Beverages

Soft drinks

Root beer:

Virgil’s

Great.

Sprecher Hard Root Beer

Unpleasant aftertaste.

Indian Wells Brewing Special Reserve

Advertised as containing sarsaparilla, birch root, wintergreen, ginger, wild cherry bark, licorices, and cane sugar (no HFCS). Comes in a 22 oz bottle sealed with wax. Mild flavor – not very “root-beery”, whatever that means – with noticeable wintergreen. Not too creamy. The wintergreen note is nice, but could be toned down a bit in favor of more of the root beer flavor.

IBC

Not bad, but unremarkable. Not very creamy or rich.

Cream soda:

Hank’s

Very nice vanilla flavor.

Stubborn Soda Agave Vanilla Cream Soda

Mild-mannered, smooth, pleasant.

Red Ribbon Vanilla Cream Soda

Very creamy, very vanilla-y, with nice tang from the carbonation.

Other soft drinks:

Virgil’s Real Cola

The mutant offspring of cola and cream soda, with a lovely vanilla cream flavor mixed with cola. The vanilla mellows the flavor, so it’s less sharp and fizzy than normal cola. Great but very high sugar.

Cider

Angry Orchard

More beer-y than apple-y, but enjoyable.

Strongbow

A bit nicer flavor than Angry Orchard, but pretty similar.

Commonwealth Cider Traditional Dry

Not as dry as the name or lack of sugar content suggests – very nice apple flavor. Favorite so far.

Austin Eastciders Original

Dry and pleasant. I originally thought it had an off flavor, but rather enjoy it now.

Arsenal Cider House Rambo

Strong (8.5% ABV), nice apple flavor, somewhat dry, very pleasant.

Arsenal Cider House Pumpkin Cider

Nice spiced pumpkin flavor, semisweet.

Arsenal Cider House Alfred’s Pear

Semi-sweet, so not too dry, and the pear flavor isn’t too strong – you mostly get the cider tang.

McKenzie’s Seasonal Reserve

Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, which are noticeable. Interesting spiced taste. Might taste good warm?

Jack’s Hard Cider

Dry and a bit like champagne, but with an unpleasant flavor not very reminiscent of apples.

Woodchuck Amber

Sweet, very much like apple juice, minimal tang or alcohol aftertaste. Perhaps too sweet.

Ace Joker

Dry like Commonwealth, but stronger (6.9% ABV), and somewhat less pleasant.

Liquor

Irish creams:

Bailey’s Irish Cream

Mild, creamy, very pleasant. The standard.

Brown Jug Bourbon Cream

Stronger bourbon flavor, with a strong hint of maple flavor coming through. Also pleasant, if a touch strong.

Calvados (apple brandy):

Boulard Calvados VSOP

Warming.

Other

Mike’s Hard Lemonade

Tastes like alcoholic lemonade, but not too strong. Very refreshing.