Boylan Birch Beer

Since 1891, the Boylan Bottling Company has been bottling their carbonated delights. Their first product was their Birch Beer, which I am reviewing today. It was created by William Boylan, a pharmacist from Patterson, New Jersey. Their drinks are sweetened with pure cane sugar. They never made the switch when everyone else went over to high fructose corn syrup.

So what exactly is birch beer? As the name would suggest, the flavor of this drink comes from bark from birch trees. The sap from the bark is made into an oil and then that is added to the carbonated water, sugar, and other flavorings or preservatives. I would place it in the same family of drinks like root beer or ginger beer. Birch beer has more of a wintergreen taste.

This was my first ever birch beer, so I didn't know what to expect. I didn't expect such a strong wintergreen taste. I thought for sure my wife would hate it because she doesn't like wintergreen stuff, but she actually thought it tasted good. It is unlike any thing else I have ever had. I enjoyed it, but I don't think it would go with any type of food. It's best to go along with a snack or just a midday thirst quencher. For now I am giving it 3 stars, but it could go up if I have other birch beers that don't match up.