(To the Tune of "Happy") Cause it's frothy;...might be made with cinnamon and honey.. Cause it's frothy; it might taste like a homemade waffle...

It's time for another edition of Root Beer reviews; btw, The Old Town Root Beer Company, Temecula was featured in The Press-Enterprise, in the Life Section, on March 11th 2015;

Let's see here (and I apologize for the long gap, I just haven't been feeling like sitting down and finishing this blog entry, but now I am going to finish it)

Penny Frosted Root Beer: It was okay; nothing exciting or special, but just a really good drink; for more information

Abita Root Beer: Made with Louisiana Cane Sugar, and it was really good; I drank it in honor of those that live in Louisiana; For more information

Dominion Root Beer: Made with Pure Honey and it also contains Yucca and good ol' Vanilla; another good brew and I will have to try it again; There's also a stag on the label Further information found here 

Delicious Root Beer/Racinette Delicieux: Cane Sugar Soda/Soda au sucre de canne; very good beverage; I'll try it again; For your viewing pleasure

Root Beer, by Hosmer Mountain Beverages: Claims to be made with micro-filtered naturally pure water; probably makes for a terrific beverage and I'll try it again. Their link

Gale's Root Beer: Made with cinnamon, ginger, and good ol' vanilla; a very spicy beverage and one of the unique ones; I'd purchase Gale's Root Beer again. For information on the root beer and to purchase cookbooks

Brownie "Caramel Cream" Root Beer: Is said to contain milk, so for those that are lactose-intolerant or trying to stay away from dairy, then you probably shouldn't drink this beverage, but as for me, milk inside a root beer was very unique; it gave the root beer an unusual creaminess and the other "original" of this group. If you want to know more before you buy

Hippo Size Beverages Jumbo Root Beer: there's a open mouth hippo on the label and it has extract of wintergreen; was a very good beverage and I'd try it again. They are also distributed by Orca Beverage, like the Brownie "Caramel Cream" Root Beer. In case you want to know what you are getting

Until next time, keep those mugs frosted and chilled

The Root Beer Knows

Another selection of root beers coming your way; and here they are....Mason's Root Beer, all the way from Atlanta, Georgia, and it was okay, normal root beer taste, water, sugar, color, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, nothing special. if you want more information about the root beer, then go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason%27s_Root_Beer (it's a wikipedia page, but it was the description of the root beer that I found online)

The next root beer was Sea Dog Root Beer (another root beer with a dog on the label) and it reads on the label that the ingredients include wintergreen oil, anise and vanilla, herbs and spices...I didn't taste any of those, but if I did, they would have made the root beer that much better. Distributed from Portland, Maine, by the Pugsley Brewing LLC; website info is http://www.seadogbrewing.com; they sell beer also.

Kutztown Root Beer is distributed in a clear glass bottle and it wasn't that much of a taste experience; pretty common and nothing unique about it; if you want more information, go to http://www.kutztownbottlingworks.com

So Duh, Root Beer was a very unique root beer because it is made with alfalfa honey and you can actually taste the uniqueness in every sip. On the side of the label is a description of the name of the root beer and also a picture of a blonde woman. if you want more information on the root beer go to various blogs on the Internet about the root beer.

Capone Family Secret Root Beer, says on the label on the side of the bottle that this is what was found in the Capone warehouse during Prohibition during the raids; a common root beer, but the fact that it was a Capone Family Secret, makes it all the more mysterious. for more info, check various blogs around the Internet

Our last root beer was a Durango Soda Company Inc, Zuberfizz root beer and it was...average; nothing special, but if you want more info, go to http://zuberfizz.com

Three more root beers.......let's see what they know, next

They know a lot; they apparently have the same thoughts; they are sweet, crisp, and refreshing, hey, that sounds like the description of the 7up...interesting....here they are; Fitz' Premium Root Beer, taste like a regular root beer, privately owned and delicious....Cool Mountain Root Beer, tastes good, I might have another....WBC Goose Island Root Beer, Chicago Style, a soda made with 100% Cane Sugar, nice label, average root beer.....

Well that's all the root beer knows, until next time (SWOOSH)

But wait, if you want information on the previously written root beers, go to http://fitzsrootbeer.com for Fitz's, http://www.coolmountain.com, for Cool Mountain Root Beer, and http://witbeveragecompany.com/wbc-brands-jelly-belly-wbc-gi-chicago-green-river-caruso-legacy-black-bear/wbc-goose-island-chicago/ WBC Goose Island Root Beer

5 Guys Guest Blog

So a follower of my blog by the name of Diane Morales decided to visit 5 Guys Burger and Fries, a fast food transplant from the East Coast who came over to the West Coast because they wanted to challenge In-N-Out, and below is her entry:

                                                     5 Guys Burger and fries

“The best $5 Burger Around”, it says on the window outside. So I decided to try yet another burger joint instead of El Pollo Loco, the healthier choice.  They hail from Washington DC and grew westward. They have a nice background: family started and grown, five sons etc. I walked in and it kind of smelled like In n Out except more potato.

A five dollar burger?  Who needs a five dollar burger?  Nowhere does it say how big it is. Even Carl’s Jr.'s “six dollar burger” isn’t $5 and it is too big for me to eat! Luckily their menu carried a “little burger” and so I ordered that. It was still $3.79. It was like a quarter pound burger – a regular burger.  Any bigger and it’s just too much.

Their gimmick is that you can choose “toppings”. I thought toppings were for pizza. Since when does a sandwich have “toppings”? I have always thought of them as condiments. Anyway you can choose from the standard or just say everything. They have barbeque sauce and grilled mushrooms, steak sauce, jalapenos, hot sauce- things that one usually doesn’t find on a regular burger. So instead of ordering western BBQ cheese burger or a “Santa Fe” style or a “Texan longhorn” or whatever trendy name other establishments might  to come up with, you just order a burger and tell them what you want on it. Kind of like a Subway for burgers.  That certainly saves on coming up with names and the customer doesn’t have to read an extensive menu. What they didn’t have is what stood out to me. No Avocado, thousand island dressing or bacon. Those are the things I would add to my burger in addition to the standard tomato lettuce and onion, mustard and catsup.  

Didn’t they notice all the Bob’s, Jim’s Andy’s etc charbroiled burger joints around? Not to mention all the chains? California does not need a burger joint from the east coast. We have plenty.  All are good. Their building and their website are adorned with reviews by food critics from publications from the East Coast. That’s because East coast never knew how to make hamburgers! In-n-Out got it right and they still rule!  No one makes a burger like In n Out and they don’t cost $5 either! Not even their double- double.

They also serve fresh French fries. When I got them they were dark.  First I thought they were because the peel was left on –ok, I like peel, but it could have been the Cajun seasoning – no you have to ask for that special. Maybe it was the peanut oil. Anyway they will never be great fries. Many say you can’t beat In n Out fries. Some people swear by McDonald’s fries.  Yes those are better than these. They were good; I am not a fry connoisseur so I don’t care. I do know that I love the little crispy tidbits you always get at the bottom of the In n Out fries, like a surprise at the bottom of the haystack. We used to fight over those tasty morsels.

Here, in California they are just another burger joint. Good luck. 

They also serve hot dogs. $3.59 Seriously??!!  I love me a good hot dog. But I haven’t tried theirs. I’ll have to try it. But right now, I’m going to say it’s hard to beat Costco’s $1.50 hot dog or Pink’s gourmet hot dogs or even the Los Angeles sidewalk vendor  bacon-wrapped hot dogs with bell peppers and onions.  And don’t forget the age old tried and true Weiner schnitzel hot dogs. Simple but good.  Not everything has to be so large. Did they not hear that America is too fat?  “Pacifc Coast Hotdog” makes a good dog too. Local, not fancy just good grub with all the trimmings.  Again, good luck!

(To the tune of "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer," by George Thorogood) One Barqs, One Dads and One Mug...Root Beer

But I won't be talking about any of those; sorry for the disappointment....... Hello again and welcome to my root beer adventures; I know that it has been a long time between blogs, but I've been busy trying to gain muscle, and watch what I eat; that includes the occasional root beer treat...But onward to the adventures...

Bundaberg Australian Root Beer.....I didn't really care for it because it tasted too medicinal and that was a disappointment because I was hoping to like it. It is made from a brew of real sarsaparilla root, licorice root, vanilla beans, and molasses....now, doesn't that sound good?....Well, if someone else tries it and likes it they should get back to me and let me know how good it really was, because like I said, I was unhappy with it. They can't all be pleasant to my discerning palate.  For more information on this root beer go to www.bundaberg.com

Olde Rhode Island Molasses Root Beer; bought this while visiting Old Town San Diego last summer, and it was pretty good. It had a sweet taste and was different; might have been the molasses or the artesian spring water :) For more information, search for www.realsoda.com

Triple XXX Root Beer; very good thirst quenching root beer, nothing special; Just carbonated water, caramel color, real cane sugar, and citric acid and natural/artificial flavors... for more info about Triple XXX, click onto,http://www.triplexxxrootbeer.com and for a restaurant in the Pacific NW, click onto http://triplexrootbeer.com

Tower Root Beer, all the way from Boston, MA, and into my hand; here's what I had to say: the same comment as the Triple XXX, but the label is nice and the bottle is short and stout. For more info on Tower Root Beer, go to http://www.towerrootbeer.com

Sprecher Fire Brewed Root Beer; how does one fire brew root beer? I guess one would have to look up the word brew (as in to brew) and then take the word fire and come up with your own definition, because that is interesting. For one thing, it had a very musky flavor to its taste; as if it were left to ferment a little bit. Some of the ingredients were WI Raw honey, Glucose Syrup (that's a new ingredient to me) Malto-Dextrin, Quillaia/Yucca Extract (ingredient found in many root beers that I've drunk and have written about), Vanilla, and Sodium Chloride (Salt; also a new one). So, an excellent root beer choice and I would drink it again, fresh, and see if I could a different taste out of it. For more info on Sprecher Fire Brewed Root Beer, click on the following link http://www.sprecherbrewery.com

Drink White Rose Root Beer it says on the label;  Definitely Better, Highland Park's Own, Los Angeles, Cal. Pretty good root beer, made with pure cane sugar and it is caffeine free. Simple ingredients for a basic root beer; filtered carbonated water, pure cane sugar, natural and artificial flavor, citric acid and caramel color...For more information, go to http://www.sodapopstop.com, which is where you can sample and purchase some of my favorites or not so favorable drinks.

The last root beer that I sampled on this adventure allows you to publish your own picture on the label and that root beer is Jones Root Beer, founded by The Jones Family of Seattle, WA. Pretty simple root beer, with the basic root beer formula of water, natural/artificial flavors, cane sugar, and preservatives. Very simple, but the fact that you are allowed to brand your own bottles of root beer is cool. For more info go to http://www.jonessoda.com

(to the tune of Volare) Root... Beer Float, oh, oh, oh, oh; let's fly,

Back in May, my grandma and I decided to do our trip down to Escondido so she can look at clothes at this place called Drapers and Damons, but before we stop at D and D, we stopped at Old Town Root Beer Company, Temecula, to, want to guess....I'll wait.........Sorry, time is up, I am an impatient person, and you're taking too long, to get more root beer. So I purchased some more root beer and a ginger beer. I don't know who is at fault here, but I came home with a ginger beer, that I tried, but decided it was too strong for me, so I poured the rest down the drain, remembering next time to be more careful. So, I came home with five root beers. The first root beer that I drank was called Tommyknocker Original Root Beer and on the label is a miner. But inside the bottle is the taste of a waffle. Seriously, the root beer is made with Tahitian Vanilla Extract and Pure Maple Syrup and you can taste those ingredients in many sips or gulps as you want to take. Very, very, very, good, I'll have to have one with my eggs and potatoes and toast.

On a side note, the owner jokingly offered me a position because I was quite knowledgeable and I was able to share my experiences about the beverages that I consumed. I took him up on the offer, but I live too far away, for the job to be worth it, but it would have been a fun position.

Back to the root beer situation....hmmmmm...oh yes, try Tommyknocker Root Beer, it tastes like breakfast.....Continuing on, the next root beer I tried was Barrel Brothers Root Beer, Creamy Vanilla, but yet vanilla isn't listed in the ingredients, but quillaia extract, along with HF Corn Sweetener; is this similar to the corn syrup? A very good root beer and a very unique label.

Lion Brewery, Brewery Made, Root Beer, Draught Style; a good root beer and it contains quillaia extract, yucca extract and acacia in addition to HF Corn Syrup, carbonated water and caramel color.

Polar Classics Premium Root Beer; a good root beer that contains quillaia extract and citric acid, in addition to the basic formula of carbonated water, cane sugar (or HF Corn Syrup), Natural and Artificial Flavors, caramel color and sodium benzoate.

Lastly is Olde Brooklyn Root Beer, born in Brooklyn, NY and brewed in Williamsburg. Basic root beer ingredients except the water is triple filtered carbonated water ( I guess New Yorkers don't care for their water either :)) and it contains pure cane sugar in addition to the ingredients mentioned in the paragraph above. For more info on Olde Brooklyn go to http://whiterockbeverages.com/OldeBrooklyn.cfm
For the other root beers go to http://www.polarbev.com for Polar Classics Premium Root Beer, http://lionbrewery.com/home/brewery/our-products/soda/lion-brewery/root-beer/ for Lion Brewery Root Beer,  http://tommyknocker.com/SODA.html for Tommyknocker Root Beer, and http://www.applebeer.com/ for the Barrel Brothers Root Beer or actually since there's no info on the website on the root beer, read about their apple beer.

It's a marshmallow world, sorry, a root beer float

For my birthday, my dad presented me with a 24 pack of various root beers; it was a great selection and some of the root beers, I have tried before or haven't tried in a while, like a bottled Dad's Root Beer, a Bucking Root Beer, Virgil's Root Beer, and Bulldog Root Beer. If you want information on Dad's Root Beer, go to www.dadsrootbeer.com.

I have tried some of the root beers and some of the root beers were just okay; basic formula and nothing new or different like, wintergreen, cinnamon, quillaia or yucca extract. Some of these root beers were Saranac Root Beer (made with HF Corn Syrup; there is a difference in taste between HF Corn Syrup and Cane Sugar),  Dr Brown's Original Root Beer (contains High Fructose Corn Syrup and Gum Acacia) and Americana, which in previous blogs, I said bad things about this root beer, probably because it was up against other root beers that were slightly superior but I am hear to say that this root beer contains pure organic honey, and extracts of licorice and sassafras root bark; now that makes for a good root beer. For information on Saranac and Dr Brown's Original go to http://www.saranac.com/page/root-beer (and they also brew beer) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Brown's and http://jandrbottling.com.


So I continued to drink the root beers given to me from my dad for my birthday and here are the final thoughts:

Red Arrow Root Beer; contains extract of wintergreen and licorice in addition to basic root beer formula; very good and when I went to visit Old Town Root Beer Company, about a month ago, I was told that this one was supposed to very spicy, but that brings me to my next root beer; Sparky's Fresh Draft Root Beer, now this one is one spicy roota beer; as opposed to a spicy me tall ball ("meatball"). It doesn't explain in detail what spices are in this one, but one sip, or two sips, or maybe 4 sips, you can taste the spice. Sparky's also contains honey and imitation flavorings, as opposed to artificial flavorings. I'd get Sparky's again because it was original, unique and different.

Another root beer that I got was Squamscot old fashioned Beverages, a root beer brewed in New Hampshire. This root beer contained citric acid and clove oil; interesting ingredients made for a very good root beer.

Boylan Bottling Co. Cane Sugar Root Beer, a root beer bottle in New Jersey and it contains Yucca Extract, very tasty root beer.

Lastly on this root beer adventure, that took me 4 months, the last root beer was Dog n Suds Drive In Style Root Beer, a very good, basic root beer; appears to go good with hot dogs (Based off the design on the label).

For more information on these final root beers go to http://www.orcabeverage.com/storefront/index.php for Red Arrow, http://www.dognsudsbrand.com/ for Dog n Suds, http://www.boylanbottling.com/products/cane-sugar-sodas/boylan-root-beer/, for the Boylan Bottling Co Root Beer; btw the description for the root beer on their website is kind of annoying because I tasted none of that. I guess I'll have to try this root beer again. http://www.sparkysrootbeer.com/, for Sparky's Root Beer, and http://www.nhsoda.com/Home.asp, for Squamscot Root Beer

To The Land of Beers (made originally made with root (s))

Went back to Old Town Root Beer Company Temecula, in Old Town Temecula and bought some more root beer. Bought 9 bottles, but only keeping four because the rest are going to my cousin. 2 out of the 5 bottles, I have tried, but the others, I'll have to try later. They are Olde PA Old Fashioned Root Beer, Buckin' Root Beer by Jackson Hole Soda, Gray's Brewing Co Gourmet Root Beer and River City Root Beer.

I finished the aforementioned and I'll say that they were an interesting selection...Olde PA was good and it came in a clear bottle; good thing it was a soda and not a beer, because apparently light kills beer.   In addition to the basic formula of water, sugar, caramel, Natural and Artificial flavors, it also contained citric acid, gum acacia, quillaia and Yucca extracts. Gave it an interesting flavor. At the moment, I have no idea what quillaia is and I'd have to look it up later. www.oldephillysoda.com if you want more information on Olde PA.

Buckin' Root Beer by Jackson Hole Soda, is a delicious root beer and in addition to the basic formula found in most root beers, like the one mentioned above, Buckin Root Beer has gum acacia, like the Olde PA, mentioned above...Hmmmm. it sounds like this root beer is similar to the one above except it doesn't have the extract of quillaia (the milled inner bark or stems and small branches of the soap bark; known to be used as vet vaccines as an adjuvant(helps to enhance the patient's immunity response to the antigen)...IF you want more information on this root beer go to...www.jacksonholesoda.com.

Gray's Brewing Company, Gourmet Root Beer, contains cane sugar and the basic formula mentioned previously.  I'm going to digress a little bit and say that I have found out through my days of drinking this root beer, that there is a significant difference between drinking root beer with cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup, the cane sugar root beer tastes dramatically better and I am starting to prefer cane sugar root beer, but A&W is still the best commercial root beer, followed by MUG, Barq's, Dad's, Hires, Hansen's....So...if you want more info on the Gray's Root Beer go to,www.graybrewing.com and click on Gray's Soda and they also make real beer.

River City Root Beer contains quillaia extract and was a really good root beer. It seems that the root beers that I talk about after Olde PA, they are beginning to be written as a pyramid blog because each individual root beer contains one ingredient from the first root beer; that is interesting.....

So I went back to Old Town Root Beer Company, Temecula, in early May and I bought five more root beers and actually a ginger beer, but I don't know whose fault that was, I thought I bought six root beers. This discussion will be discussed in the next one. For more information on River City Root Beer, go to www.bluedogbeverages.com