - try Fever Tree's ginger beer. Its got the same bite as Reeds without that ascerbic taste to it.

 

[munchausen]



virgil's root beer is the ****. nothing's been able to come close IMO.
Munch - try Fever Tree's ginger beer. Its got the same bite as Reeds without that ascerbic taste to it.

Thanks, I will.

 

[b1os]

Thomas Henry ginger beer is quite nice too.
Try Fentiman's ginger beer too. Haven't tried it, but I will (shipping from amazon uk is free to NL/BE), and I'm sure it's good.
You may also want to try to make your own ginger beer. Jeffery Morgenthaler wrote a nice little blog post about it: http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2008/how-to-make-your-own-ginger-beer/
Obviously, you can play with the ratios and ingredients.

PS: Don't try Schweppes.

Haven't had many root beers yet, but all of which I had were undrinkable sweet and bubble gum-y.

 

[munchausen]



Haven't had many root beers yet, but all of which I had were undrinkable sweet and bubble gum-y.

A good root beer is spicy and has a bite. The stuff the soda companies sell is mostly as lousy as the ginger ale they sell.

 

[Rambo]

i wasn't that impressed with Fentimans. I had already found Fever Tree at that point though.

 

[b1os]



i wasn't that impressed with Fentimans. I had already found Fever Tree at that point though.

Okay. Wasn't it spicy/hot enough? I've only had the "old style (fermented)" cola and tonic water from Fentiman's, both of which I've been happy with.

 

[anthonyrootbeer]

i review root beers, birch beers, and sarsaparillas. along with the occasional spruce beer too. so i quite like them myself. i have come to enjoy Virgil's although when i first had it a decade or so ago i was not a huge fan. my current fav is 1919, available only on tap or in mini kegs out of MN, it is the yum yum.
http://rootbeerbarrel.com

 

[munchausen]

Cool site. thanks.

 

[munchausen]

I went and did some shopping this weekend. Got some Fentiman's on the recommendation from this thread. I actually saw Fever Tree at a Whole Foods across town, but didn't get any because I was in a hurry. Then I went to the one by my house and they didn't have it.

The Fentiman's cola was ok but didn't really grab me. I was expecting more of a spicy taste and it didn't really deliver. at least it wasn't as acidic as coke. I got some of the ginger beer but haven't tried it yet. I also got this Butterscotch Beer from Reed's. Don't know exactly why, I think I was a little stoned when I went shopping. When I brought it home my daughter told me it was a reference to something the characters drink in the Harry Potter books. It was good but really sweet. She will end up drinking most of them I expect.

 

[b1os]

Did you get the naturally fermented cola? I liked it, but it's been 2 or 3 years.

 

[munchausen]

Yeah. I was hoping it would be spicier, I guess.

 

[munchausen]

Now the Fentiman's ginger beer, this stuff is what I'm talking about. It burns. very nice.