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I recently wrote a post celebrating the pop (or soda) that is made in Michigan. While doing research for that post, I read about a soda called Northwoods Soda. It is made up in the Grand Traverse area of Michigan. I have never seen it in stores before. That was until yesterday. Meijer stores across Michigan have begun an initiuative to support Michigan made products. There is a new section in select Mejier stores featuring just Michigan made products. One of those products selected to be a part of this program was Northwoods Soda.

Whenever I trying out a new brand of soda pop, I tend to select root beer first. I figure if your root beer isn’t good, then it’s likely the rest of your flavors aren’t going to be good either. Northwoods Soda calls their root beer “Wild Bill’s Root Beer”. “Wild Bill” is company founder, Bill Fosdick. The recipe for this brew has been perfected over a twenty year time period. The bottle boasts the claim “A Rare, Smooth Beverage”. So I keep that in mind as I took my first sip

No false promises on this bottle, it is definitely a smooth root beer. Not over carbonated. It has a nice, bold, but not too bold root beer flavor. It’s not overpowered by vanilla or any other flavoring. It’s pure root beer. It’s as close to getting it right out of the tap as you probably can get. So I will be giving their other flavors a try.

Where to Buy
You can find it in the new Made in Michigan section at your local Meijer store. You can also purchase it directly from the company, through their website.

Continue reading »]]> One of the reasons people drink so much soda pop is for the caffeine, they are addicted to it. They “need” that caffeine to get through their day. So they drink too much of it or the resort to drinking versions containing artificial sweeteners which may not be so good for you either. I enjoy my soft drinks, that’s for sure, but something that you won’t see me drinking is soda with caffeine in it. I also try to choose the best tasting options available to me. I find if I had one good bottle of a carbonated treat a day that it satisfies me. So my advice for people who want to cut their soda intake is to find chooses that are good as well as being caffeine free. I am here to guide you to some of the best choices out there. You will often find that these options will run you more money than the traditional Coke and Pepsi offerings, however if you find yourself drinking less as a result, then it’s not gong to hurt your pocketbook. If you like this list, feel free to check out the beverage reviews on my site. Nearly everything is a caffeine free option.

The Best Non Caffeinated Sodas (in my opinion)

1. Sprecher Puma Kola
This caffeine free cola option was created by Sprecher Brewery out of Wisconsin. They call their soft drinks fire brewed. They use rawe Wisconsin honey in each drink. Their Puma Kola is right the top of the list of the best colas money can by. The flavor and level of carbonation is way better than Coke or Pepsi.

2. Americana Honey Lime Ginger Ale
Americana is a brand of classic American bottle sodas. I first discovered them at my local Cost Plus World Market. All of their options are caffeine free. The best of the bunch is their Honey Lime Ginger Ale. The honey, lime, and ginger flavors all perfect compliment one another. It’s an amazing drink.

3. HOTLIPS Cherry Soda
Straight out of Portland, Oregon comes HOTLIPS Cherry Soda. It uses real cherry grown in Northwest Oregon. No fake cherry taste here. They add a touch of vanilla for that little something extra.

4. Gale’s Root Beer
One of the most unique root beers out there. It’s only root beer I know containing cinnamon and ginger, both I think really work to give this caffeine free option a complex, tasty flavor.

5. Saranac Shirley Temple
You might not except to see a kiddie cocktail on this list, but this was definitely deserves to be. It has a strong cherry/lemon-lime flavor. I still can’t believe how much I liked some. I found it just across the border in Ohio, I need to get back to get some more!

6. Boylan’s Creamy Red Birch Beer
Birch beer offers a more wintergreen type taste than root beer. Boylan’s Creamy Red one is the best that I have found. Creamy is definitely the way to describe it. I had a local grocery store that unfortunately decided to stop carrying it. However I was able to get a ton of them on clearance. That was a fun time.

7. Boom Chugga Lugga Cherry Root Bear
Cherry cola is a popular combo, but you don’t see adding cherry to root beer. After drinking this, I think cherry has a new best friend in root beer. The cherry used here is real Michigan cherries!

8. Jackson Hole Soda Co. Snake River Sarsaparilla
Sarsparilla is the cousin of root beer, and while there isn’t a clear definition of the difference (read what I wrote in my review of Kutztown soda), this is my fav sarsparilla out there. Sadly I have only had it the one time, but if I see it again, I will be busting out my wallet.

9. Fitz’s Strawberry Pop
For a long time I had trouble locating a good strawberry soda pop. It took a trip to St. Louis, Missouri for me to find the best strawberry pop out there, created by Fitz’s. I visited their restaurant where you can drink fresh out of the tap soft drinks and watch the bottling process go on as you eat.

10. Frostop Vanilla Caramel Creme Soda
Last on the list is certainly not least. This cream soda made by Frostop has a wonderful caramel flavor that brings a whole new life to cream sodas. It can be hard to find sometimes, appearing it some store for a while, than disappearing. I need to search some out again.

Continue reading »]]> What could be more patriotic than drinking a classic root beer with an American flag on the bottle? Americana is a line of “vintage sodas” that is distributed by Orca Beverages out of Mukilteo, WA. The bottle tells me that this soda is handcrafted and contains pure cane sugar as the sweetener. The Americana brands offers 6 flavors: Root Beer, Huckleberry, Honey Lime Ginger Ale, Black Cherry, Orange Cream, and Honey Cream (the last 2 I haven’t had yet). Below you will find my thoughts on each one of these classic soda pops!

Americana Root Beer
This root beer contains vanilla, licorice and sassafras root bark. When I first tasted it, I felt like “this is kind of ordinary”, but then those other flavors hit you and it’s like “woah, there is something to this root beer.” It’s kind of on the sweet side, so that may be a turn off to some people. The amount of carbonation as with all the Americana sodas was perfect.

Americana Black Cherry
This is actually the first Americana flavor I had and so it’s the one that got me to seek out the others. There are so many artificial tasting black cherry sodas out there, luckily this isn’t one of them. This is a good black cherry with a genuine cherry flavor, no cough medicine aftertaste here. I would like to compare this one side by side with Henry Weinhard’s Black Cherry Cream, which I did give a 5 star rating to.

Americana Honey Lime Ginger Ale
While Americana offers some of the traditional soda flavors, they also go outside the box, like with their Honey Lime Ginger Ale. I never would have thought of that combination, but they all work so well together. This drink is complex and delicious. The Ginger Ale itself is on the strong side, so I hope you like ginger ale!

Click here to check out my original review of Americana Honey Lime Ginger Ale.

Americana Huckleberry Soda
Another flavor you don’t see everyday is Huckleberry. It is a great flavor. It doesn’t taste artificial at all. It contains huckleberry and elderberry extracts. It is sweet without being overly so.

Click here to check out my original review of Americana Huckleberry Soda.

Final Thoughts
Americana is one of the best lines of soda pop I have ever had. Everything is either 4 or 5 stars. I haven’t tried the Orange Cream or Honey Cream yet, but I have high hopes for both of them.

Where to Buy
You can purchase online the entire line of Americana sodas from the Old 52 General Store. Their store is located in Sabin, Minnesota.

Continue reading »]]> One thing I love about visiting different grocery stores is discovering new products I have never seen before. I imagine it’s the same feeling archaeologists get when they discover a new find or when a movie pirate discovers buried treasure. I discovered a new find on my own yesterday, while visiting Westborn Market in Berkeley, MI. This market has a section completely dedicated to Michigan made products. One of those products was a variety of cherry sodas made by the Cherry Republic. The sodas have the name “Boom Chugga Lugga” proceeding the flavor on the label. They had several choices, so it was hard to narrow down a single selection. I decided to try their Cherry Root Bear. Not thats not a typo, I did mean to write bear there. This root beer contains cherry juice from cherries harvested in Michigan. It has been sweetened with cane sugar. I have never seen a cherry flavored root beer before. Cherry works well with cola, so I figured it could work well with root beer as well.

Move over cola, your not cherry’s on companion. This was very good. The cherry did work well with the root beer flavor. The cherry didn’t overwhelm the root beer, it just added to it. The drink has a nice, light carbonation, that just flowed off the tongue without burning like most name brands do (I am looking at you Coke!). The cherry flavor lingers in your mouth, giving you one of the best aftertastes I have seen in a drink. I am excited about trying more from this company!

Where to Buy
You can purchase their sodas as well as many other products that include Michigan cherries, online from their website or visit them in stores. They have 4 Michigan locations: Glen Arbor, Traverse City, Charlevoix, and the soon to be opened Ann Arbor store (right in my neck of the woods!).

Continue reading »]]> This past winter, I got the opportunity to visit Fitz’s American Grill & Bottling Works in St. Louis, Missouri. Fitz’s is most famously known for their root beer which they began making in 1947 and serving at a hamburger joint in Richmond Heights, Missouri. This drive-in lasted until 1970, when the owner retired and closed the business. Fitz’s Root Beer seem to be gone forever. But in 1985, the recipe was brought back and Fitz’s was available again for the public’s enjoyment. The restaurant itself opened in 1993, in the Delmar Loop area.

The best reason to eat at Fitz’s is of course the root beer. Nothing like a root beer fresh out of a tap and into a frosty glass mug. There is a freshness to it, that you can’t experience any other way. Besides root beer you can also get diet root beer, cream soda, orange pop, and grape pop. I made sure to try every single flavor (minus the diet). They also offer some flavors only in bottles like their strawberry pop (best strawberry pop ever!) and orange cream, which you can buy to take home

Another great reason to come to Fitz’s is the atmosphere. The restaurant was built in 1928 and still has some of it’s original charm and character. But the best sight to see is you can watch them bottle their root beer and other drinks. There are large windows on the main floor, where you can watch the bottling process happen. This is a fun thing for kids. My 3 year old daughter enjoyed watching them make “daddy’s tasty”. They don’t bottle at all times, so you have to come at the right time to see it. We were there on a Saturday afternoon.

As for the food itself, honestly it’s nothing special. I had fish & chips and it was alright. The main draw of this place is the soda pop and watching it be bottled. I wish they would put a little more effort into the food to make it an all around perfect experience.

Fitz’s American Grill & Bottling Works is located at 6605 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63130. Their phone number is (314) 726-9555. They are open daily at 11am and close sometime between 9pm and midnight depending on the day of the week or the season. Call ahead if you are coming in late.

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Continue reading »]]> Last spring, I got to sample some Dog n Suds Root Beer. I have seen and heard of their drive in restaurants but it was a cheese shop in downtown Madison, Wisconsin that I first experienced what they have to offer. The next time I was on a long distance road trip, Dog n Suds again crossed my path. This time I discovered at a grocery store in Indianapolis, 3 other flavors of Dog n Suds: cream soda, orange n’ cream, and black cherry. Still haven’t visit a restaurant, but I have had everything they have to offer in bottle form (minus anything diet, I won’t touch that stuff). Below you will find my opinion of each one of their soda flavors.

Root Beer
The first one I tried and still my favorite of their entire line. It is a pleasantly sweet root beer with the right level of spice to it. It’s the only one I have been able to find in glass bottles.

Cream Soda
After having the root beer, the cream soda was a huge letdown. It was weak and poorly carbonated. You can find a billion cream sodas that are very much like this one. I think they need to go back to the drawing board on this one. It’s only saving grace was that it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t finished it.

Black Cherry
After the disappointment of the cream soda, I wasn’t expecting much out of the other flavors. I thought they just threw some stuff together with the Dog n Suds logo to make a buck. However the black cherry was surprisingly good. It had an artificial black cherry flavor, but it was really good for being artificial. While not being as good as more natural tasting cherry sodas, this one beats out most of the black cherry sodas on the market.

Orange n’ Cream
This orange n’ cream, really lacked on the cream side of the taste. I don’t think they were able to capture the flavor of orange cream ice cream bars that well. They could have done so much better with this one.

Final Thoughts
With two 4 star drinks and two 2 star drinks, Dog n Suds is pretty hit or miss. They either do really well or really poorly (at least in my opinion. If they could improve on their weak drinks, this could be a really solid line of soda pop flavors.

Where to Buy
I purchased the root beer at Fromagination in Madison, WI. I purchased the black cherry, orange n’ cream, and cream soda at Marsh Groceries in Indianapolis, IN.

You can also purchase Dog n Suds Root Beer online from the Old 52 General Store. They have carry over 300 varieties of glass bottled soda that you can purchase online or at their store in Sabin, Minnesota.

Continue reading »]]> What does the phrase “all nautral” mean to you? Does it mean that you are getting something that is more pure or is it a bunch of buzz words without any real meaning. I can tell you what all natural means to the makers of Maine Root soda. It is about creating a drink (in today’s case root beer) that is made with ingredients in their most natural state possible with the most minimal of processing. They use carbonated purified water, certified organic evaporated cane juice, natural extracts, spices, and botanicals in all of their sodas.

What is Evaporated Cane Juice?
Maine Root doesn’t use high fructose corn syrup or even pure cane sugar. They use evaporated cane juice as their sweetener of choice. In order to make evaporated cane juice, a whole sugar cane goes through some rollers. Then the extract is dried into crystals. Nothing is added and no further processing is done. There is a lot of debate over whether cane juice is better. Some claim it has additional health benefits because it contains nutrients that are lost when processed into common white sugar. Others think it’s just a gimmick for your money. Leaving the word “sugar” off the label may lead people to think they are getting some healthy or healthier. I think at the least it’s equal to white sugar, with a good possibility of being better for you. It’s still sugar though, so too much of it, is not a good thing.

The Root Beer
Health discussion aside, how does Maine Root’s Root Beer taste? Here is how Maine Root describes their root beer: “Organically sweetened handcrafted soda made with the extracts of wintergreen, clove and anise. Our recipe combines these ingredients to allow the flavor of each of these extracts to come through.”

This is a delicious brew. It’s a great all around root beer that has a good root beer flavor with a bit of spice, foamy head, and is nicely carbonated. I don’t think it’s the best root beer out there. Don’t get me wrong it’s good but my taste buds tell me there are better tasting ones. Still it is one of the better all around root beers that I think has mass appeal.

Check out my earlier review of another Maine Root product, their 5-star blueberry soda!

Where to Buy
You can purchase Maine Root sodas online from the Old 52 General Store. They have carry their root beer and blueberry soda as well as over 300 varieties of glass bottled soda that you can purchase online or at their store in Sabin, Minnesota.

Continue reading »]]> I love root beer and I love sarsaparilla. Both there sometimes is a blurry line between which is which. So I decided to taste a root beer and a sarsaparilla from the same company together. I choose Kutztown for this experiment. But before we get into how these drinks tasted, I want to share what I think the differences between root beer and sarsparilla are.

What is the Difference Between Sarsparilla and Root Beer?
The difference seems to be very simple. They are both are flavored with the sassafras root extracts. However sarsparilla contains a greater percent of this extract than root beer. Root beer has other things added to it, like vanilla, wintergreen, anise to name a few. This is not an official definition and I can’t guarantee every soft drink maker is going to follow it, but this is a general rule of thumb.

The Kutztown Comparison
Kutztown has a long history. They have been in the bottling business since 1851 in Kutztown, PA. The ingredients for their root beer and sarsaparilla are the same, although the order differs. For the root beer it is listed this way: Triple-filtered carbonated water, pure cane sugar, caramel color, natural & artificial flavor, citric acid, sodium benzoate (as a preservative), yucca extracts and acacia. For the sarsparilla it is listed this way: Triple-filtered carbonated water, pure cane sugar, caramel color, citric acid, sodium benzoate (as a preservative), natural & artificial flavor, acacia, and yucca extracts. Now onto the most important part, the taste.

I tasted them side by side, several times and so did my wife. We could hardly tell the difference between the two. The sarsaparilla seemed to taste a little bit sweeter, despite the fact it actually contains 1 less gram of sugar. Both them had a good flavor and a decent amount of carbonation. I didn’t find anything really unique about either of them. They were good, but nothing that I haven’t had a hundred times before. I was hoping to find a greater difference between the two flavors, but I didn’t. I would love to try this experiment with another company in the future.

Kutztown Root Beer

Kutztown Sarsaparilla

Where to Buy
I got mine from the Old 52 General Store. They carry over 300 varieties of glass bottled soda that you can purchase online or at their store in Sabin, Minnesota.

Continue reading »]]> This week, I am focusing a lot of my attention on honey. Honey is a wonderful sweetener, that is used in many things, including carbonated drinks. There are several companies that use honey as one of the ways to sweeten their soda. Below you will find a list of sodas that I have reviewed that contain honey.

Thomas Kemper Orange Cream
Thomas Kemper Root Beer
Sparky’s Fresh Draft Root Beer

Sprecher Orange Dream Soda
Sprecher Cream Soda
Sprecher Cherry Cola
Sprecher Root Beer
Sprecher Ravin’ Red Cranberry-Cherry Soda

Point Premium Orange Cream
Old Town Root Beer

I think of all these that contain honey, the honey does the most good in Sprecher Cream Soda. It is by far and away the best cream soda I have ever found. The honey taste is what really makes this cream soda so delicious. It adds a depth of flavor that other cream sodas are just missing. As I review more soda pop, I will add to the list of those that contain honey.

Many of these flavors are available to purchase online via the Old 52 General Store. They carry over 300 varieties of glass bottled soda. Their physical store is located in Sabin, Minnesota.

Continue reading »]]> Soda pop in glass bottles has been around for years. But it became less popular, as manufacturers turned to plastic and aluminium. We are starting to see a comeback of glass bottles in recent years. Glass bottles don’t loss their carbonation, like plastic and aluminum do over time. Typically the latter ones are over carbonated so they don’t go completely flat quickly. The first time I can remember having a carbonated beverage out of a glass bottle was at a Cracker Barrel. I use to order Stewart’s Root Beer when I would go there on vacations. They would bring out the glass bottle along with a frosted mug to pour it into. I remember really liking it.

Back in February, I was at 99 Cent Only Store in California and saw a cheap bottle of Stewart’s Root Beer. Since I hadn’t reviewed it for the website, I grabbed a bottle. So how did it live up to the memories?

Not as good as I remember. Now that I have tasted so many more root beers, Stewart’s is just an average one. I would rather have it over a A&W or any store brand root beer, but it doesn’t match up with some of the premium root beers I have reviewed for this site. It’s a pretty straight forward root beer. It tastes good, but there isn’t anything particularly special about it.

Where to Buy
I purchased mine at the 99 Cent Only Store in Lake Forest, California. You can find Stewart’s all over the country. Last time I checked Cracker Barrel was still selling it.

Old 52 General Store sells 7 flavors of Stewart’s online. They carry over 300 varieties of glass bottled soda. Their physical store is located in Sabin, Minnesota.