Adult Root Beer Tasting

Hard root beer has become a growing thing around hear and so I took some time to track down a few varieties and give them a try.

The Best Damn Root Beer You Ever Had was an assault to the tastebuds.  It tasted vile and had virtually no traditional root beer flavor.  The creators seem to think that calling it root beer and adding an alcohol content will satisfy a large portion of adult drinkers.  That and the clever packaging will probably get them quite a few sales.  The beverage tasted most similar to Thomas Kemper, that is it tasted harsh and bitter.  It had a smell of bubble gum and hint of it in the flavor as well.  The alcohol flavor overpowered everything else.  Overall the flavors are completely unbalanced an unredeemable.  I do not recommend trying this root beer unless you like wasting money.  (I was unable to finish even half a bottle.)


Coney Island Brewing Co has created a decent hard root beer.  They advertise it as an ale with added flavors.  The smell is what you would expect from a manufactured root beer, subdued.  The root beer was sweet and delicate to taste.  There's a definite taste of beer in the after taste.  It's stronger than I would like, as I don't like beer, but the root beer flavor is delicious and lingers longer on the tongue than the beer taste.  This is one worth trying, especially if you like beer and ale.


NW Atomic Root Beer advertises itself as hard cider with spices to make it taste like root beer.

Verdict on Homebrew #3

The flavor of this batch is the best yet by far.  I'm not sure why this is, but it's the first batch to have a nice head.  The flavor was full, diverse, and dessert-y.  The robust flavor profile filled the pallet with unique flavors - flavors that you wouldn't get out of an over the counter bottle of root beer.  The yeasty flavor that I've complained about in the past was not present in the majority of the bottles (we did have a half bottle that had an overpowering yeasty flavor).  We believe the dessert-y taste is coming primarily from the Star Anise and the Molasses.  Each of our guests enjoyed it enough to take multiple bottles home.

The flavor is still not where I would want it personally, but I feel like we're narrowing in on perfection.

Home Brewing Round Three

Our second attempt at making root beer turned out to be very tasty.  We had a bunch of people over for a board game night and served fresh root beer.  Everyone enjoyed it and we even sent some bottles home with our friends.  My wife and I had some objection to the yeasty flavor that was still present but the root beer flavor itself was great.

For Round 3 we used the same recipe as last time (full batch) with a couple modifications:

*Star Anise was cut in half

*1oz of Dandelion Root was added

*Ale yeast was replaced with liquid English Dry yeast

The pre-carbonated flavor tasted exactly like a bitter root beer.  The flavor was the closest I've experienced to over the counter root beer to date.  It isn't the flavor I like in root beer, I prefer creamy and rich, but the fact is we're getting closer and closer to understanding what each element does to the overall flavor.  I think the flavor I'm not enjoying in this batch is the molasses.  If the same flavors are there after carbonation, I'll experiment with dropping the molasses from the mix in the next batch.

Because we were using a liquid yeast we had to change the method of incorporation.  I strained the mixture through cheese cloth and back into the stock pots.  Instead of putting the yeast directly into bottles, it was incorporated into the mix while still in the stock pots.  I used a submersion blender to mix it in and then filled up the bottles with the mix.  The carbonation process took about a day longer than it has in the past.  I don't know whether this is due to the type of yeast, the method of incorporation, the amount of yeast used, or the fact that the yeast was a bit past its best by date.  Further experimentation is required.

Home Brewing Round Two

We were more than a little disheartened when the first two recipes came out as gross as they did.  Both of the recipes came out tasting very much like beer and not much at all like root beer.  That and how hard it was to find more information about brewing root beer online made us forget about this for a time.  In the year and half break that we've taken, a lot more websites and information about brewing have appeared on the internet.  That and my love of Root Beer have brought us back to trying to make it from scratch again.

The time my wife and I decided to try a recipe we found on youtube.  Check out the full video instructions from DybrnSoda here.  Here's our slightly modified instructions:

Ingredients

16 quarts water (6 for brewing 10 for cooling)

3 lbs Honey

2 Star Anise

1 True Cinnamon Stick

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1 oz Sasparilla Root

1 oz Sassafras Bark

1 oz Wild Cherry Bark

16 Dried Juniper Berries

1/2 cup Molasses

6 cups Sugar

1 Madagascar Vanilla Bean

1/4 cup Chopped Rasins

1/8 tsp Nutmeg

1 oz Dried Wintergreen Leaves

Around 200 grains of Cooper's Ale Yeast

Directions

Place 6 quarts water in a large pot and set to high.  As the water begins to heat up add the honey, star anise, cinnamon, salt, various barks, molasses, sugar, vanilla bean, raisins, nutmeg, and juniper berries.  Boil uncovered for approximately 90 minutes.

Remove from heat.  Once the boiling has ceased, add the wintergreen.  Add the remaining water to cool off the mixture.  This helps cool the mixture much more quickly.  You want the temperature to be between 60-95 degrees so that fermentation can begin when you add the yeast.  Once the mixture is within that range, strain through a filter into your bottles.  Leave at least twice as much room in the bottle for air than you would find in a bottle at the store.  Add 7 grains of yeast for every 15 oz of fluid in your bottle.

Yield 

15 quarts of homemade root beer.

Commentary

We halved the recipe with goal of a much more manageable 7 quart yield.  A brief taste test at then end of steeping revealed an very sweet fruity flavor.  It was very similar to Apple Cider.  That's not exactly the flavor I'd expect, but we'll see what the carbonating process does to change this.

Our issues with yeasty flavor last time had us looking at all the options.  We attempted to get on Ringwood Ale Yeast.  Which is supposed to have a fruitier flavor, hopefully more suitable to our palates.  Unfortunately, when we ordered it the company we ordered from on Amazon was out.  So we asked them to recommend a different yeast for root beer.  They recommended several alternatives including:  English Dry, British Ale, traditional liquid champagne yeast, and even a sweet mead yeast.  We went with English Dry, but it didn't arrive in time for us to use it with this batch, so we'll try it on our next batch.

That's all for now!

Verdict

Steph & tried the two root beers and they are GROSS!  We did discover that the second method seems to be a bit more refined so we will make some creative ventures using that method.  More later...

Making the Brew

We decided to make two batches of root beer with two very different methods of brewing.  

First we measured out all the ingredients and put them in a bowl.  The smell wasn't strong as most of the ingredients are dry.

Next we brought two quarts of water to a boil and then added in the ingredients.  Instant Root Beer smell!  We then simmered it for 20 minutes let the temperature fall to about 75 degrees, strained it, and yeasted it.  Lastly we bottled it.

We were left with quite a bit of ingredients at the end which we put into an open air container and let the root beer aroma fill our apartment.  It makes for a great potpourri! 

Our second method used a lot less ingredients and some very different ingredients.  We had star of anise and vanilla bean in this recipe.  

This recipe called for putting the ingredients into the pot before bringing it to a boil.  Then we simmered with a closed lid for 10 minutes and then removed it from the heat.  We then let it steep for 2 hours with the lid on before straining it.  We added two more quarts of water, waited a few minutes for the temperature to fall to 75 degrees and then added yeast.  We mixed it up and then bottled it.

Yeast is used to make the carbonation.  So the process takes 2-3 days for the yeast to carbonate the root beer and then it must be stuck in the fridge to kill off the yeast and stop the carbonation process.  In total it takes about 5 days from brewing for the beverage to be ready for consumption.  We did this all on Sunday so tonight or tomorrow night will be our first taste test of our homemade brews.

Home Brewing Round One

 My beautiful wife has decided that our date night this week will be our first (and hopefully not last) attempt at making Root Beer from scratch.  I have wanted to do this for a long time and lamented the fact that most "home brew" kits include a "Root Beer Extract" syrup for making the brew.  This is unacceptable.  How can you adjust the flavor of the brew in the flavor has been predetermined by the syrup you're given to make the brew?  

To fix this problem, Steph tracked down the raw ingredients necessary to make Root Beer from scratch.  Shortly we will begin mixing ingredients into a truly home grown Root Beer.  

We've decided to take the very first recipe from the internet over at Nourished Kitchen.

Ingredients 


1/4 cup sassafras root bark 


1/4 cup winter green leaf 


2 tablespoons sarsaparilla root 


1 tablespoon licorice root 


1 tablespoon ginger root 


1 tablespoon dandelion root 


1 tablespoon hops flowers 


1 tablespoon birch bark 


1 tablespoon wild cherry tree bark 


1 teaspoon juniper berries 


1 cinnamon stick 


1 cup unrefined cane sugar 


1/2 cup ginger bug or fresh whey or 1 packet kefir starter culture

We couldn't find hops flowers so we're substituting more winter green leaf.  Instead of using ginger bug/fresh whey/ or kefir starter culture we're using the Ale Yeast.  This recipe should yield 2 quarts worth of (hopefully) amazing Root Beer.

The process takes a few hours to brew but about a week before we can taste it.  So we'll report back in a week and let you know the verdict.

For those of you looking to make your own home brews we found the following sites to be full of great information:

Do it Yourself

Homemade Soda Company

Nourished Kitchen

I LOVE ROOT BEER!

Let me make this clear, I love root beer.  I used to live in Spokane, WA where I discovered a couple small local soda shops that sold hundreds of options of soda.  Between them we were able to try around 20 different root beers.

One of my friends, Nick, suggested that we do a blind Root Beer Taste Test.  So about 8 years ago, we did a blind taste test with 11 root beer brands.  To ensure unbiased testing, each beverage was chilled for at least 24 hours, we used plastic cups, and we had chips in between tests to clear our pallet.  The results were varied, but the four of us had the same top 3 (though 2 and 3 flip flopped on some lists). Mine were:

1) Henry Weinharts
2) Bulldog
3) Stewarts

Shockingly, everyone had their first canned root beer as their 4th highest ranked drink (though each of us had a different canned root beer).  Since then, my love for Root Beer has only grown.

Two years ago, I bought a house and invited friends over for my house warming.  Of course, my house warming had to be different, so I made it into a Root Beet Taste Test.  I brought in 12 bottled Root Beers and had them try them out using the same rules as before.  Some of the best finds that year were:

1) Sprecher
2) Barrel Brothers

Oddly, we had one taster who was on a strange diet during this test and could not partake in soda at that time.  Instead, he used his nose and only his nose to determine his thoughts on each drink.  His final ranking of the root beers was almost identical to the majority of the feedback at the end.  Quite crazy.

My guests loved the house warming.  The goal quickly became to make it a yearly adventure with year two being canned root beer, and year three being a hybrid of the best of canned and bottled with a couple duds and a couple new brews.  Unfortunately, life happened, and we haven't been able to finish this project at this time.  But the plan is still in place and we may continue it soon.

I now live in Bellevue, WA where we have The Root Beer Store with over 100 brands of Root Beer.  The purpose of this blog is to record thoughts gained from various blind Root Beer Tastings and experiments in home brewed Root Beer.