A&W Root Beer Float

My family and I tried this recently:

Brand: A&W Root Beer Float.

Origin: Plano, TX.

Purchase Place: Target, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: I was excited for this. I mean "root beer float?!?" That sounds great! How could they screw this up?

... but they screwed this up. It was harshly odd. The root beer flavor was good, but then the "float" flavor was an oddly sharp vanilla addition to this soda. No thanks. No one in my family cared for it. We were kind of shocked. It wasn't HORRIBLE, but it just wasn't good.

Score: 4 out of 10.

"Reverse" Root Beer Float

This is WILD... I might have to try this:


Direct link: youtu.be/VgGTYOmoUtY

"Root Beer Float" Shave Ice At Remix!

My family swung into Remix on Marshall Ave in St. Paul this afternoon just before they closed. We heard they have shave ice (and not "shaveD ice"), and people have been saying good things about it. So we had to try it! It was the first time we were back inside after they re-opened their doors since the pandemic started (they were always open from a counter to the street, but it was our first time stepping inside in nearly 3 years):

My wife looking at goodies.

Their shave ice menu posted outside. LOTS of options!

My wife spotted a root beer variety pack and may have picked it up as another last-minute Father's Day present...

Behold! The "Root Beer Float" shave ice! It's HUGE!

Showing the inside after a few minutes of eating.

Charlie got a medium grape and cherry with a side of boba. TASTY.

Henry got a Cookie Coma shave ice!

On that big "shave ice" menu, I want to try "Unicorns Are Real," "Wizard's Brew," and maybe "OG Snowball." As we were there, the boys picked up 2 small bags of assorted candy (from all the bins you see on the right in the first photo), and my wife picked up 2 blocks of cheese. We can't wait to go back for more shave ice!

Check out Remix at 2042 Marshall Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55104. Open Wed - Sun from noon - 5 pm. (For now... the owner hinted that hours could get a little extended through the summer.)

Trying Barq's Frozen Root Beer and Vanilla Ice Cream Float

About exactly a year ago, I posted about seeing that these things exist, but I noted I couldn't find them anywhere. Recently, my wife brought 2 cases of 8 home from Aldi:

It's kind of like a push up where you peel off the top.

A light squeeze makes it slowly rise up.

So it's creamy ice cream mixed in with a root beer flavored ice cream. It's pretty good! Both of my boys loved them! And I thought they were a nice size: just 3 oz and 90 calories.  (And sorry for the speck of paint on my hand in that last photo... I was painting some of my siding, which is why my wife thought of grabbing some root beer and ice cream treats for me.)

Barq's Frozen Root Beer and Vanilla Ice Cream Float

So I just found out that THIS exists this summer:

I need to find these. Although, there are 24 in there, and I *could* go a bit overboard and have... I dunno... like 24 of these at a time. So I'll need to watch myself.

Right now, I can only find them on Instacart.

O-Zell Root Beer Float Soda

I cracked into this yesterday:

Brand: O-Zell Root Beer Float.

Origin: Silver Lake, California.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park.

Sweetener: Hawaiian Cane Sugar.

Review: This smelled like a super smooth root beer, but tasted much different. I can see (taste) what they were going for, but there's an odd off-taste and "sharpness" at the end of each sip. The root beer flavor was just OK, and the fake ice cream taste wasn't great. I get it - this would be a hard flavor to create. But this wasn't that good.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Rating Our State Fair Treats!

Yesterday, my boys and I went to the Minnesota State Fair.  Here's a quick rundown of the 9 treats we had while I was there (with my standard scoring system of 1=crap, 5=average, and 10=the best thing ever).

FOOD #1: Soft pretzel from the place next to the sheep barn: delicious.  SCORE: 7.

FOOD #2: Deep-fried Spam bites. OK, but nothing spectacular. SCORE: 5.

FOOD #3: Deep-fried olives stuffed with cream cheese. I'm not a huge olive fan,
but these were GOOD. My Dad loved them. SCORE: 8.5.

FOOD #4: Ice cream sandwich (free at the end of the kid's "farmhand experience").
It's a standard ice cream sandwich. SCORE: 5.

FOOD #5: Gizmo (Italian bun stuffed with sausage, beef, and cheese).
Good seasoning. Good flavor. Cheesy goodness! SCORE: 7.

FOOD #6: Deep-fried grilled cheese bites from O'Garas. AMAZING. Really cheesy
and not super bready. These rival cheese curds. Really. SCORE: 9.

We HAD to stop for honey sticks in the Horticulture building. They're 4 for a $1.

FOOD #7: Henry's eating a root beer honey stick, and I had a clover honey and wildflower honey stick. SCORE: 6.

FOOD #8: Seriously some of the best mini donuts I've ever had. This was right next to the Kiddie Midway,
and I think it was Tiny Tim donuts (maybe Tom Thumbs - I'm not sure). SCORE: 8.5.

FOOD #9: Cotton Candy on the way home. Just normal cotton candy. SCORE: 5.

Oh, and I didn't have any soda at the fair this year, but I passed 2 or 3 of these root beer barrels:

And I NEARLY stopped for a 1919 root beer float on the way to the exit.

I Instagrammed this photo of our 9 fair foods.

For me, the olives were the big surprise, and the deep fried grilled cheese bites were my favorite. But the mini-dounts were a close 2nd!

Here's a quick post from the State Fair in 2013, here are some photos from Henry's and my visit to the State Fair in 2014, and a few photos from 2015.  In 2013, it was my 100th post; in 2014, it was my 199th; and in 2015, it was my 299th. This year, it's my 409th post. Upping the pace a bit I guess.  :)

Hard Root Beer Float (Best Damn Root Beer)

Last month, I tried the new hard root beer "Best Damn Root Beer," and I really didn't care for it. But I promised that I'd try it as a root beer float because that could be better. And I was right. Barely.

NOT the best (as I noted in this post)

As a HARD root beer float.

I tried this with my soon-to-be brother-in-law Matt. Neither of us LOVE beer, so admittedly, we're maybe not the best reviewers of a root beer / beer hybrid. We didn't care for the root beer float that much. It was OK with bites of the ice cream, but neither of us drank the creamy hard root beer that was left once the ice cream was gone. It had a odd sharpness to it that was no good. I initially gave Best Damn Root Beer a 2.5 out of 10, and I'd have to give this root beer float at 3 out of 10. Still not good.

Score: 3 out of 10.

(Here's my initial review of Best Damn Root Beer if you missed it.)

National Root Beer Float Day!

TODAY is "National Root Beer Float" day. If you need an excuse to crack open a root beer, this is it.

I found an article online sharing 5 "grown up" versions of root beer floats to try today.  SPOILER ALERT: it's basically just adding different shots to your root beer float.  But click here to check out the article to try something different.  Happy ROOT BEER FLOAT Day!

The "root canal float" seen in this article.

Rocket Fizz Root Beer Float

I opened this up today as I relaxed after a big night last night:

Brand: Rocket Fizz Root Beer Float

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: When it first touched my lips, I got the "root beer FLOAT" taste - it was root beer with an extra creaminess. But the rest of it sucked. It then had a sharpness to it that was awful, and it tasted a bit chemically. It was heavy, thick, and just tasted horrible. I couldn't finish the bottle.

Score: 2 out of 10.

Root Beer Float in Mankato

When we were visiting family in Mankato yesterday, we stopped at "Mom and Pop's" Ice Cream Shop for a snack. My son and I enjoyed a Root Beer Float:

Henry and I made short work of this 1919 root beer and homemade vanilla ice cream!

We stopped at Mom and Pop's a year ago for the first time - nice place to have a snack!