22 July, 2015
Another Round of… Root Beer?
Posted in : 21, alcohol, beer, drinks, food, foodie, funny, humor, Uncategorized on by : Jeanette Rueb
I’m going to put this out there right away so there’s no gray area: I generally don’t like beer.
I’ve tried IPAs (ends with a HORRIBLE stomach ache), lager (meh), stout (I can drink a glass before the thought of it makes me reel), and a couple other randoms I don’t remember. The end result was all pretty much the same — it just wasn’t my thing.
Recently, this one beer from a brewery out in Wauconda, Illinois, though, has got me thinking differently about beer. They call it , “Not Your Father’s Root Beer,” and I swear to god, it tastes just like root beer.
Not Your Father’s Root Beer is, in all honesty, amazing. It looks like root beer, smells like root beer, tastes like root beer — heck, it even pours like root beer. What’s more, it comes in different strengths. You can purchase this drink in three different varieties: 5.9% ABV (alcohol by volume), 10% ABV, or 19.5% ABV.
At least in the Rochester, NY area, Not Your Father’s Root Beer has been selling out within a day or two of its arrival in stores. I was talking to some of the employees at Beers of the World, a local beer emporium of sorts, and they said that they order it in hundreds of cases, and within a couple of days, they’ll be out of stock. I’ve heard you can get it at Walmart, Wegmans (a local grocery chain), liquor stores, but everywhere was sold out — except for a gas station (and I’m not saying where because I want to be able to find it when I want it!).
Call ahead to your local store and see if they are getting it in stock any time soon, and get over there as soon as you can — that was what the people from Beers of the World told me, if I wanted to get some before the mad rush of people swept through and bought it all up.
Not every fad is all it’s cracked up to be, sure, and I’m a 21 year old blogger whose alcohol palate is typically limited to a variety of ciders and rum and coke. I would be kind of skeptical, too. That’s why I went ahead and checked out some beer reviewing sites, just to make sure I wasn’t skewing it too much because it tastes like soda.
On Beer Advocate, it received a score of 94 (which I hear is pretty impressive). Reading through the comments, people either loved it or (some) hated it. The people who didn’t like it mostly seemed bothered by the fact that it tasted like root beer. I’m not sure what they were expecting…
Someone on RateBeer.com (which also gave it a great rating) suggested putting it over ice cream. My dad and I thought the same thing — this would make an awesome root beer float! People seemed overall more positive about the drink on this site (probably because none of them were whining about the fact that it tasted like root beer and not beer).
So, I guess what it comes down to is this:
If you’re expecting something hoppy that tastes vaguely of sarsaparilla, prepare to be disappointed. This doesn’t taste like beer.
If you’re looking for alcoholic root beer, you’ve come to the right place.
If your local stores don’t carry it and can’t or won’t order it in for you, this might be the perfect opportunity to make your pilgrimage to Western New York! It’s really pretty, this time of year, albeit humid. Enjoy a Not Your Father’s Root Beer while relaxing on the shore of one of our many lakes, or while sitting at a small town café. We’re a historic state with lots of cool stuff to see. We also have quite a few microbreweries and wineries of our own.
Shameless plugs for my state aside, this stuff is really good, in my opinion. More than one is a little too sweet for me, but, for a beer, I would definitely say this is perfect. Then again, I like root beer and can’t stand the taste of hops, sooooooooo, call me an uncultured youngun… and I won’t tell you you’re wrong. I’d definitely say you should try this, though. Especially if you like soda.
