Rat Bastard Root Beer

The name alone practically sells this.

The bottle says "tastes like a son of a bitch."
And the upside-down text says "it's us against them."

Close up of the cap.

What does a son of a bitch taste like?  And would I like it?  Am I a dick?


Brand: Rat Bastard Root Beer.

Origin: Los Angeles, CA.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar (and molasses).

Review: It tasted pretty heavy. When I looked at the ingredients, I wasn't surprised to find molasses as the 3rd listed. I need to look back on this blog, but I'm pretty sure I haven't been impressed with molasses in root beer. I noticed a lot of other "hippie crap" on the ingredients list too, and I tend to not be a fan of root beers with a lot of stuff in them - this one had ginseng, jasmine, dong quai, capsicum, ginkgo biloba, etc, etc.

It was middle-of-the-road when it came to "smooth vs bite," but the flavor was just a little heavy-handed. It had a decent sweet aftertaste that I liked. It wasn't horrible, but it sure wasn't that great either.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Dr. Brown's Draft Style Root Beer

My wife had a craving for a ruben with fries the other night, so I headed to Cecil's Deli just down the street in Highland Park to pick up supper.

image source

With my wife's ruben and fries in the background.

Cecil's has a fair amount of individual bottles and cans of root beer and other sodas in their cooler, so I'll have to grab something new every time I'm there.

Brand: Dr. Brown's Draft Style Root Beer.

Origin: College Point, NY.

Purchase Place: Cecil's Deli, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: It had a pretty "classic" root beer flavor. There was just a little bite, and just a nice subtle hint of anise. There could be more vanilla flavor, and it could be a bit more creamy, but it's decent overall. It's not trying to be anything fancy, so even though it's not stellar, I think it's made to please a lot of people. I'll give this just a slightly-better-than-average score...

Score: 6 out of 10.

Boylan's Creamy Red Birch Beer

I've had this in the fridge for the last few days, and I finally cracked into it yesterday:

Brand: Boylan's Creamy Red Birch Beer.

Origin: Teterboro, NJ.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I tried to figure out this flavor. It was VERY creamy, but it still had a slight bite at the end. It tasted like a creamy cola that had a little bit of cherry and vanilla in it. It was different and unique, but it was good and will be pleasing to a lot of people! (Usually, I think unique sodas will be gross to a lot of people and tasty to just a select few, but I feel like this doesn't fit that mold - it's better.) It's a little on the sugary side, but if you're like me and you like sugar, then it's pretty great.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Lark Toys: Lots of Sugar

Last weekend we stopped at Lark Toys in Kellogg, MN, along Hwy 61. (It's know for it's homemade toys and all wooden/carved carousel.) I was there as a kid, but I wanted to stop back. I thought they had soda, but they only had a few kinds in their cafe. What they DID have a lot of was sugary treats:

And a sweet collection of lunch boxes.

Hosmer Mountain Sarsaparilla Root Beer

I opened this up earlier this week:

Brand: Hosmer Mountain Sarsaparilla Root Beer.

Origin: Willimantic, CT.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Review: It says "Sarsaparilla." It says "Root Beer." Well which is it? It definitely was a Root Beer. It had a good vanilla flavor and was verging on creamy, but it was just a bit too weak and watered down. The flavor was good… there just needed to be MORE of it. Or it needed to hit a little harder. This was OK.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Moxie Soda

My 3-week old son and I recently took a walk to find some more soda.

We found that the Frattallone Ace Hardware near us had just been restocked:

Notice the stash I'm starting to build on top of the stroller to the right.

Walking home, loaded up with soda.

At the register, some one asked me "What's Moxie soda?" I said "I don't know - I'll try it on the way home." So that's what I did:

Brand: Moxie Soda.

Origin: Bedford, NH.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: It tasted like a cola, but it had a slight "earthiness" that gave it just a slight root beer vibe. It wasn't bad. It was interesting. Their website says "Moxie has the distinction of being described as both 'a great tasting soda' and 'an acquired taste.'" I see what they're saying. It was good, but nothing amazing. Maybe I need more to acquire it's taste. Ha!

Score: 6 out of 10.

Fentimans Rose Lemonade

My son and I were in Lunds the other day when I stopped by the cold soda section:

I popped it open on the ride home.

I've had a lot of Fentimans "interesting" sodas in the past, but this one was just not good.


Brand: Fentimans Rose Lemonade.

Origin: Burnaby, BC, Canada.

Purchase Place: Lunds, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar and Glucose Syrup.

Review: It smelled like a sweet Lemonade. But it tasted like Lemon Pledge furniture polish. Really. Read that again: it tasted like Lemon Pledge. Nothing about that is a good thing. It was slightly drinkable in small, small sips, but any "normal" sip was horrible. I didn't finish the bottle.

Score: 1.5 out of 10.