Small Town Brewery Not Your Father's Root Beer

Not Your Father's Root Beer

 

Small Town Brewery in Wauconda, Illinois, United States 🇺🇸

Brewed at/by: City Brewery (La Crosse Plant)
  Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Spiced Regular
Score
6.42
ABV: 5.9% IBU: - Ticks: 73
Sweet and silky, it goes down smooth and hits your tongue with the perfect combination of vanilla, sarsaparilla and anise.
 

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6.9
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

I love root beer. Cola, root beer color with no head. Aroma is, well, root beer. Taste is also root beer.

Tried from Can on 31 May 2025 at 17:16


6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured an almost black color with a small foamy beige head that faded quickly and left no lacing. The aroma was root beer and seemed flat. The flavor was root beer and vanilla. Medium length finish. Light body and undercarbonated. Alcohol well hidden. Tasted like soda.

Tried from Bottle on 29 Oct 2024 at 21:17


7.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Could be dangerous. Very close to root beer, slight difference in flavor but covers up the alcohol. Heavy.

Tried on 13 Aug 2019 at 01:42


5.2
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Deep amber to dark brown colored, no head. Aroma is of some vanilla, peppermint, strong enough to feel like mouthwash, some spice, sugary feel to it. Taste is very sweet and sugary, again peppermint mouthwash, vanilla, spices, caramel. Medium bodied, soft to flat. I suppose some people like this kind of stuff... (bottle)

Tried from Bottle on 15 Nov 2017 at 10:18


6.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Thanks Ivan P.! Shared with him, kajser and others from their firm. Erm, okay, Dark brown body with an ephemeral brownish head. The aroma is... wow. Never having had actual root beer (I think) I had no idea what to expect. My friends insisted it was Listerine, but I haven't really smelled that either. But I'm quite sure I'd experienced that same taste in some toothpastes I've used randomly here and there. Sorta like bubblegum, vanilla underneath and sweet. Whatever sweetness there was in the aroma (and there was plenty, it's exponentially larger in the taste, especially when it warmed. I actually dug this "root beer" taste (won't even try to venture a guess if it's sassafras or sarsaparilla), accentuated by the vanilla, but in the end it was too sweet to bear. Surprisingly respectable, different, but... I completely and utterly see and respect people not liking this at all. LeChuck beware!

Tried on 13 Nov 2017 at 11:52


6.3
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6

Bottle shared with my bro-in-law. Pours a cola-like brown with a finger of foam that dissipates quickly. Licorice, nutmeg and ginger nose. Sweet on the palate, slightly cola-like stickiness. Good amount of spice, but quite sweet. Alcohol is noticeable.

Tried from Bottle on 11 Oct 2017 at 16:00


Beer tick image

6.8
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

12 oz bottle. Been curious about this for a while, as a root beer lover. Pours dark brown, like cola, with a brownish head that immediately disappears. Aroma's are sweet, vanilla, tooth paste, honey, in other words: root beer. Flavor is heavy sweet with a touch of (nutmeg?) bitterness. Alcohol is definitely noticable, but it still drinks deceptively easy, probably because of the sweetness. Light bodied. Just a hint of herbal bitterness in the finish. A nice novelty, and I like it cause I like root beer, but it doesn't beat Virgil's.

Tried from Bottle on 07 Oct 2017 at 21:13


4.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4

Bottle from IGA, Cookeville, Tennessee. Not so much strong tasting in strength, but certainly in its medicinal character, which lingers long. Has a sticky-sweet texture.

Tried from Bottle on 26 Jun 2017 at 09:02


5.4
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

A root beery smell that comes across as more of an extract. There’s a slight note of anise, then a marshmallow taste that happen to I like, followed by a bit of a burn either from alcohol, or herbs that I haven’t run across before. Herbal note shows up at the end of the sampler, plus a background of wintergreen.

Tried on 22 Jan 2017 at 15:27


3.1
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 2.5

Bottle, almost no head whatsoever,cola brown color, just like drinking toothpaste with caramel spices and mineral notes, much too sweet and sickly. Interesting but really not in a good way.

Tried from Bottle on 03 Jul 2016 at 12:29