Swamp Pop

I just got back from camping in Forestville State Park with my family. I took 2 sodas along to enjoy. Here was the first, and it was GOOD:

My wife looking at photos with my youngest son on the left, and
a pan from me cooking supper on the open fire to the right.

Brand: Swamp Pop.

Origin: Lafayette, Louisiana.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I had no idea what flavor to expect. But it ended up being a good, rich, deep, sweet, cola. There was a nice fruitiness to it. My wife took a sip and nailed it on the head when she said "it tastes like the 'cola' flavored Bottlecaps candy, but not at ALL artificial." It was REALLY good - one of the better sodas I've had lately, and probably in my top-3 colas. Check this one out!

Score: 9.5 out of 10.
 

Fest Pecan Root Beer

I brought this with me to class today, and tried it out after I got done expanding the minds of my students:

Brand: Fest Pecan Root Beer.

Origin: New Orleans, LA.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I don't love or hate pecans, so I was curious what I'd think of this root beer. Verdict: it wasn't great. I see what they were going for with the pecan flavor, but it tasted a lot like coffee. I had a hard time concentrating on where the root beer flavor was. If a smooth, nutty/coffee flavored soda sounds good to you, then check this out. Otherwise, stay away. I didn't like it at all, and I couldn't finish it.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Abita Root Beer

Now that I'm back from sampling 2 sodas in Israel (here and here), it was time for some root beer:

Brand: Abita Root Beer.

Origin: Abita Springs, Louisiana.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: No beating around the bush: this is one of the best root beers that I've had in recent memory. Actually, it's THEE best in recent memory, and one of my favorites of all time. The sweetness from the Louisiana cane sugar can't be beat. There's a great smoothness to this root beer, and just a little bite (just the perfect amount of bite for my taste). This goes down easy and tastes great.

After well over 100 reviews on this blog, I've never given a "perfect 10" before. But I could NOT taste anything wrong with this - it was everything that was right with the world. I can't wait to get my hands on another bottles of this!

Score: 10 out of 10!

Sent from a friend: Dr. McGillicuddy's Root Beer

I received a strange / awesome e-mail at the end of last month:

Hey Steve, I was at Buffalo Trace bourbon distillery today and they had some root beer for sale (made by their patent company). Naturally, your root beer blog was the first thing that came to mind.

I hope this isn't weird or stalkerish, but I'd like to send it to you.

After a couple shots of bourbon, it seemed like a fine idea, but now that I think about it I'm not sure I'd go giving out my address to just anybody.

So if you're okay with it, where should I send it?

Thanks!
Matt [aka LagerJogger]

I gave this kind stranger my home address, and soon I had a delicious box labeled "FRAGILE / LIQUID" sitting on my porch.

In front of our toaster oven with a pizza inside.  Perfection.

I've had Dr. McGillicuddy's Vanilla Liqueur before...

(Image source)

... but I didn't know they also made root beer.


Brand: Dr. McGillicuddy's Root Beer.

Origin: New Orleans, Louisiana.

Purchase Place: Mailed from a friend from Buffalo Trace Distillery.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Sweetener and/or Cane Sugar.

Review: This was nice and smooth. It had a strong vanilla taste which I like, but it wasn't overpowering. The "bite" was different, but good - it wasn't from anise or wintergreen, but it was from birch. (I still haven't tried any birch beers, but this makes me want to.) My wife maybe loved it more than me, and I thought it was pretty fantastic. It's a relatively classic taste with a bit of a unique bite, but not too "out there." Go try it!

Score: 9 out of 10.