Thomas Kemper Root Beer—Contender #5

Last night I let my wife choose which drink I would try. She chose the Thomas Kemper Root Beer. I was excited. This was an imported beverage I was yet to try. A potential new taste in an otherwise familiar world for someone who has tried many a familiar sarsaparilla over the years. The excitement stayed with me all the way to the last drop. Friday night was pretty damn awesome.

At first I was excited by the potential new taste. Then I was excited by the fact the glass bottle top was an old-school metal twist top. At first glance I thought I might need a bottle opener. As someone who doesn't drink alcohol this would have been a challenge (although from memory the Simpsons T-shirt I got for Christmas came with a bottle opener). But even before getting into the bottle I began to wonder about the taste sensations awaiting me. The stylish label—don't forget the judging criteria of this competition includes a style component—made my taste buds tingle with its mention of all natural sweetening from the pure northwest honey. None of that regular sugar sweetening I'd become accustomed to.

It was time to make the big step. It was time to taste.

I'm going to have to borrow from the marketing material on the bottle label itself. This is one honey of a root beer. The taste is rich, but not sickeningly so. This is a fine tasting sarsaparilla that you could easily drink in one hit without then feeling sick afterwards. It is a distinctly different drink from the sarsaparillas I'm used to here in Australia. But I sure could get used to it. Were it not so expensive compared to locally brewed beverages.

If I could locate the other root beers Thomas Kemper has on their website I'd gladly add them to my list. I could just get used to these honey sweetened beverages.