Friday, October 28, 2011

Blue Sky Creamy Root Beer

[IMAGE PENDING]Blue Sky Creamy Root Beer comes in a can, which frankly, leaves me a bit dubious form the start. Cans are metal, of course - not inert, whereas glass is inert. Which is another way of saying that metal may interact with the soda, altering its taste (and not in the good way that, say, an oak barrel influences the taste of wine aged within it). Glass, being inert, doesn't interact and so doesn't alter the taste.

But enough on that. Blue Sky root beer is creamy - vanillay, if you will, but without much else. There is a smell of vanilla on opening the can, and there is a bit of a good, earthy aftertaste, but not much. No liquorice, no ginger, nothing else. The soda is crisp, non-syrupy, properly carbonated, and enjoyable in its own right, but I hesitate to call it a root beer. If not for the earthiness of the aftertaste, I'd call it a cream soda.

Grade: 7

NOTE: Now through the end of 2011, Blue Sky will donate 5¢ to PetFinder.com for every one of their can tbs that you send them: http://www.blueskysoda.com/#/collect_tabs/

170 Calories per 12 oz can = 14.2 calories per oz
www.blueskysoda.com

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Bundaberg Australian Root Beer

Bundaberg Australian Root Beer comes to us from the country down under, in stout brown glass bottles capped with a cross between a standard crimp-on bottle cap and a 1970s' style soda can pull tab. Kind of neat, actually - the top has a ring attached that you pull out, then up, pulling off the top.

As I've said previously, the bottle cap doesn't make the root beer. Unlike the last time I said that, though, in this case the cap is on a good drink. On opening the bottle I detected a faint smell of liquorice - good beginnings. The taste is earthy, with vanilla and a hint of ginger, and the body, if a little thin, is not unpleasantly so. It's light, and somewhat crisp. Certainly it's not syrupy. Carbonation is good - enough to be there, but not enough to overpower. Aftertaste is a bit of ginger. All and all a good root beer Crispness makes it more of a summer brew, but it can be enjoyed in the winter, too.

Grade: 9

190 Calories per 12.7 oz bottle = 15.0 calories per oz (high)
(not certified Kosher) 
www.bundaberg.com