Jack Black's Dead Red Root Beer

I cracked into this root beer to have a few sips and then to use it in a pork roast recipe.

Brand: Jack Black's Dead Red Root Beer.

Origin: Gardena, CA?

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was a caffeinated root beer, which is a little rare. It had quite the head, and was pretty smooth. But there was too much caramel flavor for me. If you like smooth and caramelly, then try this. But if you're not a fan of caramel, stay away.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.


(And here's the link to the "recipe" for the "root beer pulled pork" that I made with this root beer.)

Pulled Pork with Root Beer

Earlier today, we made a pork roast with root beer. We bought a fatty shoulder butt roast from Target. WE USUALLY DO A PORK LOIN, AND WE SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH THAT - THIS BUTT ROAST WAS SO FATTY THAT IT WAS A LOT OF WORK. Oh well. Now we know.

This butt roast was $4 off because it was about to expire. So a 4.5 lb roast for $7.

In the crockpot.

Covered in seasoning salt and an onion. About to be doused in root beer.

In goes a bottle of root beer. 

I cooked it on low for about 2 hours, and then on high for about 2 more hours. So 4 hours later, it looked like this:

Ugly, fatty, but tasty!

Shredded pork back in the crock, fat chucks in upper left of jelly roll pan,
shredding meat in the middle, and juices with onions in the bowl to the right.

The fatty roast was a pain to shred. I put all the shredded pork back in the crock, cut up about 3/4 of the onions and added them, and poured in 1/2 to 3/4 of the liquid. I also added some salt and a little more seasoning. After 30 more minutes on low, it was juicy and flavorful:

Finished root beer pork roast!

Like I mentioned at the top, we should have done this with a loin as we've done in the past. This shoulder butt roast was a bit too fatty and much more work. In the past we made a loin much like this with root beer, and once we made BBQ root beer pulled pork that was tasty too.

Jack Black's Blood Red Cola

I bought this soda because of the label:

It wasn't actually red.  That bummed me out.


Brand: Jack Black's Blood Red Cola.

Origin: Gardena, CA?

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, Burnsville, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This has a sharp bite, and I don't care for it a ton. It has a bit of vanilla / ginger flavor, and the kick is just a little too much. The flavor has a hint of cherry (and I LOVE cherry), but this missed the mark for me. It wasn't very "drinkable" - it was something I could sip, but it didn't make me want to take big gulps.

Score: 4 out of 10.