22 - Dang! Root Beer
Imperial Flavors Beverage Company makes Dang! Root Beer. Imperial started making beverages in Milwaukee in the 1960’s. They also make a diet Dang and a butterscotch flavor of Dang! root beer as well. Besides root beer, Imperial also makes a red creme soda
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.