Sparkling Ice has lots of other flavors, so if you don’t like root beer, you can try one of their other flavors.

Branding

If you’re looking for Sparkling Ice, you will notice the brand. Often, the Sparkling Ice brand uses plastic bottles for their drinks, but for their Caffeine line, they use an aluminum can.

The Sparkling Ice logo is nice and large, but I actually found it hard to tell that this was root beer. I only looked at it because of the color of the can.

Taste and Ingredients

Sparkling Ice Root Beer has less than 2% of fruit and vegetable juice, but you can’t tell it has any. When you pop the tab, the smell of root beer is very faint.

Interestingly enough, there is a definite root beer flavor to this drink. I usually don’t think sparkling water has much flavor at all, but they did an okay job at it. The drink has more carbonation than I expected as well.

However, the root beer flavor itself is kind of bleh. I didn’t really care for it. The after taste is kind of yuck too, but that may be the sucralose. I don’t usually like the artificial sweeteners very much.

The Wrap Up

The end result is that I can see why people like sparkling water as an alternative to a soda. They certainly don’t have the calories or the sugar. But they also aren’t as good, at least from my experience.

However, Sparkling Ice is better than most of the sparkling waters I have had, and it’s definitely better than the probiotic root beers, too.

Casey’s has several other soda flavors to try as well. You can find Casey’s in many Midwest states in the USA.

Branding

The branding is pretty muted overall. You get the Casey’s logo along with the flavor underneath it in white lettering. The label itself is red with a little brown. The only reason it stands out is if you are looking for the Casey’s section of drinks or because the text is smaller than most of its competition.

Taste and Ingredients

The smell when one twists off the cap of the root beer bottle is sweet and smells much like vanilla. The flavor is surprisingly its own. I expected it to be extremely generic, but it has a wider flavor profile than I thought it would.

The drink is ultimately smooth going down but has more carbonation than many of the Orca-branded root beers I have had lately. The taste is definitely root beer along with some other herbs, probably a mix of licorice, caramel, and maybe vanilla or similar.

The Wrap Up

Casey’s did an alright job. One of the perks of private labels is that they usually price their products lower than the competition, and in this case, the flavor is good enough that I can see myself grabbing this over Barq’s or A&W just because I want to save some money while still getting the flavor I am yearning for.

Spring Grove also has several other soda flavors, including Rhu-berry, sour grapes, orange, etc.

Branding

Spring Grove doesn’t really go for branding. It’s basically a semi-cursive writing of their name on a dark brown bottle plus a woodland-type scene underneath

There is a little color on the silver cap though. On the other hand, the understated look may help them to be noticed since most brands go for bright or garish colors.

Taste and Ingredients

Spring Grove smells kind of minty and I found the drink itself to be minty too. However, the ingredients list doesn’t mention anything about mint or really any unusual flavorings at all.

The only unusual thing in the ingredients is that they use both cane sugar and corn syrup for the sweetener, which I don’t think I have ever seen with any other root beer.

Anyway, you do get some root beer flavor here, but the mint (or whatever it is) is probably about 50% of the flavor, so it’s definitely kind of weird. The aftertaste is not great either.

I found the drink to be pretty flat, but their website says it will foam up over ice cream and I would assume the same to be true over ice.

The Wrap Up

Spring Grove at least puts out a different kind of root beer than other brands. It’s certainly not like the mainstream ones anyway. However, that may put you off if you expect it to taste like most root beer.

If you feel adventurous though, you should give it a try!

Sprecher uses a signature fire-brewing process that caramelizes flavors in a gas-fired kettle for unmatched depth and smoothness.

Note: Sprecher bottles require a bottle opener. However, they also offer a canned version of most of their sodas, so if you can go that route as well.

Branding

Sprecher uses a maple leaf in addition to their regular Sprecher font and red lettering for their logo. It kind of reminds me of a wine bottle’s look.

Here’s what it looks like:

Interestingly, Sprecher eschews their label on the bottle cap.

Taste and Ingredients

While Sprecher’s regular root beer is made with honey, this maple version skips the honey and uses maple instead, along with glucose syrup. I’m not sure if the standard root beer also includes glucose syrup or not, so stay tuned for a future review where we will find out together!

Sprecher’s maple root beer is very smooth and creamy. But smooth with root beer also means very flat, which is the case here. If you are looking for carbonation, you should skip this one as it’s almost non-existent.

The maple flavoring is strong and seems to fight the root beer for dominance. To me, it seemed about a 50/50 split in that respect. I found it a little strange on the first swallow, but it’s certainly drinkable.

I prefer vanilla to maple in my root beer though.

The Wrap Up

In general, this is a decent drink. While I don’t think I’ll be drinking this particular Sprecher’s root beer again anytime soon, it’s not bad either. However, there are many other root beers that are superior.

If you happen to have a Hy-Vee or Menards near you, you should give this root beer a try!

Branding

Red Arrow’s branding is a distinctive white and red. It might not exactly jump out if put next to Dr. Pepper, but when the bottles are among other root beers, it may stand out from the crowd.

You can see what it looks like in general in the following photos:

Orca skipped the logo for the bottle cap and went with their own branding there.

Taste and Ingredients

When you first twist off the metal cap on this root beer, you will find it has a pleasant aroma. Your first sip, though, is of a very flat and smooth brew. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I would have said the drink had expired; it was so flat.

Anyway, the drink is kind of creamy and I thought it tasted a bit like vanilla. However, the ingredients state that Red Arrow contains wintergreen and licorice extract. I didn’t find either of those flavors very strong, and if they existed, they were quite subtle.

Here’s the full ingredients list:

The Wrap Up

In general, I found Red Arrow to be decent. It’s not great because I expect root beer to have more fizz and perhaps a slightly stronger profile overall, but it’s not bad.

I have found Red Arrow in several different locations, so perhaps it will be easier for you to find it as well. If you try it, be sure to let me know your thoughts.

Related Drinks

Here are some of Orca’s other root beer-related drinks:

• O-so Butterscotch root beer

• Bedford’s Root Beer

• Old Red Eye Root Beer

• Earp’s Original Sarsaparilla

• Brownie Caramel Cream Root Beer

In general, I have found their beverages to be quite good and a decent price in Iowa, at least.

Branding

Sioux City goes for an understated brand and uses a cowboy in a red shirt and white cowboy hat as its logo.

While the look doesn’t bother me a bit, it also doesn’t really stand out from the crowd either. I would appreciate some more information about the drink on the bottle as well.

Taste and Ingredients

Sioux City’s brand all have twist-top caps, so you don’t need a bottle opener. However, you may want to use a napkin or your shirt to twist off the cap, as the metal can be kind of sharp.

The root beer has an interesting, complex flavor profile. I would describe it as a mix of vanilla or caramel or both plus the root beer flavor. I found the drink very smooth and flat, with little carbonation.

In other words, Sioux City doesn’t have the sharp, strong bite of Barq’s nor the creaminess of A&W, but it sits somewhere comfortably in between the two.

The Wrap Up

I liked Sioux City Root Beer. As I said at the beginning, the brand is easy to find and affordable here in Iowa. You can usually find it in singles or in packs of four at Hy-Vee.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Let’s get to it!

Branding

From a branding standpoint, I feel like Brownie is very olde school. They have a drawing of a kid’s head in a red, off-white, and blue logo.

It’s not a bad logo, and there’s not really anything like it, so it stands out in that respect. But it also doesn’t look modern or catchy. I kind of like it, regardless.

Taste and Ingredients

Like all Orca sodas, this bottle has a twist top, so you won’t be needing a bottle opener here. The first whiff is of a strong caramel with maybe a hint of vanilla or root beer.

The flavoring is very heavy in the caramel department. So much so that you don’t really get much root beer flavor at all. Brownie is also one of the flattest carbonated beverages I have ever had. It drinks smoothly, but almost no head or bubbles to speak of.

The ingredients list is pretty small and easy to read as well:

The Wrap Up

Brownie is a funny root beer. It tastes more like a caramel drink in a brown bottle rather than a root beer with a hint of caramel. While it not a bad drink, I wouldn’t purchase it if I wanted root beer. On the other hand, Brownie has a nice flavor and I don’t mind drinking it.

If you like artificial caramel flavoring or just want to try all the root beers you can, you should give this one a try!

Related Drinks

Here are some of Orca’s other root beer-related drinks:

• O-so Butterscotch root beer

• Bedford’s Root Beer

• Old Red Eye Root Beer

• Earp’s Original Sarsaparilla

Branding

The Earp Sarsaparilla bottle uses an image of a cowboy with pistols drawn for its logo. The image is probably supposed to evoke the infamous Wyatt Earp from the American Old West.

You don’t see cowboys on root beer very often, so I think this works. The cap on the bottle is also kind of fun, with a kind of sheriff-type star on it.

Taste and Ingredients

I didn’t notice this, but Orca’s caps are all supposed to twist off without a bottle opener. I opened this one with my bottle opener because I didn’t realize that.

The sarsaparilla smells like a nice root beer upon opening. I thought it had a good, strong flavor, but very little carbonization. Orca says that Earp’s a popular choice for root beer floats and I could see that since the flavor is strong.

In fact, I would say that Earp is similar to Barq’s but without the foam and caffeine.

The Wrap Up

Orca makes a lot of novelty drinks and they tend to cost more than other brands. Expect to pay anywhere from $2.79 to $5 per bottle. I have never seen their drinks sold in sets, so you’re not likely to get a bulk discount anywhere.

However, the soda is quite good and definitely worth trying. If you happen to come across it, you should grab a bottle. Let me know what you think if you do.

Related Drinks

Here are some of Orca’s other root beer-related drinks:

• O-so Butterscotch root beer

• Bedford’s Root Beer

• Old Red Eye Root Beer

Other Sarsaparillas

• Jackson Hole Soda Snake River Sarsaparilla

• Sunset Sarsaparilla

Let’s see how Old Red Eye turns out!

Branding

Old Red Eye goes for a bold red label with a somewhat cartoony bull in its logo. For some reason, they chose to put the Orca logo on the cap rather than keeping with the root beer’s name, which is a departure from some of their other root brews.

I have seen this bottle in a few places so you might be able to find it as well. Mug has a reddish look to its labeling as well, but it doesn’t go for a full red logo like Old Red Eye does.

Taste and Ingredients

Old Red Eye is caffiene free and gluten free. They also use pure cane sugar as their sweetener, and the ingredients are nice and short.

When you first open the bottle, you get a pretty standard root beer aroma. The flavor reminds me mostly of Mug. It doesn’t really have any unique flavor of its own, with maybe just a hint of licorice, even though that’s not listed as an ingredient.

The drink isn’t super fizzy or frothy, but it’s also not creamy like A&W or some other brands.

The Wrap Up

I enjoyed Old Red Eye root beer. It has a nice flavor, though it doesn’t really distinguish itself from the competition. You can find similar flavors at a lesser price by purchasing something like Mug, but if you care about drinks that aren’t overly processed with lots of unpronounceable words, then you’ll probably prefer Old Red Eye.

Branding

Dog n Suds has a cartoon dog serving hot dogs and root beer on its logo. In fact, if you go to their website, you can see that their logo is the same as it was over 70 years ago.

This classic look helps them to stand out from other drinks, primarily because of the bold colors, but also because almost no other soda companies use cartoon characters in their logos.

Taste and Ingredients

When you first open the bottle, you get a whiff of licorice and maybe a hint of vanilla. The soda seems to go down smoothly without lots of fizz.

The taste is once again not the mainstream root beer flavor, but it’s similar and pretty good. You will likely enjoy it more as you drink more of the root beer.

Dog n Suds actually reminds me or Dang Root Beer, but with a milder flavor.

The Wrap Up

I enjoyed Dog n Suds root beer. While it may be a throwback to an older flavor, that doesn’t make it bad. In fact, I thought it was pretty good and comparable to Dang! root beer.

Give it a try if you see it and if you have ever been to the restaurant, let me know!

Branding

I feel like Dang! does a better job in the branding department than many of the independent root beers. Mostly this is because it uses louder colors and the orange just pops really well compared with the dark brown of the root beer itself.

Taste and Ingredients

When I first opened the Dang! root beer, I didn’t care for the smell. While the ingredients don’t mention licorice, I am not sure how else to describe the odor.

Regardless, when you take your first sip of Dang, the taste doesn’t really seem like root beer. It’s certainly “rootsy,” and it’s also more complex than an A&W or a Barq’s tends to be, though.

The root beer is not creamy. There is no vanilla. There is some carbonation, perhaps more than A&W, but without being foamy.

Interestingly, I found that I enjoyed the flavor more the more I drank it, which is not always the case with these more complex-tasting root beers.

The Wrap Up

Dang! is a pretty good root beer. If you are looking for something generic, you probably won’t care for Dang, though. This drink doesn’t have that familiar root beer flavor, but it does have a nice one.

Give it a try, if you can find it near you.

Jones is a pretty popular brand with a wide variety of flavors. They also put out special flavors at various times of the year, such as their famous Thanksgiving Holiday Pack.

Let’s see how their root beer shakes out.

Branding

Jones has their own unique look. The photos on their bottles change, but since they usually use black-and-white photos, the “look” is mostly the same with their logo on top, the random photo, and then the flavor underneath.

I believe the photos were submitted by fans and chosen by the company. I’m not sure if they still do that.

Here are some photos of the bottle:

Taste and Ingredients

Jones has a twist-off bottle cap, which is somewhat unusual for a glass bottle. The smell of the root beer is subtle, but it exists. Some root beers seem to have no smell whatsoever. I didn’t taste any licorice-flavoring, but their may be a hint of vanilla even though it’s not listed as being in there.

The root beer taste itself is pretty flat, but smooth. I wouldn’t call it creamy exactly, but it’s got a nice flavor. There aren’t any unusual or strong flavors though. Barq’s tends to be a strong root beer, and even A&W tends to be a bit stronger than this.

However, I rather liked this one.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients:

Looks like Jones went with cane sugar and while the list of ingredients is small, they have more strangely named ingredients than some of the other brands reviewed on this site.

The Wrap Up

Jones root beer is pretty good. I can’t really say it has a unique root beer flavor, as it tends to be quite similar to many popular brews, but it’s a nice one. They didn’t mess up the taste and there are no unusual ingredients.

Give Jones a try! They were one of the first popular brands to always use cane sugar, which is pretty cool!

There are lots of other root beers from Chicago, such as Cicero’s, Triple XXX, and Filbert’s. So if you like Chicago, you should give this drink a try too!

Branding

There really isn’t much branding to this drink. You have the O-So logo in brown and yellow, and that’s about it. The cap is a fun color, though, and they did slap the phrase “Oh! So Good” on the neck of the bottle in yellow and white as well.

Taste and Ingredients

You can smell the butterscotch when you pop the cap off the bottle. There is a strong butterscotch flavor to the drink as well. In fact, I would call it more of a butterscotch dark soda than a root beer, though there is some root-beerish flavor.

Carbonation is light, so there isn’t a lot of fizz, and the root beer goes down smooth and creamy.

I think the main flavors, though, are the butterscotch and the vanilla. O-So also goes for pure cane sugar and mostly readable ingredients, so that’s a good thing.

The Wrap Up

While I prefer regular root beer, the butterscotch isn’t a terrible addition. However, the butterscotch certainly masks the root beer flavor. If you don’t like butterscotch, you probably won’t like this drink either.

On the other hand, if you are feeling adventurous, you should definitely try it out. O-So is pretty good!

Bedford currently uses pure cane sugar and bottles everything in glass across all their soda lines

Branding

Bedford’s branding seems a bit slipshod. The bottle I had had the neck sticker applied slightly off-kilter and off-center from the larger one on the bottle. The logo is fine in and of itself, but the colors aren’t bold enough to stick out from the crowd.

Taste and Ingredients

Bedford’s has a nice root beer odor when you first open the bottle, with maybe a hint of caramel. The first sip is smooth with only a little carbonation, although I wouldn’t exactly call it flat.

There is a strange flavor right as you swallow that might be attributed to gum arabic quillaia, or maybe some unnamed ingredient. I’m not sure how to describe it, except perhaps as a fake fruity or rootsy flavor.

The main components taste good, but that strange one is off-putting. I like that this is yet another soda with pure cane sugar and mostly readable ingredients.

The Wrap Up

In general, I enjoyed Bedford’s root beer offering. The drink is pretty good, other than that odd taste that you get.

Give them a try, if you can find them. Or go on vacation in Washington state. They might be easier to locate there.

Branding

The logo for Olde Brooklyn’s root beer is nice and old-fashioned. I rather enjoy the colors and the bridge. I don’t think it will catch your eye while you are walking down the aisle, except perhaps because of its old-fashioned look.

Taste and Ingredients

Old Brooklyn was completely flat when I drank mine, which means no foam and very little carbonation. It reminded me of A&W that had been left in the glass too long. The drink was creamy and tasted good, but it also felt generic and didn’t stand out.

Still, I would be happy to drink it again. It may have been flat because it was so close to its expiry date.

Other reviewers mention the drink as having a fruity odor or taste, but I didn’t notice that. However, there is yucca extract in this drink, so perhaps you will be able to discern that with your palate.

The Wrap Up

In general, this seems like a good root beer. It’s hard to find, though, and the flavor doesn’t really stand out from the others on the market. On the other hand, the taste is good instead of weird and there is no bad aftertaste.

Check it out if you can find it!

Branding

As is typical of the Liquid Death brand, they have a rotting skull on their Rootbeer Wrath drink. The colors are nice and the branding is pretty on-point. If you are looking for Liquid Death, then you’ll probably notice it as there are few other drinks that go for this look.

Taste and Ingredients

Most root beers are dark brown. However, Liquid Death’s Rootbeer Wrath is completely clear, which I suppose I should have known since it is a sparkling water drink after all.

I didn’t detect much of an odor at all from this drink. The soda water definitely has a hint of root beer to it and tastes kind of creamy. However, the aftertaste is not great.

However, when compared to the prebiotic root beers I have had, this one is head and shoulders better!

I believe the agave nectar is probably the cause of the weird aftertaste or it could be the stevia, which I have never enjoyed.

The Wrap Up

Liquid Death has fun with its drinks. I like their tag line of “Murder your thirst” and they stuck a “Recycle or Die” on the can as well, which fits their theme quite well.

The drink itself isn't my favorite, but that’s mostly because I don’t like seltzer. If I were trying to reduce my soda intake, I would consider this drink, though. You could also use it to water down other root beers, so you wouldn’t be drinking so much sugar.

You might recall Slice as a drink that used to contain up to 10% real fruit juice. It was similar to Crush or Fanta at that time, but they appear to have rebranded to go toe-to-toe with Olipop and related brands.

I believe I found this drink in Hy-Vee or Target.

Branding

Slice has maintained its logo from yesteryear and added new flavors to its line-up. The root beer maintains a dark brown coloration with a root beer mug added on.

Taste and Ingredients

This root beer contains 1% juice, likely the apple juice listed in the ingredients list.

I found the drink very flat and medicinal-tasting, with more of a root beer flavor than Olipop had. Perhaps Slice’s choice to use real cane sugar rather than Olipop’s Stevia is what makes it better. Or maybe it’s because Slice doesn’t contain all the random plant ingredients.

The Wrap Up

While Slice has made a comeback, I was not impressed with their root beer. It is probably the best pre/pro/post biotic root beer I have had so far, but that’s not saying much.

Still, it’s not completely awful, and if you’re trying to break your soda habit, this one may help you do it in a somewhat healthy manner.

Branding

The Olipop brand tends to go with an understated set of pastel colors. In Target, you can usually find single cans of Olipop near the produce section.

In general, the colors are recognizable and you shouldn’t have trouble finding it.

Taste and Ingredients

This root beer must be refrigerated, probably because of the prebiotics it contains. Olipop also uses plant fibers and botanicals in its drinks.

The smell of the drink is rather medicinal and the taste is as well. They use Stevia for sweetening, so you will probably notice a diet soda aftertaste.

Speaking of the taste, it is pretty complex. I originally thought this would be like a flavored seltzer, but it is a true soda, or close to it. However, they have a lot of plants like artichoke, chicory root, cassava root, kudzu root, marshmallow root, Nopal cactus, and Calendula flower, which makes it taste different from any other root beer I have ever had.

I didn’t enjoy the flavor much, but it was certainly interesting.

The Wrap Up

I don’t really like prebiotic or probiotic drinks, regardless of whether they claim to taste like root beer or not. However, at 40 calories, this is probably one of the least sugary root beers available. If you do like pre or probiotics, then you might like this one.

Otherwise, you might want to pass.

Branding

All of Polly’s Pop sodas include the macaw on their label. I rather like the look, and the bottle cap is fun too. They definitely have a unique look, and I like that it’s a small brand.

I almost wish the label had the same metallic look as the bottle cap.

Taste and Ingredients

While it smells alright, the flavor of Polly’s Pop root beer is rather sharp but strangely watered down. The first gulp had a strong flavor, but I wouldn’t call it root beer. There’s not really any caramel or licorice and the carbonization is quite low.

In general, I would call this fairly bland. This is the first root beer I have had that mentions containing “Root Beer Syrup”. On the plus side, they use cane sugar at least.

I do feel like the flavor comes out a bit better if you let it warm up a little rather than drinking it ice cold. It’s still not amazing, but it’s better that way.

The Wrap Up

While Polly’s Pop Root Beer is not my favorite, I enjoy supporting local brands. If you happen to be in Missouri and you come across one of their drinks, let me know what you think!

I got mine from a local Hy-Vee store, but you can also purchase Triple XXX online. According to their website, the three X’s mean that they are a top-tier product. We will see when we taste test this drink!

Branding

From a branding perspective, they mostly went with red and yellow. I do feel like it is glaring enough to sort of shout out to the casual browser.

Triple XXX also went with a brown bottle rather than a clear one, which is interesting.

Taste and Ingredients

When you first take a swig of Triple XXX Root Beer, you will get a strong flavor profile. While the ingredients don’t mention licorice or wintergreen, I feel like there is a taste of both in this root beer.

Personally, I don’t like licorice much, so this isn’t my favorite root beer right off the bat. On the other hand, if you keep sipping the drink, that flavor seems to mellow a bit. I don’t really enjoy the aftertaste, though. It reminds me a lot of a diet drink aftertaste.

The other thing to note about this drink is how flat it is. In fact, I would say it is one of the flattest root beers I’ve ever had. It’s also quite smooth.

As usual with these smaller root brews, this one is caffeine-free and made with pure sugar cane.

The Wrap Up

While I didn’t care much for the taste or the name of the root beer, it was still fun to try something different. It’s also neat that there are so many different craft root beers from the Chicago area.

Let me know what you think if you try it!

Other Chicago Root Beers

Triple XXX isn’t the only Chicago root beer. Here are a couple of others:

• Cicero Salted Caramel Root Beer

• Filbert’s Old Time Root Beer