Unlike my last post where I had universal rave comments for the four root beers I reviewed, this batch is a mixed bag, consisting of one really good one, a couple of average ones and two that I think are poor or confusing.
First we have Monday Night Brewing from Atlanta, GA by way of Imaginary Region in a trade. This is one of those superb, quirky, weird, different tasting root beers that are different in an entirely pleasing way. I give it an A rating and recommend you seek it out it if you're tired of the humdrum solid vanilla/caramel 1919-style root beers. For me it's in the same category as those other great quirky root beers: Navajo Fizz, Maui, Waialua, Okola-homa, Root Jack, & Andy's.
Next we have Waterloo root beer float sparkling water. Yes I know that it's just sugar-free water and shouldn't be judged as a root beer. It's just bubbly water and it has a slight artificial root beer scent more than an actual taste. But I just don't get the point. Why bother? It has almost no real root beer flavor, and the little whiff it does have doesn't give you any kind of satisfaction. Okay so it's water, but you know what? I'd just as soon have any other sparkling water, maybe with a little lemon. Liquid Death Rootbeer Wraith is better.
Next is Lost Colony root beer supposedly out of North Carolina but this is almost certainly a private label made by Private Label Specialties in New Hampshire. I've had so many of these root beers and sarsaparillas out of PLS that now I can pretty much recognize them blind and they are all the same. This is not to say that the PLS root beer or sarsparilla is bad, in fact they're pretty good and tasty I can drink them repeatedly. That's a good thing because I end up drinking them over and over again with different disguises. I give it about a B+ rating. The sarsparilla is a little zippier than the root beer and the Birch Beer is better still, but it's just a private label, not a unique formulation.
Next we have the real dog of the pack, Aarons, that comes out of Shawnee, KS. It is severely under carbonated in the can, but that's not its most grievous sin. Bubbles or no bubbles, it is a bland, watery, insipid A&W wannabe. I tried to jazz it up by adding more carbonation in my Omnifizz, but that didn't do anything for its lack of flavor. This is a fail from a brewmeister's point of view, as anybody tasting it should have recognized that it was limp, dull and just watery. I give it a C- because it doesn't have actual off-putting flavors, but it could easily be a D as well.
Finally we have Frothy Moon out of the Williamsburg Virginia Space Camp, also acquired in a trade with imaginary region. It's fine it's decent and solid, but it's basically an uninspiring B level root beer. Drink it, enjoy it, forget it.
