Iron Horse Root Beer

I opened this earlier today as I was doing some grading: 

Brand: Iron Horse Root Beer.

Origin: Edina, MN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Invert Sugar.

Review: In my mind, there as 2 "classic" root beer tastes: one that super creamy and smooth, and one that's got a bit of an anise bite. This is the latter. This has a full flavor and still has some creamy notes, but then it ends with a nice anise bite. It's a little much for me (I'm not huge on very anisey flavors), but still decent. For a second I was ready to say that this was a good hybrid of "smooth and bite," but there's WAY more anise flavor compared to the smoothness. I thought it was OK, but it'd be great for someone who prefers a bit more anise.

Score: 6 out of 10.

 

Cream Soda Tasting at Blue Sun Soda

Yesterday, my boys and I headed to another free tasting event at Blue Sun Soda Shop. It was similar to the tasting the 3 of us went to 2 months ago: they just set out some sodas and some mini-cups, and you can sample them all.

The "event banner" from Blue Sun Soda's Facebook page.

Cream Sodas: Dad's, Fiz, Iron Horse, Sioux City, North Star, Tower, and Henry Weinhard.

The "voting" table: take a bottle cap (far right) and put it in the cup that you
thought was best. They even had a roll of "I voted" stickers to put on (left foreground).

My oldest and I both agreed that Sioux City was our favorite, and my youngest voted for Dad's. I remember the North Star being very creamy (it was called "Vanilla Creme"), and I think it was Henry Weinhard's that had an odd sharpness. Fiz was decent.

Some new "kiddie cocktail" sodas made right at Blue Sun Soda.

All the flavors of "fresh" soda at the soda counter at Blue Sun Soda.

My boys and I split a fresh Root Beer. It was good! My oldest got
a tear in his eye because he said it was SOOO carbonated.

I also stocked up on root beers. I had a few sodas in the basement before this trip to Blue Sun, but only 1 of them was a root beer. I took my time looking through their root beer selection, and I picked up 7 new ones (and 6 other sodas to bring home a baker's dozen). I think I've now had (or have just purchased) EVERY root beer at Blue Sun Soda Shop! Oh no! I'll need to find some new root beers somewhere else soon...

Iron Horse Diet Root Beer

After a big day yesterday, I came home and had this:

Brand: Iron Horse Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Edina, MN.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: In typical diet soda fashion, this was a bit weak and watery. The flavor was pretty good - it had a pretty rich head, but then it dwindled away too quick. Decent flavor, but too weak in the end. I'll give it an average score.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Iron Horse Diet Root Beer

I was at school grading projects yesterday, and I took this with me:

Brand: Iron Horse Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Edina, MN.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This was thin and a bit weak as diet sodas can be, but the flavor was pretty good. There was a hint to wintergreen, and it was pretty smooth. I wish it had a deeper flavor, but it wasn't bad for a diet.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Iron Horse Cream Soda

Yesterday I had the worst cream soda of my life:

Brand: Iron Horse Cream Soda.

Origin: Edina, MN.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was bad. You know the sharpness that unsweetened carbonated water has? It tasted like that only slightly more "brown." It was not creamy like a cream soda should be. I couldn't drink the whole bottle.

Score: 1.5 out of 10.

Iron Horse Black Cherry Soda

I was recently in the mood for some cherry:

Brand: Iron Horse Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: Edina, MN.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was a very creamy black cherry soda, but it stopped just shy of being considered a cream soda. It was good, but nothing super fantastic. I'd have this again, especially if I were in the mood for something relatively creamy.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.