Best Tasting Hard Soda Part 1 Hard Root Beer

Sugar, Cold Water, Root Beer Extract, and Dry Ice.  That’s all that’s needed to create a decent tasting home made root beer.  The recipe can be found on the internet.  Made with your dad the day of a family party makes it taste even better.  Tim Kovacs at the suggestion of his son Jake spent 18 months perfecting first a 19.5%, and then a 10.7% hard root beer.  By November 2012 Not Your Fathers Root Beer was also being brewed at 5.9%.  Unable to keep up with demand, production and bottling was moved to the City Brewing Company in Lacrosse Wisconsin in late 2014.  Six months later Not Your Fathers Root Beer was available nationwide and the Hard Soda revolution was well underway.  By some reports six packs of Not Your Fathers Root Beer are now the number one selling craft brew sku.  Other reports estimate hard soda sales now account for over 1% of total beer sales in the US.  Samuel Adams, Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, Seagrams, and several regional breweries have entered the hard soda market.  As a lifelong soda drinker, and someone who has reviewed 41 hard soda varieties, I’m prepared to give you my opinion on which Hard Soda’s pop and which Hard Soda’s fizzle.First what is hard soda?  That depends on who you ask.  In my opinion Ginger Beer is not a hard soda.  Hard Ginger Ale is.  To consider Ginger Beer a hard soda, would be like calling gin a flavored vodka.  Is Hard Apple Pie a hard soda or an apple ale?  Sprecher calls theirs a hard soda.  Since Sprecher makes a Red Apple Soda, and Jones makes an apple pie soda, I’ll also consider it a hard soda.  Let’s just hope no one makes a hard soda version of Jones Turkey and Gravy soda flavor.

How is hard soda made?  Again that depends on who you ask.  All are brewed like a beer but some have the flavor stripped after brewing.  Natural and or artificial flavors are then added.  This is the same way Mikes Hard Lemonade, Seagrams Escapes, and Smirnoff Ice are made.  Others include the flavors, herbs and spices in the brewing process.  This process is more time consuming as you must integrate the taste of the beer with the ingredients you are adding to create the desired flavor.  Some of these hard soda’s have additional flavors blended after the brewing process.

With at least 15 brands on the market today, root beer is the king of hard soda.  While there is no arguing which brand sells the most, I’m more interested in telling you which brands taste best.  Full reviews of each product are available on my www.besttastingspirits.com web site.  To make this both  fair, and accurate, I was able to round up a couple bottles of each hard root beer and over the course of 2 weeks, I sampled all 15 again.  Most received three additional tastings.

That said Not Your Fathers Root Beer is not only the best selling, but it is also the best tasting hard root beer.  They have been awarded a Double Gold Medal.  Not Your Fathers Root Beer is the only hard root beer good enough to challenge Muggs, Barq’s, or A&W as the best tasting root beer on the market today.  Not Your Fathers Root Beer is a gruit inspired beer that infuses a specialty blend of herbs and spices into the brewing process.  What makes Not Your Fathers Root Beer so special is you can taste the natural flavors and spices without the sharp edges of those ingredients taking away from the creaminess.

Coney Island Hard Root Beer finishes second.  It is crafted at the Coney Island Brewery, a division of the Boston Beer Company, the owners of the Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard and Twisted Tea brands.  Coney Island Hard Root Beer opens with creamy root beer flavor.  While I taste sarsaparilla, vanilla, wintergreen and anise, the flavors are creamy and well rounded.  When I first reviewed Coney Island Hard Root Beer I picked up a whisper of beer flavor.  Today all I taste is creamy root beer flavor.  That is until it warms in my glass.  At that point, I pick up a light beer flavor.

Over The Barrel Hard Root Beer follows.  I liked their overall taste even better the second time around.  It is batch brewed with the finest 2 row malted barley and real cane sugar.  Natural and artificial flavors and caramel are blended after brewing.  A creamy vanilla flavor softens the sasparilla, anise, and peppermint flavor from start to finish.  I find the flavor closely resembles the Vanilla Barq’s Root Beer, I create on the Coca Cola Freestyle soft drink machines you can find at Wendy’s, Five Guys, and Fuddruckers.  Coney Island and Over The Barrel both receive Gold Medals for their Hard Root Beer.

I also awarded 5 Silver medals, lead by Rhinelander Hard Root Beer, Row Hard Root Beer, and Jed’s Hard Root Beer.  All three received a score of 90.  In my opinion Row Hard Root Beer may have changed their recipe.  While I liked the taste the first time around I liked it even more this time around.  Row Hard Root Beer was originally crafted in Columbia Missouri by Brewmasters Stu Burkemper and Corey Weinfurt at the Root Sellers Brewing Company.  It is brewed with cane sugar, molasses, spices, and botanicals.  The flavor is vanilla pudding, molasses, sassafras with a hint of light beer, finishing with vanilla softened wintergreen and licorice taste.

Jed’s Hard Root Beer is made in Utica New York at the Matt’s Brewing Company.  This is the same brewery that crafts Saranac Beer and soft drinks.  It is brewed with vanilla extract, birch oil, and anise.  Birch Oil is what is typically used in making birch beer, a cousin of root beer.  Birch beer is more popular on the East Coast where Jed’s is brewed.  The birch oil entry has vanilla custard flavor, and is joined by wintergreen and anise.  The birch oil provides a slightly different taste when compared to sarsaparilla, but Jed’s is still a tasty hard soda with root beer taste.

Rhinelander Hard Root Beer is contract brewed in Monroe Wisconsin at the same brewery as Over the Barrel Hard Root Beer is.  The flavor profile is peppermint, anise, sarsaparilla and vanilla with light beer taste on the finish.  Of the 15 hard root beer’s I’ve sampled Rhinelander has the best mix of beer and root beer flavor.  Vanilla also has a significant presence, and the overall taste is creamy.

Also receiving a Silver Medal is Best Damn Hard Root Beer.  This Anheuser Busch product is aged on real vanilla beans during the brewing process.  While I enjoyed the vanilla backing the overall taste is not as creamy as some of the other hard root beers.

Abita Bayou Bootlegger Hard Root Beer is based on the same root beer formula Abita has been crafting their soft root beer from for over 20 years.  Their root beer is made with herbs, vanilla, yucca, and Louisiana cane sugar.  I needed to review this hard root beer 4 separate times from 4 separate six packs.  At it’s best it was gold medal worthy, and its worst I found the aroma funky with heavy beer flavor.  Overall I found the sarsaparilla, wintergreen and anise flavor was softened by vanilla and cane sugar fading with subtle beer and creamy vanilla taste.  It finished a little over sweet with cinnamon and candy root beer barrel taste.

Not Your Fathers Root Beer 10.7, Wild Root, and Fitz’s Hard Root Beer complete the medal stand with Bronze Medals.  Not Your Fathers Root Beer 10.7% was actually produced before their 5.9% formula.  While I picked up the same flavor profile, the 10.7% was just too strong to enjoy.

Fitz’s Hard Root Beer is the result of a collaboration between the O’Fallon Brewery and Fitz’s Bottling Company.  Fitz’s Root Beer first appeared in St. Louis at a local drive-in in 1947.  Fitz’s has wintergreen and sassafras flavor that is joined by real beer and vanilla flavor.  It finishes with bitter anise taste.  Fitz’s has more beer flavor than any hard root beer I’ve tasted, with the exception of Rowdy Root Beer.  While thick and foamy Fitz’s is a little light on root beer creaminess.

Wild Root Hard Root Beer is brewed by WG Brewing Company in Memphis Tennessee.  They also create a hard ginger beer, and their two newest flavors are Wild Docta, and Wild Sit Russ.  The sweet vanilla and sarsaparilla entry is joined by licorice and peppermint flavor, finishing with subtle beer and saccharine taste.

Those not receiving a medal include McAles Hard Root Beer.  McAles is contract brewed in Lacrosse Wisconsin by United Brands Company.  It is a malt beverage made with vanilla extract and real spice barks and caramel color.  McAles has bittersweet sarsaparilla root, and cream soda flavor that fades with bitter sweet sarsaparilla and beer taste with a saccharine finish.

The Mission Brewery was established in San Diego California in 1913.  The brewery went out of business during prohibition.  In 2007 Dan Selis an avid home brewer re-established the brand and eventually relocated to the historic Wonder Bread building.  Mission Brewery Hard Root Beer is a malt beverage made with natural and artificial flavors.  I find the overall taste is a little strong with too much sarsaparilla, and anise flavor.  It also lacks creaminess.  At 7.5% alcohol it has beer flavor, and a heavy alcohol presence, with a long black licorice finish.

Sprecher Hard Root Beer is brewed at the Sprecher Brewery in Milwaukee Wisconsin.  The brewery was founded in 1985 by Randall Sprecher, formerly a brewing supervisor for Pabst Brewing Company.  The brewery is now located at a former elevator car factory.  Sprecher Hard Root Beer is made with a cream ale style beer base and they add natural and artificial flavors, caramel and artificial color.  The oversweet root beer entry is joined by beer flavor before fading with apple juice and vanilla flavor.  It finishes with bittersweet saccharine sarsaparilla and anise taste.  I also find the overall feel a little flat.

Berghoff Rowdy Root Beer is contract brewed at the Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point Wisconsin.  It is made with a flavorless porter and mixed with cane sugar and natural root beer flavors.  I found the flavor very sweet and syrupy with very little carbonation.  Beer flavor arrives at the midpoint but never outweighs the oversweet root beer taste.  It finishes with bitter anise taste.

Tasting all 15 Hard Root Beers at once, gave me the opportunity to reevaluate each brand.  I feel I may have initially over scored some, and underscored others.  I look forward to putting the other hard soda flavors under the microscope in a future feature.  In the mean time I am releasing my first power ranking, found below.

RANK	BRAND	ABV	SCORE	AWARD
1	Not Your Father’s Root Beer	5.90%	95	Double Gold Medal
2	Coney Island Hard Root Beer	5.80%	92	Gold Medal
3	Over The Barrel Hard Root Beer	5.50%	91	Gold Medal
4	Rhinelander Hard Root Beer	5.50%	90	Silver Medal
4	Row Hard Root Beer	6.70%	90	Silver Medal
4	Jed’s Hard Root Beer	5.90%	90	Silver Medal
7	Best Damn Hard Root Beer	5.50%	89	Silver Medal
7	Abita Hard Root Beer	5.90%	89	Silver Medal
9	Not Your Father’s Root Beer 10.7	10.70%	87	Bronze Medal
10	Wild Root Hard Root Beer	5%	86	Bronze Medal
10	Fitz’s Hard Root Beer	5%	86	Bronze Medal
12	McAles Hard Root Beer	6%	84
12	Mission Hard Root Beer	7.5%	84
14	Rowdy Hard Root Beer	6.6%	83
14	Sprechers Hard Root Beer	5%	83

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