It’s Not Your Father’s Root Beer, but Dad Would Approve

Root beer was one of my favorite beverages when I was a kid. I can still remember driving to the local root beer stand with the family, ordering a chili dog with all the fixings, and then washing it down with a frosty glass of A&W, all from the comfort of the back seat. My dad loved root beer too, and he would drink the sweet, brown, bubbly liquid with abandon, sometimes ordering a second or third serving before cranking the window shut and driving back home. Dad liked his root beer rich and unaltered, which was befitting of the conservative person we all knew him to be.

Today, root beer is still popular as a soft drink, but Small Town Brewery in Wauconda, Illinois has a new version of root beer, one that still maintains much of the spices that made root beer so endearing when we were kids but with extra ingredients that make it appealing on an adult level. The product is Not Your Father’s Root Beer, a flavored beer that has taken the nation by storm.

Tasting Notes

Not Your Father’s Root Beer pours to a brown hue similar to that of cola or actual root beer. There is virtually no head of foam, making it look like a glass of soft drink. The nose on this ale is spicy and very similar to actual root beer, with little or no hint of alcohol.

Moving to the flavor, Not Your Father’s Root Beer is very much like a glass of root beer. You can taste sarsaparilla root, some licorice, and vanilla and the flavor profile is quite sweet. The beer is very smooth, bubbly, and satisfying with little or no detectable malt of hop character. The product contains 5.9 percent alcohol by volume.

New Twist on Craft Beer

Not Your Father’s Root Beer is a national phenomenon; a craft beer version of a soft drink beloved by adults and kids alike that has turned the craft beer world upside down. The popularity of this product has likely overwhelmed Small Town Brewery and I know it has already encouraged other craft breweries to take up the task of making their own versions of a beer/root beer and more are bound to jump on the bandwagon in the coming months.

Not Your Father’s Root Beer has been around for many months, but here at Great Beer Now, we didn’t get around to sampling this beer until just recently. I was fully aware of this product, having seen it on store shelves and heard it talked about online. But for whatever reason, I couldn’t convince myself to give it a try. I would be standing in the beer aisle at my local grocery store with a six pack in hand, only to place it back on the shelf in favor of something else. I like root beer, so my reluctance to sample Not Your Father’s Root Beer doesn’t make any sense, especially in light of so many positive reviews.

Now that I have tried Not Your Father’s Root Beer, I can understand fully why this beer has received such rave reviews. It tastes very much like a mug of frosty root beer minus the creaminess and foam and with added alcohol. The similarities, both in the nose and flavor, are obvious and it’s the type of product most anyone will like, particularly those who are fans of ordinary root beer.

Not Your Father’s Root Beer is actually ale made with spices, but there is little if any discernable malt or hop flavor. I know it’s there only because it says so on the label. If you placed a glass of this in front of me and didn’t tell me it was flavored ale, I would have likely assumed it was ordinary root beer with a small splash of flavored vodka added. This can be both good and bad, because I can see how some people will like it precisely because it doesn’t taste like beer while others will criticize it for the same reason. Craft beer purists may not like the absence of malt and hop character, but even these individuals will likely admit that the flavor is very good, even if a little on the sweet side.

Dad Would Approve

Not Your Father’s Root Beer is an interesting beverage, to say the least, and it’s easy to see why it has captured the attention of so many beer drinkers and craft beer fan wannabes. It’s tasty as a drink all by itself and it makes a killer root beer float. The traditional root beer flavors such as sarsaparilla, licorice, and vanilla combine with a scoop of quality vanilla or other flavors of ice cream for a delicious after- dinner treat.

Root beer is one of America’s most beloved soft drinks and many of us have great memories of sharing a glass of root beer with friends or family on a warm summer day. Not Your Father’s Root Beer offers an adult twist on a childhood favorite and its popularity has already spawned several duplicate efforts by other craft breweries anxious to cash in and enjoy the commercial success of this latest craft beer craze. It’s an interesting botanical craft beer and while my father tended to be old fashioned in his approach to food and drink, this is a deviation from the norm on which dad would assign his stamp of approval.

Rating: 8 cheers out of 10