northwest – Smack & Gattmore's

Bedford’s Root Beer

Gatt More — Mon, 05 May 2014 16:37:54 +0000

My first experience of Bedford’s was with their Creme Beer when I was a kid back in circa-1988 Missoula. Bedford’s Creme Beer was the beverage of choice in my group of friends while gorging on pizza or spaghetti and garlic bread. Having been Dungeons & Dragons types, we liked the medieval script on the label and the cool looking banner.

In any case, it was with fond childhood memories on my mind that I purchased my first bottles of Bedford’s Root Beer a few weeks ago. The bottles still bear the same distinctive “B” on the label, and the Creme Beer is still pretty good. I had run across the bottles of both during a trip to the Root Beer Store, and I was a little bit proud to discover that Bedford’s is a true Northwest root beer, originally hailing from Port Angeles, but now bottled by Orca Beverage in Mukilteo, WA.

Bedford’s turned out to be a good root beer, but not a great one. The head was a little better than other Orca Beverage root beers that I’ve tried; during the pour, a low head of froth topped the liquid, and about a half-inch of it lingered for several seconds afterward. That’s still a pretty pathetic head, but it was at least a head, which is more than I can say for many Orca-made root beers that I’ve tried.

The flavor strikes me as nice and bright, but perhaps top-heavy. It’s nice and sweet and does not suffer from an excessive amount of wintergreen; the honey and vanilla are most prominent to me, and the fragrance is sweet and almost floral. However, this root beer has a medium-light body but lacks the depth and richness of flavor that I’ve found in others. Still, it’s a good root beer… just not among my favorites.

Questions? Comments? Rate it!

As usual, you can add your own rating to this root beer at the bottom of the rating box, above. I’ve given it a 6/10. For my root beer reviews, the overall rating is NOT a combined score from all of the individual characteristics; those are just provided for quick reference.

[Main Photo: This image provides a comparison between Bedford’s and A&W Root Beers, with Henry’s on the left. Both were poured at about the same time prior to being photographed, but the image is a composite.]

Hummingbird Hill Birch Root Beer

Gatt More — Fri, 02 May 2014 16:57:24 +0000

Hummingbird Hill sodas are truly products of the Northwest, having been first home-brewed and sold at a farmers market in Silverdale, WA in 2004. Today, the Root Beer, Birch Root Beer, and Sarsaparilla are bottled on a slightly larger scale in Silverdale, where they are distributed through local restaurants and at sold at local festivals along with their 11 other soda flavors.

It’s unfortunate, then, that I enjoy almost nothing about this beverage. When it’s poured, it generates about as much head as you’d get from mineral water (ie, none). Overall, carbonation is actually very similar to what I’d expect from club soda; it’s heavy and sharp at first, but it dissipates quickly. In fact, it’s pretty likely that this stuff is now made by adding some flavoring to carbonated water (rather than being properly brewed), which makes the scent of the beverage a little confusing: the first aroma that hits my nose when I near the bottle is yeast.

The flavor of yeast is also prominent on the tongue, along with the birch. It may be that there’s no yeast at all, and that the birch flavoring used simply reminds me of yeast, but either way, it’s not pleasant. Even less pleasant is the aftertaste. My notes describe it as “yucky”. Beyond these first impressions, the flavor profile is pretty empty. In fact, that’s the word I think best describes this root beer: empty. It’s missing something, and a lot of it. It’s certainly not sweet enough, and it’s lacking any of the smooth flavors that would fill it out, like vanilla and other spices (though vanilla is listed in the ingredients). It ends up being almost watery, with that lingering aftertaste. Ugh.

Hummingbird Hill’s label. Why is the top text doubled? Is that supposed to be a shadow?

And as long as I’m being disgusted by this root beer, let me mention how put-off I am by the haphazard label design. It was quite obviously home-made ( which is admirable), but it commits the cardinal sin of typography: they use Comic Sans! But that font is just one among the five completely different typefaces that are featured within a three inch radius of the logo. The inexpertly drawn hummingbird would be forgivable if trying to figure out the perspective didn’t make me feel as ill as the thought of drinking three bottles of this stuff (why is that distant wing so much bigger than the near one?!). The fact that they combine “root” and “beer” into a single word is annoying but relatively common.

All of this is unfortunate, because I really like the idea of a local, mom-n-pop root beer. Luckily, this is all a matter of taste. If there weren’t someone out there who liked this stuff, they wouldn’t still be in business after ten years… so maybe you’ll feel differently about it than I do. They certainly have a unique flavor, and if you prefer a beverage that is not as sweet and not as rich as other craft root beers, you may like this one.

Questions? Comments?

As usual, you can add your own rating to this root beer. I’ve given it a 3/10. For my root beer reviews, the overall rating is NOT a combined score from all of the individual characteristics; those are just provided for quick reference.

[Main Photo: This image provides a comparison between Hummingbird Hill Birch and A&W Root Beers, with A&W on the right. Both were poured at about the same time.]

Henry Weinhard’s Root Beer

Gatt More — Thu, 01 May 2014 00:38:22 +0000

I first tasted Henry Weinhard’s Root Beer back in the mid 1990s, and it was almost instantly my favorite. Like Thomas Kemper, I believe that it was actually manufactured in the Northwest at the time (Portland, OR, to be specific), but currently it is bottled in Forth Worth, Texas, according to the label. Still, Henry’s is a long-time Portland brand, so I still consider this a local root-beer.

The bottle proclaims that the brew has a “Draught Style Head”, and they are right to be proud. Henry’s has the best head of any root beer I’ve tried, and it’s now the standard against which all others are judged. It foams up with a thick, frothy pillow of creamy goodness, and it just lingers around like it’s waiting for a tip. Even as you drink, the foam clings to the side of the glass.

Looking beyond the head, the root beer itself is quite good: it’s a malty, traditional root-beer flavor without the strong licorice or wintergreen overtones that are so popular with craft root-beers. Mollases, vanilla and sassafras dominate the flavor profile, with hints of other spices frolicking in the tail. The body is on the heavy side of medium (though it feels a little heavier when warm), and very creamy but without being syrupy.

If I have any complaint about this root beer it’s only that it might be a little too smooth, and it’s missing a little bit of the sharper edge of my other favorite root beers; it could be a little stronger. There’s hardly any bite to this root beer, especially if you drink it semi-warm, and honestly, that’s just fine with me most of the time. This is a great beverage for those times when you just want something that’ll go down easy.

The bottle and half-finished glass of Henry Weinhard’s Root Beer showing the fortitude of it’s head.

It’s worth noting that Henry Weinhard also makes a great cream soda, if you happen to be a fan. I am.

Questions? Comments?

As usual, you can add your own rating to this root beer. I’ve given it a 9/10. For my root beer reviews, the overall rating is NOT a combined score from all of the individual characteristics; those are just provided for quick reference.

[Main Photo: This image provides a comparison between Henry Weinhard’s and A&W Root Beers, with Henry’s on the left. Both were poured at about the same time. Note the depth of the head on the Henry’s, and the soda-style carbonation of the A&W’s.]