Root Beer Review #6 – Americana Root Beer

With July 4th being America’s birthday, it seemed appropriate to break open an Americana Root Beer for this week’s tasting. Americana is made in Wisconsin by Orca Beverage, which touts the root beer flavor as “a traditional root beer with hints of vanilla, licorice, and honey. The creamy licorice undertones balance all the flavors together for a smooth creamy addition to your root beer favorites.”

I’m familiar with this brew from my time spent in California on a work trip. I found a Rocket Fizz Soda Shop where they stocked all sorts of root beer and soda. This was one of two suggested favorites from the cashier on the day I went into the store. At the time, it was very good, and I hoped that I would have the same drinking experience on the 4th.

I asked Logan if she wanted root beer, and she said yes! By now, she should know that every root beer she’ll be tasting will be a new brand. But, when I handed her a glassful, she sat quietly sipping and saying nothing. Finally when I asked how she liked it, she said, “Isn’t this Virgil’s?” Nope. It’s better. It doesn’t have a strong head of foam. The aroma is very noticeable and smells very good – like a root beer.  The flavor is also “rootbeer like” and they don’t skimp on the flavor – Logan said it was wintergreen, the website says creamy licorice, I say it’s just good flavorful root beer. I’m a big fan of this brew.

As the weekend wore on, I had a rating of 7.7 listed before I decided on the real rating.  Logan questioned my rating: “You’re only giving Americana a 7.7?!”. I think she liked it too. I would give a big recommendation for Americana Root Beer – it’s an excellent representation of the top shelf root beers that are out there. I hope to find more just like it and maybe even better.

Derek’s Rating: 9.0

Here are the rankings so far:

9.0 Americana Root Beer
8.1 maine root handcrafted rootbeer
8.0 Virgil’s Root Beer
7.7 Chicago Root Beer
7.2 O-So Butterscotch Root Beer
3.6 towne club root beer