Jack Black's Dead Red Root Beer

       Jack Black's Dead Red Root Beer

 www.realsoda.com

From: Gardena, CA

Started: Apparently 420 years ago

Tagline: Better Dead Red than just plain dead!

Tagline 2: Once you've had Jack Black, you'll never go back.

Tagline 3: Third time available in 420 years.

Steve-o-Meter: 3 out of 10

Review: I was actually really disappointed in this root beer.  I was really excited about this one from the presentation of it.  I mean, come on, who doesn't want to drink a root beer from a pirate bottle?  My initial thought after reading the label was "Wow, this recipe is 420 years old, it must be really good."  And of course with the pirate theme, I thought about Pirates of the Caribbean and captain Jack Sparrow's tag line "Why is the rum gone?"  I had high expectations...until I cracked this baby open.  

The taste was bland for a root beer.  It was almost bitter and there was no aftertaste.  The drink was pretty low on the carbonation spectrum so the belch-o-meter was also pretty low as well.  The ingredients list Caffeine and Brazilian Guarana.  (I guess the fact that it's Brazilian Guarana vs. normal Guarana makes it more fancy?)  Either way, I don't like drinking either of those ingredients and the taste definitely does not tempt me to come back from seconds.  Ingredients also list Red #40 which is I guess why they call it "Dead Red" root beer, but it wasn't even red so again, I think it's a wasted ingredient.

I tried to do some research on the recipe or origin and all I could find was several vendors that will sell it and the website www.realsoda.com that is apparently the bottling company for it.  I was hoping to find some good history behind it with the whole pirate theme but again was left wanting....

Overall, I would not suggest this beverage. I would recommend banking the calories and eating a piece of chocolate cake instead.

Dad's Root Beer

        Dad's Root Beer
            www.dadsrootbeer.com

From: Jasper, Indiana
Started: 1937
Tagline: America's Premium Root Beer
Steve-o-Meter: 7 out of 10


Review: This was a pretty good root beer.  It reminded me most of MY dad's home-made root beer.  It's got a medium fizz level-not too overbearing but not smooth like a draft root beer.  The first taste on your tongue may be a bit bitter but the aftertaste is nice and sweet.  I enjoy the bitter/sweet but some may find it less desirable.  The bitter dies down the more you drink.  Amanda said she thought it had a hint of bubble gum flavor.  Overall I gave this bottle a 7 out of 10 because other than reminding me of my dad's recipe, I didn't find it to be anything out of the ordinary.  It's a good tasting root beer but I wouldn't special order it.  I would recommend it to somebody wanting an old fashioned root beer experience.

Father's Day

So, my amazing wife sure spoiled me for father's day this year!  I expected nothing less from her as she is always so good to me.

I have always enjoyed Root Beer.  I think it's because my dad has a recipe for making home-made root beer and he made it quite often while I was growing up.  He is, by default, "the root beer guy" in charge of bringing root beer to all the family gatherings, church activities, BBQ's, etc...  I'm not going to lie, his root beer is pretty dang good.  He has since passed the recipe to me and I am now able to carry on the legacy.  Granted, the recipe is super simple and uses Root Beer Extract bought from the store; however, it is still tasty all the same.  Some day I hope to graduate to actually brewing my own root beer from scratch but it makes me nervous because I don't want to start a hill-billy moonshine operation on accident if I do it wrong.

Pretty sure this is how I would look if I ever started living the hillbilly life!

So my obsession with root beer has only grown since I was a kiddo.  In high school, I found the deliciousness of Henry Weinhard's Root Beer.  It's an amazing draft style root beer that accompanied me to many late night high school movie nights with friends and camping trips with the scouts.  Word of Caution: Drink it cold!  Because it is draft style, it will spew like a boy on the tilt-o-whirl after eating nachos if you're not careful.

Then for Christmas this last year, Amanda got me some eclectic root beer bottles she found at Ace Hardware.  These flavors included the following:

Jack Black's Dead Red Root Beer

Frostie's Vanilla Root Beer

and

Dang! That's Good Butterscotch Root Beer

It was fun to branch out and try different types of Root Beer and also learn more about each brewery and their history.  It was a really neat gift.  So it got me to thinking, "I wonder how many other root beer brands are out there."  

So I Google searched it and and HOLY COW!  There are hundreds of different Root Beer breweries across the country (and some international) all claiming to have the best root beer out there.  It was pretty amazing and definitely overwhelming looking at all of them.

While surfing the web, I found a pretty cool website, www.beveragesdirect.com, where you can find a lot of these root beers and have them delivered directly to your door.  And my favorite part?  The 24-Pack Sampler!  This site has probably 50-60 different kinds of root beer and the sampler pack will let you try many different flavors and brands in one case.  The only two draw backs I've found with this so far is:  1.The company randomly selects the 24 root beer bottles they send you.  This means you could run into repeats if you order more than one.  2.It's kind of spendy averaging out to about $2.00/bottle.  

So getting back to subject, guess what Steven got for Father's Day?  You betcha'!  The 24-Pack Sampler!

I display my Root Beer collection with pride!

So I've decided to start a series of blog posts (maybe this will motivate me to be more consistent with posting things) that will evaluate each root beer as I drink them.  Even though I really like root beer, I'm not much of a soda drinker SO don't expect this to roll out very fast.  But at least it gives me something else to talk about other than garden and politics.  I've decided to try them randomly, asking Amanda to pick a number between 1-24 and counting from the back forward I tried Dad's Root Beer first.


      




       

HUGE NEWS!!!!

I know, I've been kind of lame posting but:

A: I will try to be better at posting more frequently.

B: This news is TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!

I'm sure most of you reading this are aware of this but for those of you who aren't, Amanda and I have been trying to adopt a baby for a while now.  We found out several years ago that we are unable to have babies and so, after much prayer and research, we decided our best option to start our family would be to adopt a baby.  The journey has been humbling and hard at times but always so fulfilling knowing we are going to start our family.  Well, after some waiting and prayer and much anticipation, I am pleased to announce that....

WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO ADOPT A BABY!!!!

That is right ladies and gentlemen, Steven is going to be a daddy!!!!  

We were contacted a few weeks ago by an awesome birth-mom who viewed our profile on an on-line database.  After much prayer from her and the birth-father (and from Amanda and I), we were chosen to be the adoptive couple for their baby!  

We also had the opportunity to meet the birth mother today and I have to say, I couldn't have imagined a more perfect experience!  I was so impressed by her and her mother.  I had to leave for a work commitment so I only got to hang out with them for about 40 minutes.  I look forward to getting to know them more in the months and years to come!  

As for the baby, we don't know much other than he/she is healthy and due October 17th.  That means I'm going to be a daddy in:

164 Days, 3 Hours, 23 Minutes

Without further adieu, presenting for the first time ever in semi-full color, our baby, also known (for the time being) as Baby S!

I know what you're thinking and I couldn't agree more...that is one good lookin' noggin!

Thank you to all for the prayers and thoughts on our behalf.  We are truly blessed to have such great family and friends in our lives!