Margo’s Dark Root Beer
My official Root Beer Boot Mug is on a ship, carefully packed in layers of bubble wrap, and thus I’m unable to continue with my normal method of reviewing brews. A frozen State Farm Insurance mug will have to do.
To be honest, I didn’t know a whole lot about Margo’s Dark Root Beer, except that I expected this brew to disappoint. Probably because the bottle is cool, the name is cool, the ingredients are cool . . . so it must disappoint . . . right? That’s what 90% of the other cool root beers do. But this root beer does not disappoint. The molasses in this root beer gives it a heavy, dark undertone . . . and combining it with the evaporated cane juice makes it a little syrupy, but not too much so. If there was one knock on this brew it would be that it is a little to sweet and syrupy.
The vanilla, clove, cassia and nutmeg combine to make a really nice flavor . . . something that Virgil’s, in my opinion, wasn’t able to do. The wintergreen is real nice as well . . . it compliments the brew instead of dominating it.
This is not only a good root beer, but I think it’s near the top!
The Professor’s Grade: A –
Crooked Oak Root Beer
This root beer bottle screams coolness and class. It lists the production code, batch code and the specific approvers on the outside of the bottle. Wow – It makes you feel sort of special just to have this bottle in the fridge . . . let alone pour it into the boot mug and sip away.
This brew had a massive head, but it dissipated so quickly that if you blinked you missed it. FYI, I tried to miss it.
Unfortunately, they are not very descriptive in the ingredient department, so all that I know is that it has natural flavors. This could be by design though, because they emphasize how important simplicity is to them. These natural flavors give the brew a little bit of a sharp bite at the end of every sip . . . maybe a little bit of licorice and clovers . . . and maybe some other things as well. I almost feel as if this root beer wants to be creamy, but the bite at the end of each sip stops the creaminess in it’s tracks.
I like this root beer a lot, but I feel like it lacks a depth that’s found in all of the “A” rated brews. It’s a little too simple for my taste. Some of my favorite flavors like vanilla and honey don’t seem to be present and at least not in the spotlight.
The Professor’s Grade: B
