My readers are awesome. So awesome that they’re willing to hand deliver root beer that they bottled themselves. That’s dedication! One of my readers spent an afternoon at Gallagher’s Where-U-Brew in Edmonds, Washington and came home with a 48 bottle case of hand-bottled root beer. Not only did they enjoy the process, they thought the root beer was fantastic and wanted to get my opinion.
First impression? The concept is cool. Gallagher’s focus is on beer and other alcoholic beverages where they let you brew your own using their equipment. You can modify your beer to make it uniquely yours. However, it doesn’t appear that the root beer offers this option. Regardless, it’s possible to slap on a custom label and bottle cap and walk away with a consumable party favor.
The bottle I received was generic (no label) with an American flag bottle cap. I made sure that the bottle was well-chilled and poured it into a frosty mug. It was beautiful!
The mug was cold enough that it had skinny ice slivers curling up the side, but not so much that it diluted the root beer. Overall I thought this was a very enjoyable wintergreen-forward variety. There’s a deep sassafras core (similar to an A&W, but much more pronounced). However, instead of ending with a soft vanilla note, this root beer has a strong wintergreen finish. There’s a good balance of sassafras to wintergreen here, but the combination doesn’t present as much nuance as other high end root beers. This would be a great pairing with pizza because the greasy food won’t take away from any subtle flavors. It tastes like root beer (good root beer), and it goes down easy.
While I personally gravitate more to the vanilla family of root beers, this wintergreen variant is a solid choice. Coupled with the ability to bottle it yourself and customize the bottle, you got yourself a solid 8 out of 10. It’s possible that this is just a generic syrup that they purchase from a 3rd party, but I’ll try to confirm if they doctor it to offer something unique to Gallagher’s.
Check out their website, follow them on Facebook, or stop by if you’re in the area. While you’re at it, follow Sodafry on Facebook so you know when I’m posting new reviews. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the recommendations/contributions!
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Sampled on 9/29/2016
Did anyone notice the Pikachu ears poking into the first picture on the post?
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