Seems to be a trend, or maybe a fad right now. Hard Root Beers seem to be the rage around here. For anyone who doesn’t know what the “hard” means, it is alcoholic (I’m not sure if it would be understood to our international friends).
I was originally told to try Not Your Father’s but couldn’t find it anywhere. I was told by more than a few places that it sells out within a day of when they get it. I was then directed to Coney Island which seems to be fairly easy to find around here.
I got a six pack of Coney Island and it tasted to me surprisingly like… well… Root Beer. I love Root Beer so that was fine with me. It tasted a bit sweet, but still fun to drink. I even made a (hard) Root Beer Float with it and it was very enjoyable.
A friend of mine went up to Wisconsin and said they had Not Your Father’s everywhere and brought me back a six pack. I just got it tonight and after chilling it gave it a try. Much spicier and not nearly as sweet as Coney Island. Tastes more like a craft root beer… which I really like.
I went out earlier to get some Coney Island so I could try them side by side, but it got a little late so I’ll have to wait. The place I went to though had a big display of CI and when I told the guy I was wanting to do a taste test with Not Your Father’s and he said “we have that too.” He pointed, and there was one lonely six pack.
I found out that Coney Island is distributed by Sam Adams so they clearly have a big foot in the door. I’ll try to do a side by side tomorrow, but right now NYF seems to be in the lead for me.
Still don’t think it will replace “normal” beer for me, but it is still a fun drink.
So is this a local Midwest thing, or is it a trend elsewhere?
I’m starting to think it is a cilantro type reaction. Most people I’ve talked to love it and it tastes just like regular Root Beer, but a few say it just has a foul taste to it and is nothing like the regular stuff.
The first hard root beer I ever had was Sprecher. They’re primarily a root beer company, so it was a pretty obvious move for them. This was maybe three years ago.
Within the last year, it’s definitely exploded in popularity. Not Your Father’s is pretty great too, but I like Sprecher more.
Not Your Father’s seems to have become very common around here (Dallas) in the past month or two. Haven’t tried it yet, but I do have a bottle in the fridge.
I had some at a 4th of July party and, charitably, I could describe it as “acquired taste”. The reaction of those around me seemed about the same.
A few weeks ago, my wife bought a four-pack thinking that it was just some fancy boutique root beer and I can safely say that I haven’t acquired the taste yet. The initial sip is fine but the aftertaste is god awful.
I’m actually surprised to learn that it was alcoholic. It was the Sprecher’s Fire-Brewed Hard Root Beer and, sure enough, looking it up now it says malt beverage and adults only. It must have almost no alcohol because I didn’t feel a thing from it. Either that or it took me so long to drink the awful stuff that the effects were mitigated by time.
NYF is the most common at the South Jersey Shore. The owner of the local booze store said it sells quickly, especially among the younger crowd. I can drink one but that’s about it. Very sweet.
Not Your Father’s is 5.9% alcohol… Coney Island is 5.8%. On par with many craft beers. There is supposed to be another version of NYF that is 12% but I can’t verify that.
I love Sprecher’s regular Root Beer. I’ve never seen the hard version though.
Again, it isn’t something I would drink several of, but one with a hot dog at a party is nice in my opinion.
I’ve had Sprecher’s and Not Your Father’s, each plain and with vanilla ice-cream. Not bad, but I prefer the alcoholic ginger beers which can be very spicy/hot.
A little looking reveals that the Sprecher’s “Fire-Brewed” stuff is 5%.
I’m just surprised. I rarely drink these days so I’m a total lightweight and didn’t notice it at all. But that could just be that I was nursing it since I didn’t much care for the taste.
I tried Not Your Father’s. It really sweet and I didn’t like it. Plus, I’m just not that big a fan of root beer in general. It tastes like medicine.
Now if they brought back Zima…
I’ve had both the lower alcohol and higher alcohol versions of Not Your Father’s and the higher alcohol definitely has a boozy taste to it. Not so with the lower alcohol one.
I enjoyed it, but since I only have pop once a year or so it won’t be making it into my regular beer rotation.
Isn’t that several degrees proof beyond what can be achieved by mere fermentation? Seems like they’d either have to be adding grain spirit to it, or freeze-distilling it, to get it that potent.
We’ve had the 5.9% version on-and-off in my store for a few months now. I’ve tried it. I can’t taste the alcohol in it at all, which is good if you don’t like the taste of alcohol, but it’s way sweeter than even regular root beers are, and there’s no way I could drink more than one at a time just because of how sweet they are. Not really a good beverage to drink if you’re actually looking to get buzzed, despite its being considerably stronger than the malt coolers I feel compelled to compare it to.
I like the Coney Island more than the Not Your Father’s. I find NYF to be sweeter and it has a lot more vanilla flavoring, kinda like an A&W, where Sprecher’s is closer to a Barq’s (especially when you add a shot of Fireball). I think the Coney is the closest to tasting like generic root beer. I thought you could taste a bit of the ale yeast at the end in the NYF and Sprecher’s, but not so much in the Coney.
I do prefer the hard ginger beer to the root beer beer. I haven’t tried Sprecher’s hard ginger beer but Crabbie’s is pretty good. They’re all quite expensive, and I find it hard to really drink more than one of the hard ginger and root beers. They’re a great entry point for people who don’t like beer but like Mike’s Hard though.
Since my first six pack took about two weeks to finish I think you can guess that it isn’t something I want a lot of at a time.
On the rare occasion I have a hot dog it reminds me of my childhood, and I want it simple… and yes I may even add ketchup. Potato chips are great, and as a kid I would have had a root beer so this makes a good substitution.
If I’m having a brat, I want kraut, spicy mustard, German potato salad and a real beer.
It’s all about the pairing and what you want to experience. Hot Dogs remind me of childhood… Brats remind me of German fest.
Coincidentally, I noticed an empty bottle of Not Your Father’s Root Beer at a redemption center when I was returning my own empties this week. I hadn’t realized it was alcoholic.