My husband home brews so he has the set up to make root beer, too. Basically you get root beer flavoring from the brew store, mix it with water and a bunch of sugar, put it in a soda keg, and add carbonation. Well, there’s a lot more to the set up than that actually, but you get the basic idea. (Here’s how to set up a simple home draft system if you’re interested.)
The soda he made was good, but it didn’t strike me as homemade since he used a premade flavoring. Somewhat akin to making cupcakes from a mix, it was good but not like making it from scratch. And after we caught our son, Nathan imitating Barney Gumble from the Simpsons (he would place his mouth under the tap and drink and drink and drink), and treating the entire neighborhood to a cold root beer on afternoon, we put an end to making soda at home.
Craft soda brewing – even better than homemade
Having a soda as an occasional special treat for both us and the kids is fine. Yet, having it on tap lead to excess and some bad habits by the kids. There had got to be an easier way of enjoying a refreshing soda once in awhile.
Well, since we like craft brews, shouldn’t we explore craft soda brewers, too? One such company is Natural Brew®. They use micro-brewing techniques to bring out the robust flavor of all ingredients in their sodas. They also brew their sodas in small batches allowing the flavors to blend together, and don’t use any artificial additives or preservatives. This is soda the way your great granddad made it.
I was sent samples of their four flavors Draft Root Beer, Outrageous Ginger Ale, Vanilla Cream, and Ginseng Cola to try out. Of course the kids LOVED all the flavors. It’s soda for goodness sake! The real test would be if I liked it.
I tried sips of Draft Root Beer and Vanilla Cream, since I’m not a big fans of either flavor to justify the 170 calories per bottle. Both were delicious and reminded me of something you’d get at an old fashioned ice cream soda shop.
I liked the Outrageous Ginger Ale, but prefer Reed’s Ginger Brews a little bit more. Natural Brew’s soda didn’t have the ginger “bite” that Reed’s does. However, if you think Reed’s are too strong, Natural Brew Outrageous Ginger Ale may be more to your liking.
My favorite by far was the Ginseng Cola. It’s made with Panax ginseng root and tasted like what I’d expect a real cola to taste like – refreshing and sweet but not overpoweringly so.
Go to the Natural Brew website to find out where their sodas are sold, to get a dollar off coupon, or how their sodas are made.
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Disclosure: I was sent a four pack of each flavor by Natural Brew’s PR firm to review.
