Wild Spur Sarsaparilla

Producer: CBC Sales Inc.
Obtained At: Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store
Container: 12 ounce glass bottle
Ingredients: Triple filtered carbonated water, pure cane sugar, caramel color, citric acid, sodium benzoate, natural and artificial flavors
Calories: 180
Sugars: 42g
Caffeine: No

I have never heard of Wild Spur Sarsaparilla before, but that what makes the Big Yellow Barn so exciting. The label, like so many other root beers and sarsaparillas, is old west themed. However, this one makes sense, considering it’s called “wild spur”. There aren’t as many sarsaparillas as root beers so it’s nice to change it up once in a while. One weird thing about this one is that I can’t seem to find any official website for the root beer or the company. The taste on this one is good, but a little weird. It has a weird start and then turns into a good creamy flavor, which is a weird transition. It’s not a terrible drink in my opinion, but my wife hated it, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

6/10

Dad’s Diet Old Fashioned Root Beer

Producer: Dad’s Root Beer Company, LLC, Jasper, IN
Obtained At: The Fresh Market in Avon, CT
Container: 12 ounce glass bottle
Ingredients: Carbonated water, caramel color, sodium benzoate, sucralose, acesulfame-k, and natural and artificial flavors
Calories: 0
Sugars: 0
Caffeine: No

Dad’s Root Beer was the first root beer bottle I kept as part of my collection. I remember enjoying it a lot. I have also had their diet root beer before, but don’t remember it at all. I like the label of this one. The vertical stripes are something I don’t remember seeing elsewhere, so that’s cool. I like when the diet labels are a lot different than the regular label. The taste is decent. It tastes exactly like what you would expect a diet root beer to taste like, which I think is a good thing. I don’t expect diet root beers to blow me away. This one might be a little too sweet. I don’t know if they use more sweetener than other diet root beers, but it sure tastes like it. Alas, this is a good diet root beer and worth a try.

5/10

Abita Root Beer

Producer: Abita Brewing Company, Abita Springs, Louisiana
Obtained At: The Fresh Market in Avon, CT
Container: 12 ounce glass bottle
Ingredients: Carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, root beer flavor, phosphoric acid
Calories: 177
Sugars: 38g
Caffeine: No

Another root beer from my spontaneous trip to The Fresh Market. I have had this one before and actually have two different bottles of it in my collection. I like the label. It’s blue with some green and a very strong Louisiana feel to it. It breaks away from the traditional brown and orange color scheme that most root beer labels have. The taste is above average. It is a good flavor but doesn’t really stand out in any particular direction. Nonetheless it is a solid root beer and worth a try if you haven’t had it.

6/10

Boylan Root Beer

Producer: Boylan Bottling Co., New York, NY
Obtained At: The Fresh Market in Avon, CT
Container: 12 ounce glass bottle
Ingredients: Carbonated water, cane sugar, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, sodium benzoate, citric acid
Calories: 170
Sugars: 42g
Caffeine: No

This was the second root beer bottle I kept for my collection back in the spring of 2010. I don’t think I have had it since then even though it is quite common. I have always liked this bottle though. It has a unique shape, an embossed “Boylan Bottling Co.”, and an old-school logo. Now that I look at the bottle from 2010 I realize it is different. The old one says “Boylan Bottleworks” instead of “Boylan Bottling Co.” and also has a white “Sweetened with Pure Cane Sugar” label on the neck. Looks like I have a new bottle here to add to the collection. The taste is not as good as I remember. It tastes kind of weird. I don’t really know how to explain. It’s not bad by any means and definitely not a run-of-the-mill root beer. It’s different. If you haven’t tried Boylan yet, you should probably check it out. But it probably won’t blow you away.

6/10