Virgil's Root Beer

It's been a year since my last review, but quite frankly, there hasn't been much to review. Until now.

The new year brought some new choices to our little snack shop here on campus, and this one caught my eye immediately.

Mostly because of the picture of the heavily bearded man on the front offering three large mugs of root beer to a few children - who, as you can see, are on the edge of their seats.

As with Boylan's, Virgil's has a highly "old fashioned" ingredient list:

Carbonated Water

Unbleached Cane Sugar

Caramelized Unrefined Cane Sugar

Herbs

Spices, and Citric Acid.

The blurb on the back of the bottle talks about the history of the company, how it began in 1916, and how they use a unique blend of Wintergreen, Anise, and Nutmeg.

I never put that combination together in my head, but now that it's exposed, it makes perfect sense. The next time you get a good bottle of root beer, think lifesaver, licorice, and eggnog.

Virgil's is a great blend. One of my biggest complaints with the leading brands are how much citric acid and carbonation they add. Virgil's seems to get it right. Not too much bite, just enough. I mean, I know, Barq's has bite, but I don't want to bleed to death.

Their site has a great description

Frostop Premium Root Beer

This one caught my eye for two reasons.

First, it is a 16oz. bottle, which, if tasty and delicious, will provide me with 4 extra ounces of root beery goodness.

Second, it is quite a bit less expensive than a few of its competitors. My previous review - Coopers Cave was $1.79 for a 12 oz bottle. Frostop on the other hand was only $1.41 for a whole 16oz.

Clearly a winner.

The presentation isn't quite as nice as some of the other premium sodas I've tasted - the cap is a screw-off bottle cap instead of a traditional pop off cap, and there's an "and/or" in the ingredient list, which is just silly.

Speaking of ingredients, here's the rundown:

Carbonated Water
Sugar *and/or Corn Sweeteners
Caramel Color
Natural and Artificial Flavors
Phosphoric Acid and Sodium Benzoate to preserve freshness.

So, sugar and/or corn sweeteners....

I don't understand how you get to the point where you have to put an and/or on your product. Did they add some to one batch and not to another? Do they use whatever is cheaper at the time? Who knows.

It also doesn't say high fructose corn syrup, just corn sweeteners. So, is high fructose corn syrup considered a corn sweetener? I guess it is. Not that I care about the "fake sugar" that is high fructose corn syrup. Sweet is sweet, in my opinion.

Ok. On to the flavor.

It's decent. Sweeter than I prefer, and doesn't have much of a bite. Unlike Barq's. Barq's has bite. Or so they say. I haven't had one of those in a long time, so I don't remember.

Maybe it just doesn't have enough CO2 in the carbonated water. Maybe that's what it is.

It's just not that spectacular. Not bad, and definitely better than A&W, but not great.


As my wife says "Good not great"

Cooper's Cave

For my next soda, I chose a slightly more expensive variety from the middle of the cold case. It's one of three sodas they carry by Cooper's Cave. This one in particular is called "Dracula's Blood."

First off, I didn't think Dracula had blood. I thought that's why he had to suck yours. So shouldn't it be "Someone else's blood that Dracula stole?"

Either way, it's not blood.

It is high class though. I went to twist off the bottle cap and realized after slicing my palm a few times trying to get it open that it had a genuine pop-off cap, which required a real bottle opener. Thankfully I keep one in my pocket for just such an occasion.

The soda is red. Not blood red, but red nonetheless. It's more strawberry red. Which is why it tastes like one. Not bloody at all.

When I looked for the ingredient list, my strawberry suspicions were confirmed. It reads:

Dracula's Blood Strawberry Soda INGREDIENTS:
Carbonated Filtered Water
Cane Sugar (again, not corn syrup)
natural AND artificial flavors
gum acacia
red 40
citric acid
sodium benzoate as a preservative.

So, basically this soda is not much different than your average except for the sweetener and the redness.

Although there's something distinctive I noticed. Its much less fizzy than your traditional cola. It has the kick of a glass bottle root beer, or a real beer, for that matter.

Interestingly enough, according to the other side of the label, Cooper's Cave also makes Ales and Lagers. Which is perhaps why there's less fizz. And a brown bottle with a non twistie cap.


Bottom line: Dracula's blood tastes like strawberries. With a hint of birch beer. Which is probably made from strawberries. I don't know.

Boylan Vintage Soda Pop

The snack shop where I work has an entire cold case reserved for unique glass bottle sodas. I've been intrigued by them, but they have creepy names like "Butter Beer" and "Cane Cola" so I held off until now.

The first soda I chose was Boylan Bottleworks Sugar Cane Cola. It comes in a glass bottle, with the name Boylan embossed on the surface. Reminds me of the 50's.

Reading the label, I noticed that the ingredient list was short and strange.

Carbonated Water - check
Cane Sugar - check
Natural Flavors - check
Caramel Color - check
Phosphoric Acid - check?
Caffeine (From Coffee) - ????

Anyway, it tastes strange. Like after you leave your coke in the car after getting your favorite fast food, and you come back after an hour in the mall to find all the ice melted into the coke and all the fizz gone. Take that flavor and add the fizz back in. That's what Boylan Cane Cola tastes like.

Although, it does taste sugary, not corn syrupy. Which is strange but good.