Thomas Kemper Low Calorie Root Beer

It had been years since I had "regular" Thomas Kemper root beer. So it was time to try their low calorie version:

Brand: Thomas Kemper Low Calorie Root Beer.

Origin: Portland, OR.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Honey and Sucralose.

Review: This was listed as 20 calories, so I looked at the ingredients list: it had sucralose as it's "main" sweetener, but it also had honey. I've had mixed reactions to honey in root beer. But this was OK. It was REALLY creamy (almost to a fault), and the flavor was OK: the honey added a unique sweetness to it, but it wasn't bad. It was a bit herby, but sure not over-the-top. I liked this WAY more than the regular Thomas Kemper's Root Beer. It was unique and decent. Not bad!

Score: 7 out of 10.

Thomas Kemper Black Cherry

I was in the mood for some Black Cherry last night:

This was my 2nd time trying a Thomas Kemper soda. The first ended really, really poorly - I shared some Thomas Kemper soda with some students of mine, and they sent me some funny (and appropriate) mini-reviews over twitter.  Check out that horrible review and their tweets here.

This Black Cherry wasn't fantastic, but it sure ranked better than their first review of mine from 2013.


Brand: Thomas Kemper Black Cherry.

Origin: Portland, OR.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar and Honey.

Review: Not bad. Not great, but not bad. I could really taste the honey, which didn't quite fit in a black cherry soda. The black cherry flavor and a boldness and slight sharpness to the end of it, but overall it was relatively smooth. If you're a big honey fan, maybe try this. Otherwise, I think you'll just say "Ehh… unique but just OK."

Score: 6 out of 10.

Thomas Kemper Root Beer

This past week, I was heading to a impromptu "Photo Lab" party where I work. (One of my work-study students brought a former student back to visit, and a few people were gathering to catch-up and party.) So I thought I'd bring some beverages.

I saw some Thomas Kemper Root Beer at Kowalski's, and someone commented on this post that it was good and I should try it. It's a "higher end" root beer. So I grabbed a 4-pack to share.

Because some of those students knew about my "root beer blog," I told them to tweet me their reviews and I'd post them. Here's what they all said:


Michelle said "that pop, soda, or whatever foul beverage that was- tasted like what pop will taste like when the world ends. #apoptolyptic" [spelling fail]

Jake said "there was something wrong with that pop."

Liz said "it tasted like root beer. But with a specialness to it. It was like roots and beer. With a ginger root-y-ness too. #forreals"

Sawyer said "If i had rank that rootbeer on a taste scale of 1 to 10 I'd rank it an overly frosted turd."

Elly said "The RB was pretty good. I thought it was a little sweet at first, but it had a nice flavor that lasted for a while."  And in a 2nd tweet, she added "and also it's sweetened with honey which I thought was pretty cool."


So obviously Elly was the only one who was a little impressed, and Liz thought it was OK as well. But Sawyer nailed it on the head.

Brand: Thomas Kemper Root Beer.

Origin: Portland, OR.

Purchase Place: Kowalski's Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar, maltodextrin, and Honey.

Review: It tastes strange from the first sip. I first described it as "burnt brown sugar." You can taste the honey, but that has a burnt taste as well. There's a mix of smooth and bite that was good, but that's ALL that was good. I think this was the first root beer that I didn't finish.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.