kindness of the soda world

a year or so ago i had noticed the existence of a seemingly very rad place, Pops 66 that supposedly had over 500 kinds of soda. it is a gas station, restaurant, soda ranch, shake shop and more, all housed in a very rad structure. and it is in Oklahoma… very far from me on the east coast. i figured it would be like some of the other “soda bar” type places that i will probably never get to, very exciting but just too far away. never mind that this one had a decent amount of root beers i had never had! then i got an email from someone telling me about them again and a root beer they had gotten there. i figured i may as well write and ask if i could mail order the stuff i did not have. i mean, what could it hurt, right?
i also figured they would say no as it is a pain to do that, something totally different from their usual duties. but i received a very prompt reply that they would be happy to! holy hyenas and butter! people really rock sometimes.
i guess it goes to show me that you have to actually do something to get anywhere or anything.
anyway, you are lucky if you are nearby OK and get to go here.
so now i will have six more sodas to review!! hooray! two were even on my “Wanted” list on the right there.

update 8/19 - ok so they did not have a 3 of the 6 i had wanted so they substituted 3 that i have never even heard of! now that right there is a feat i think as i do really try to be aware of all existing bottled root beers. this is exciting indeed! thanks Pops 66!

root beer snobery in the christian music world

so it seems this band that was on some show has a lead singer dude who is a root beer snob. and he called me “the man” in this interview which i find quite amusing.
i must admit i do not have 26 or 27 kinds of root beer in my root beer fridge. and my fridge came from my old job since we were going to throw it away. and it is not a full size deal, just one of the bigger dorm type ones. i may have 12 or 15 kinds in there though if that helps your image of me.
i actually did not think Steelhead was still made, very cool to know it is as i quite liked it. nice.

to make this a bit less self indulgent i will ask a question of the masses: i recently got a can of Iron Beer, the “national beverage of Cuba” and i am unsure if it qualifies as something in the root beer realm. any have it and want to offer their opinion? i know i am seeking spruce beer as that definitely fits in with the supposedly tree piece flavored sodas. and i think i would review dandelion and burdock if i ever got any since that sort of falls in that area too, but this one is more an outlier. i probably will since it is close enough for me.

next up in reviews are: Reading Draft Root Beer and White Birch Beer, A&W Float, St Arnold’s Root Beer and then i will probably explore some of the bigger diet sodas i have skipped, A&W, Barq’s, etc. i think i have a couple more random cans in my fridge too.
but i am getting low so if you have any leads, please share!
that is all, carry on.

Steaz Organic Sparkling Green Tea Root Beer

ok for YEARS i have thought that this was Steap Green Tea Root Beer. but it is NOT! i actually was sent it in the mail from a very kind reader. i of course checked my archives and basement to see if i had reviewed it, but i had not! so now i am. although i feel bad that i could have bought it and this generous fellow mailed it to me. oh well, silly me i suppose. although i am not actually sure it is really not the same company as they look remarkably similar in design and of course the concept is the same. oh well.
i am not sure how this qualifies as root beer at all to be honest here. sure, it is brown and carbonated and in a glass bottle but it could just as easily be called apple juice or cola. there is no root beer flavor present. there is also not a lot of resemblance to the green tea flavor i am used to either although that is more present than any sort of root beer-ness. i am curious what is in the mugs shown on the label, it is certainly not this stuff.
this is not me putting it down really, i actually like it as a beverage. it is sweeter than i expected and fruity which i did not at all plan for. but it is not creamy or rich, it is more similar to fruity iced tea than to soda. which makes it somewhat lighter of a beverage.
this drink is definitely unique and not like any other existing root beer i will admit and it is kind of tasty which is better than some of the crappy sodas that are unique. i am curious too how much actual green tea benefit i am getting from this. ok, after checking the website it says there is about 1 gram in a bottle or about the amount in one cup of tea. which is not awful or great. along with that comes about 15mg of caffeine too though, making it one of the only caffinated root beers, even if it is much less than the other caffinated soft drinks.

Anthony’s Rating: 69
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

Dang! That’s Good Butterscotch Root Beer

ah, my first ever butterscotch root beer! although i suspect there are no other ones out there so it may very well be my last too. i actually did review this, sort of, for the cameras of the History Channel, so if you do catch the episode i am on, this is the mystery root beer which i cannot say the name of. but as i said above, how many butterscotch root beers are there out there anyway?!
don’t get me wrong here, i very much enjoy those butterscoth candies in the yellow wrapper that my grandmother would get from the grocery store but no one ever believed she paid for as she was very frugal and buying loose candies would be quite the extravagance indeed! perhaps she paid what she thought they were worth or what they went for in her day, putting a nickel in the sample payment box and taking a handful in her overly large purse. it actually does not say how many you get for that 5 cents, now then does it young man?! just “Samples: 5 cents.” but that is neither here nor there. except that this soda tastes just like those things, melted down and liquefied. i suppose there is a slight root beer taste in there too, but on the whole it is an insanely sweet, somewhat carbonated version of those candies.
i will admit i do like it for a few swigs but even i find it hard to get through a whole bottle. it is just too sweet. i suppose though that you could just have their regular root beer if you are not in the mood for this, but i must judge it against the world of root beers that i have thrust it into, not as a sub genre of its own. i think i gave this a higher grade on the air but i did not drink all that much of it that day, so i have lowered it down. it is an interesting novelty item and i am glad it exists but it is not a great drink.

Anthony’s Rating: 71
Your Rating: 60
# of ratings:3

history channel comes a-callin’

so sunday i had my first television interview! at least about root beer. probably about anything as far as i can recall although i feel like i have been filmed interviewing bands before. yet that would be the reverse roles of what went on sunday.
so anyway, it is for the Modern Marvels show, they are doing an episode on soft drinks which sounds like it will be pretty jam packed so i don’t know how much of me will make it on-air, but i hope a good amount does. they filmed in my root beer room (which i really just set up for the occasion) and in my kitchen. lots of very god questions were asked, i reviewed a root beer i had never had on camera for them and 3 or so hours later they left. it was a very good time, for me at least.
the air-date as of right now is September 29th but i will remind you and let you know if that changes.
fun stuff, spreading the root beer reality!

Appalachian Brewing Co Rootbeer

a very kind fellow sent this to me after seeing i had not reviewed it. actually i did not even know they bottled it, so it was a very thrilling day when the offer was made. and even better when it actually arrived in one piece on my doorstep.
i don’t quite get why a small brewery would not have settled on a sweetener so they have to put “corn syrup AND/OR sugar” or whatever. is it one or the other or both? i know there are a good amount of people who avoid corn syrup, so it would behoove them to not have that stuff in there.
but besides that, this is one excellent brew! the flavor is a refreshing herbal mix that i just can’t drink down quickly. i must take small tastes and try to figure out just what i am having. well, i don’t have to do that, i could just drink it and know it is great each time i take a swallow. yet i want to savor it. i cannot really make out the honey though i must admit. the sweetness level is a bit lower than the sodas i usually like a lot which surprises me. it is still sweet but rather subdued in that aspect. that herbal flavor mentioned above is unusual. other sodas seem to try to achieve this taste but most do not do so as well as this one. i will definitely have to go out to PA to get more of this stuff sometime!
good work Appalachian Brewing Co!

Anthony’s Rating: 95
Your Rating: 92
# of ratings:4

Winchell’s Pizza Birch Beer

so, like i said in the review of their root beer somewhere above, i stumbled upon this pizza place with their own root and birch beers. i really should have taken a photo of their “root beer on tap” sign as you came in the door but i did not. i was rushing and my camera was packing away somewhere. but we did pass by the next day again so i stopped and tried to get the photos. sadly they were not open yet so i could only take a photo of their birch beer sign, complete with real birch branches and bark, through the window. actually right after i took it, someone walked by inside. thinking back now, i should have tried to flag him down and explain what i was doing but i paniced a bit and just left. oh well. so anyway, there is the sign over there on the left.
i wish the birch beer was as well made as the sign though. or the pizza. but it IS better than the root beer, that is for sure. this time, instead of going crazy with the licorice/anise, they went crazy with the wintergreen. but not quite at the same level, which is a very good thing. i did not really hate this soda but it was a little hard to drink much. for whatever reason the flavor probably would have worked better as a white birch beer. perhaps the carmel color or whatever makes the brown birches heavier and not as refreshing as the white birches. carbonation level was quite high also, which i can take or leave, either way is fine by me.
Anthony’s Rating: 66
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

radio interview

so i am going to be on the radio, talking root beer and junk on sunday, 7/13/2008. the show is called “Sauced!” and it airs live in Nashville, TN on
ClearChannel’s WLAC 1510 AM and is streamed at www.wlac.com.
so listen in, check it out.
my first radio appearance in about a decade i guess. and the first time as some sort of authority on something. wacky indeed. but it should be fun nonetheless even if it is on a ClearChannel station…

coolio.

EDIT - actually i guess it is called “The Saucy Sisters Show”. it is on 12-1pm CST, so 11am-12 noon Eastern time, where i am. their website is here

Winchell’s Pizza Root Beer

so i went away to the Catskills for the long 4th of July weekend. every year for the last 8 or so i have gone camping with some friends from college on that weekend. this weekend it was sort of my turn to plan where to go and all, so i did, choosing a place that was semi-equidistant from all parties. my wife and i went up on thursday night, leaving early as we had to check in by 9 pm. we had not really had any dinner so when we were pretty close we stopped at a pizza place for some pizza to go as it was still going to be pretty tight, time-wise. as i walked in the door i saw a big sign, “ROOTBEER ON TAP” which made me quite excited but most restaurants can say that really, they have 6 or 8 or whatever sodas on tap. but then i saw a sign above the counter advertising their birch beer and caught site of the generic “Root Beer” and “Birch Beer” labels on the soda dispenser and was very happy. what sort of luck is that, to randomly stop at a place in the middle of very little and find two new sodas? i will even answer that for you, it is not at all likely!
after waiting a really really long time to even place our order i tried the root beer and i sadly must say it is rather bad. not diet soda level bad mind you, but bad anyway. i think they heard that root beer could be made to taste like licorice and they totally went to town with that plan. hey if a little licorice is good, a ton is better, right?! um, no. sorry Winchell’s. their pizza was kind of tasty though, a little spicy and very thin, but that is fine. anyway, this soda was not really worth it. it is different but that does not equate goodness, at least here. actually i only even drank about half of the small cup i got, the rest i used to help put out the fire later that night. yes, i know i should not have done that, i used a lot of water afterwards to try to wash away any smell that may attract wildlife though, rest assured.
Anthony’s Rating: 41
Your Rating: 0
# of ratings:0

Zuberfizz Creamy Root Beer

hhhhmmm, well, to begin i am shocked i have not reviewed this yet! it has been in my house for months, i certainly hope it is still good. i went on a big soda ordering kick when i added all of that Availability info and really scoured the tubes of the internet to find all i could. this one must have been somewhat overlooked in the shuffle. quite a shame indeed.
but beyond that, i am not sure how to list it. see the company is the Durango Soda Company, but the product is Zuberfizz Creamy Root Beer. i think i will keep it this way, as “Zuberfizz” and not “Durango” but whatever, you don’t care I am sure, it is my own wacky organization/database stuff that i am trying to keep in line here.
although i quite like their color scheme and overall design here, i feel the “Creamy” is a bit off, i don’t like the font, it does not seem consistent with itself. oh well.
very small foam action on this brew but a high carbonation level. i guess this soda did not go bad yet, very cool! i suppose i usually associate fizziness with foaming action but in reality they are quite seperate things. many brands add in stuff like yucca to make the foam bigger and last longer which is mainly for visual appeal. while i don’t deny that i like the visual elements of a soda, it is not the main thing. (yes, this from a fellow who just complained about the “e” in “Creamy” not being italizied enough).
the taste is decent, not remarkable. the fizz kind of overwhelms one’s mouth so the flavor sneaks past without too much of a presense as it is not so strong on its own. i am enjoying it but it is predictable. a little more subtle than others though. the cane sugar is somewhat apparent and is appreciated, by me at least. sweetness is good, creaminess is decent. i would drink it more, just probably would not mail order it

Anthony’s Rating: 77
Your Rating: 54
# of ratings:1