Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream

I really enjoyed my first Henry Weinhard's soda (which was their root beer), so I was hoping this would live up to that:

 

Brand: Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream

Origin: Fort Worth, TX.

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

Sweetener: Sucrose and Honey.

Review: This was just OK. The vanilla was OK, but there was a slight syrupiness that was slightly off-putting. There was a nice floral hint to it. Overall, it was just "fine" - nothing great.

In my review of Henry Weinhard's Root Beer, I noted that it had a touch of honey that was surprisingly nice and subtle, and it worked well with the root beer. Well, there's another little touch of honey in this soda, but it doesn't work with the vanilla as well. It's just a bit odd. Sorry.

Score: 5 out of 10.

 

Henry Weinhard's Black Cherry Cream

I celebrated a final "work week" before finals with a soda in class today:

Before any of my students showed up. Obviously.

Brand: Henry Weinhard's Black Cherry Cream.

Origin: Fort Worth, TX.

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

Sweetener: Sucrose.

Review: This was QUITE creamy. I think I may have tasted the creaminess before actually tasting the black cherry. It was nearly too much. The black cherry part of it had a good deep flavor, but it was paired with this intense creaminess. I don't think it was bad, but it was just a bit more than I expected. I didn't "chug" this, but it was very "sip-able" throughout the morning in my classroom. Not bad. Different. CREAMY.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Sprecher Diamond Lychee Soda

"Lychee" is one of those flavors that I couldn't describe to you, but I'd know it if I tasted it. With that "knowledge" (or lack there-of), I cracked into this earlier today before class:

I didn't know anything about Sprecher's "Diamond" line, but I found these fancier sodas in a Reddit thread:

Brand: Sprecher Diamond Lychee Soda.

Origin: Glendale, WI.

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

Sweetener: Sugar, Sucrose, and Raw Wisconsin Honey.

Review: This was sweet and smooth. There's a slight fruitiness to it that makes it quite drinkable. The "lychee" flavor is what I'd expected (sorry, I can't define that flavor well, but THIS was IT). There was a slight harshness in it's aftertaste, but that's the only negative thing I can say. I'd be excited to find those other 3 "diamond" sodas shown above.

Oh, and being it's Sprecher, I'm not surprised that honey is one of it's sweeteners.  They use honey a LOT (from what I can recall). This had THREE sweeteners, so it was good and sweet, but not TOO sweet.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Blenheim Ginger Ale

I opened this earlier today:

It's a bit hard to make out, but the white stuff that's settled on the bottom is real ginger bits.

Brand: Blenheim Ginger Ale

Origin: Hamer, South Carolina.

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

Sweetener: Sucrose.

Review: Sometimes, Ginger Ale has too much of a kick in the back of my throat. I think you know what I'm talking about. This had that kick, but it wasn't as intense, and it was a bit smoother than other Ginger Ales that I've had. I'm still not a major fan of Ginger sodas, but this wasn't bad. I'll rank this just above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Steve Q's Homemade Root Beer

Last weekend, I had my first homemade root beer since about 5th grade.

Foam cups and 2 liters of root beer in the grass on a Fall day.

It was from Steve Q, who I met about 2 years ago through my triathlon / running blog. Since then, we've met-up at a few races.  He knew my wife and I were going to be cheering at the Monster Dash race, so he met us with his root beer. Apparently, both Steve and I are BIG root beer fans.

The first thing I noticed is that it hardly had ANY head in Steve's root beer. He said that people making their own root beer have to add some weird things to add foam, and he'd rather keep "weird thing" out. The best thing he asked before he let me try any of it was "You're not allergic to much... are you?" I knew I was in for a treat.

Brand: "389" (named for the bottle Steve mixes it in, which was used in an analytical chemistry lab in the 1980s)

Origin: Maplewood, MN.

Purchase Place: Not purchased anywhere... just consumed in the blvd along Summit Ave last weekend.

Sweetener: Sucrose.

Review: Thick, flavorful, and delicious. (Notice the ring it left in the cup in the photo above.) It could have used some foam, but it was still REALLY good.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.