IBC

Many years ago I worked on an Off-Off-Broadway show. We were reviewed in Backstage, a trade newspaper, and the review wasn't exactly flattering. However, as someone pointed out, they did review us, which meant that we had met a certain standard - we were good enough to review, even if the review wasn't particularly good. My review of IBC falls into this same, paradoxical category.

Simply put, IBC lacks personality. It's decently sweet, a bit creamy (though only a bit), and there is a bit of earthiness to it, but that's it. No licorice, no mint, no anise This is an uninteresting root beer. It has decent body, a little too much carbonation, and that's it, really. There's nothing else.

IBC's bottles do deserve note, though, as their labeling is molded into them. Until recently, this made returning them difficult (you can't mold a bar code into glass), but I see that they have started to affix a bar code sticker to their bottles. Aside from this sticker, however, all of the fine print is only on the bottle cap and the six-pack cardboard, leaving the bottles with a distinctive, slightly peculiar, slighlty old fashioned look.

But it doesn't make thre root beer any better.

Grade: 4

160 calories per 12 ounce bottle = 13.3 Calories per ounce (normal)
http://www.ibcrootbeer.com/

Virgil's Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg

This root beer vanished for so long that I thought it was no longer made, in spite of what it says on the Virgil's website. You will imagine my surprise and glee, then, when I discovered, on entering a Mrs Green's Natural market, that familiar half-liter swing-top bottle. I almost bought out the entire stock right there, but then it occurred to me - what if the recipe had changed? What if it wasn't as good as I remembered? Then I might have a lot of expensive, uninspiring soda ($5.49 plus tax per 500mL bottle) in cool bottles. So I only bought three (One for myself, one for my fellow reviewer, and one for - uh, in case of emergency).

Well, the product remains good, though I don't think it's quite as good as I remembered. The product I remembered would have rated an eleven. But, it's still good. It is similar to their general issue root beer - smooth, creamy, full bodied - but sweeter. Like the standard product, the Special Edition brew is sweetened with cane sugar, instead of corn syrup. Honey is also clearly present, and vanilla. I can make out some licorice, too, or perhaps anise. I think I can make out the nutmeg, but it's been a while since I tasted nutmeg, so I can't really be sure.

But nutmeg or no, this is a great product.

Grade: 10

120 calories per 8 ounce serving; 2.1 servings per bottle = 15 Calories per ounce (high)
Unlike their standard product, this does not appear to be Kosher
www.Virgils.com

Santa Cruz Organic Root Beer Beverage

I found Santa Cruz Organic in a Mrs Green's store on my way home from work one day. I'm always on the look out for a new root beer, so of course I bought it, but the idea of an organic root beer is particularly appealing. Organic and soda aren't typically words that one finds in the same sentence.

At the same time, I was also a bit taken aback. Santa Cruz Organic comes in an aluminum can. Even IBC comes in glass bottles, but this comes in a can? What's the deal? Isn't glass supposed to be more environmentally friendly? Or maybe not, being heavier and all. But I digress - my real point here is that aluminum seems to interfere with the flavor of its contents, whereas glass doesn't. And what's with a root beer beverage?

That said, Santa Cruz Organic's root beer is a pretty good beverage. The drink is light and crisp, pleasantly sweet, and appropriately carbonated. On the other hand, it lacks the taste and personality of root beer, and tastes a lot like cream soda, or maybe a root-beer-cream-soda blend. Vanilla and sugar are the most prominent tastes, with maybe a bit of licorice at the end, but very little of the earthiness of a root beer.

So, while this is a pretty good soda, it's not very successful as a root beer.

Grade: 5 (grade 7 or 8 when simply considered as a soda)

150 calories per 12 ounce can = 12.5 Calories per ounce (moderately low)
Organic (USDA, Organic Trade Association, Quality Assurance International)
www.scojuice.com
made with 100% certified renewable energy (according to the label)