Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Barrel Brothers Root Beer

Every so often you come across something that has a catchy label or name. So it is with Barrel Brothers, a product from the makers of Apple Beer. The label art and name are catchy, no doubt about it and the Root Beer itself isn't bad. It has a wicked nice head to it that sticks around for quite some time. A nice aroma of vanilla with a draft Root Beer tone. The unfortunate aspect of this brew comes from the use of HFCS and some rather oddball ingredients. It has ascorbic acid in it as well as calcium lactate..perhaps that accounts for the creaminess. There's a lot of un-Root Beer-ish stuff in here, but this Root Beer still manages to be decent, despite the odd aftertastes and dry quality. If you're offered one - take it - but don't drive long distances or pay lots of money to get one. Barrel Brothers is a decent Root Beer and the head is just fantastic, but there's just nothing that stands out other than the label and that's just not enough to carry it through.

Ingredients:

Carbonated Water
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Natural and Artificial Flavors
Caramel Color
Yucca Extract
Phosphoric Acid
Sodium Benzoate
Potassium Zorbate
Ascorbic Acid
Calcium Lactate

Aroma: Old Style Draft with some Vanilla
Head: Wicked Nice Head! Creamy and long lasting!
Carbonation: A soft and understated carbonation.
Root Beer Flavour: Sweet and draft-ish. There is a dry quality to this brew.
Mouthfeel: Really creamy in the mouth feel. Nice!
Sweetness: Distinctive HFCS sweetness. It lingers in the aftertaste.
Aftertaste: Lingering HFCS aftertaste with a hint of Root Beer flavour. Mostly sweetness, tho.
Overall: Not bad, not great. Just a strange Root Beer with some oddity to it due to the added ingredients. The Apple Beer folks should know that ascorbic acid is a no-no, tho.

I give Barrel Brothers a 5/10 or a C.


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2 comments:

Mike Kole said...

I just had one of these. Biggest, creamiest head I have ever had in aroot beer. I tasted a little too much vanilla in this for my liking (think A&W), but the creaminess gave an awesome mouth feel. Fun to drink!

Dale E. Shealy said...

I am also a root beer fan but an even bigger collector of beer and soda bottle caps. I've never tried one of these Barrel Bros. root beers as it's a regional brand that is not sold here in SC, but I think that the bottle cap is as neat as I've seen. I recently wrote to the Apple Beer Brewery and asked for a few of their Barrel Bros. crowns for my collection and they sent me a couple Apple beer crowns(that I didn't ask for) and one badly scratched up Barrel Bros. crown(that I did ask for). If anyone has a few of these Barrel Bros. crowns in nice unscratched condition, I'd be happy to reimburse you for the postage. Please send to: Dale E. Shealy, 69 Oak Hill Rd., Prosperity, SC 29127