[Super Duper Fantastic] ISFP/INFP. 4w5. World Explorer. Super Hero. Rose-colored Glasses.

[Photo Soon - I left my camera charger at home. :-(]

Despite being across the country, I made not to slack on my Root Beer Mania! duties! Okay, honestly, I was just at Lakefront Brewery for their awesome brewery tour, and I happened to see root beer in their fridge. I was quite pleased to find that it did not contain high fructose corn syrup, so it would be eligible for review.

It came in a plastic bottle, while all the others I’ve tried thus far have come in glass. The tour itself is definitely worth the $7 as you get an entertaining story, plus four servings and a souvenir glass. Interestingly enough, the root beer isn’t on their website. I’m thinking that they must have it in stock for the designated drivers and kids tagging along for the brewery tour.

On the Label: Maple leaf. Brewed in Wisconsin. Pure Wisconsin Maple Syrup.

Bottled by: Lakefront Brewery, Inc. Milwaukee, WI.

Nutritional Facts: Calories: 161, Sodium: 36mg, Total Carb: 40g, Sugars 40g

Ingredients: carbonated water, pure cane sugar, pure Wisconsin maple syrup, caramel color, natural root beer flavor, gum acacia, preservatives – sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate.

Notes: Very light, mild in flavor. I think it’s due to the maple syrup. There isn’t too much of an aftertaste with each sip, just a slight hint of the maple… Unfortunately since it comes in plastic, when I went to take a sniff from the bottle, all I could smell was the plastic. It’s highly recommended to just pour out in a glass first.

Rating:*** I really like the mild flavor, but some might consider it just sugar/syrup water. It comes in a 20 fl. oz. bottle, so it’s a little bit more sampling than I’m used to. On top of that, RV is not here to share it with me. It’s late right now, so I might not even finish it all tonight. We’ll see how it tastes flat.

*** to be updated with a rating

As a side note, I tried the Wheat Monkey Ale and the Eastside Dark Lager at the brewery, and my friend purchased a bottle of their oak-aged cherry lambic ale, Rosie. Yum!

In May, I reviewed my last bottle of root beer for Root Beer Mania!, and that’s just sad. As regular readers of this blog might have noticed, I start a lot of projects that I sometimes do not complete. I’m going to attempt to break that habit and just work through all of my projects!

My last review of Wailua Root Beer from Wailua Soda Works was, unfortunately, a review of an expired bottle! I had purchased it without checking the date, and only did I notice the date after having consumed half the bottle.

Not too long after that tasting, Wailua Soda Works caught wind of this expired bottle, and they sent me a fresh case! It definitely tasted better than the brown sugar water I tried back in May! The Hawaiian vanilla really stands out and brings out the sweet caramel flavor.

Here’s a recap of the facts:

On the Label: A hula dancer. Finest Hawaiian Quality. “Root Beer” in Katakana

Bottled by: Waialua Soda Works, Inc. Waialua, HI

Nutritional Facts: Calories: 190, Sodium: 50mg, Total Carb: 49g, Sugars 47g

Ingredients: carbonated water, cane sugar, Maui natural white cane sugar, natural flavor, caramel color, sodium benzoate, citric acid, Hawaiian vanilla extract

It’s available at some BevMo and Whole Foods locations!

Some Hawaii-related news: we bought tickets and reserved hotel rooms for our trip to Hawaii in October! We’ll only be visiting Oahu though, so no factory tour of Wailua Soda Works! *sad face*

In celebration of the 28th birthday of one of my closest friends who happened to spend much of his adolescent/teen years in the island state, I decided to skip to Waialua for the next Root Beer Mania! tasting. Yes, it’s in a Maker’s glass, and I have it on coasters from Hawaii!

Waialua Soda Works was founded in 2003 with recipes inspired by the elements familiar to the Hawaiian Islands. The company features local ingredients and uses only clear glass bottles, pure cane sugar, and natural flavors to make its sodas.

On the Label: A hula dancer. Finest Hawaiian Quality. “Root Beer” in Katakana

Bottled by: Waialua Soda Works, Inc. Waialua, HI

Nutritional Facts: Calories: 190, Sodium: 50mg, Total Carb: 49g, Sugars 47g

Ingredients: carbonated water, cane sugar, Maui natural white cane sugar, natural flavor, caramel color, sodium benzoate, citric acid, Hawaiian vanilla extract

Notes: Tastes a bit like carbonated brown sugar water. I’m not sure if this was a fair representation of the product as I noticed about half way through the bottle that it expired in earlier 2010. If I still had my receipt, I would return it to the store immediately. It was still carbonated though, so it might have been fine. It does taste like what root beer from Hawaii would taste like with its extra sugar, vanilla, and caramel flavors. It has a great smell to it, but it is a little on the sweet side for me in terms of taste.

Rating:*** It’s Hawaii in a root beer bottle. Enjoyed it, but I want to try another unexpired bottle.

*** to be updated with a rating

The only soda in the world to have inspired a graphic novel, Capt’n Eli’s Root Beer is the next root beer for Root Beer Mania! review. It all started in the basement of the Forsley family in the early 1920s. However, it didn’t make it out in bottles until 2002 after being passed down from father to son to grandsons, and after first being served on tap at a family restaurant [Federal Jack's in Kennebunkport, Maine] in 1996.

On the Label: A ship captain and his parrot

Bottled by: Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland, ME

Nutritional Facts: Calories: 165, Sodium: 35mg, Total Carb: 40g, Sugars 49g

Ingredients: water, cane sugar, caramel coating, natural and artificial flavorings including wintergreen oil, anise, vanilla, spices, herbs, citric acid, sodium benzoate

Notes: Upon first sniff, this root beer reminded me a little bit of ginger beer. After reading the list of ingredients, I realized that it was the wintergreen oil. The initial smell is intense, but the anise and wintergreen don’t end up overpowering the flavor of the root beer. They really add a nice touch to make it taste different from the other root beers. It seemed to flatten out pretty quickly, so I guess it means I have to go through the bottles a little quicker than one sip every so often. Refreshing minty aftertaste too.

Rating:*** I didn’t like the smell at first, but seeing as how I don’t mind wintergreen at all, I did end up liking the taste of this one. RV seems to like this one the best of the three we’ve tried so far.

*** to be updated with a rating

After the first root beer tasting, I was quickly ushered to try another. RV is a fan of drinking everything, but water, so I think he just wanted to have a taste of these also. He finished the strawberry sodas we’d picked up at the same time. The next one is from the Boylan Bottling Co..

The Boylan Bottling Company brand based in New Jersey registered in 1891 and has been operating for over 100 years. They started out with a birch beer [original formula by William Boylan, a pharmacist!], which I don’t think I’ve ever tried, so that might be on the list of follow-up beverages.

On the Label: Registered 1891, Sweetened with Pure Cane Sugar, Best Head, Vintage Soda Pop & Family Run Since 1891

Bottled by: Boylan Bottling Co. Moonachie, NJ

Nutritional Facts: Calories: 165, Sodium: 35mg, Total Carb: 41g, Sugars 41g

Ingredients: carbonated water, cane sugar, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, natural yucca extract, citric acid, sodium benzoate

Notes: You can definitely taste the cane sugar in this one, or perhaps one of the natural/artificial flavors is an overload of vanilla. The sweetness is a little overpowering, and it definitely reminded me of cough syrup. However, there’s one thing they did right – there’s just the right amount of fizzy in this one, whereas the last root beer I tried ran a little flat. I really wish that I had paid attention to the head since they even labeled their bottle with “Best Head.”

Rating:*** I did not particularly like this one, but should it sit in front of me again, I’d give it another taste. I definitely preferred Berghoff’s Root Beer, which I had sampled about an hour earlier.

*** To be updated once I figure out a rating system!

So you get a sneak peak of the back splash in the kitchen, as well as a glimpse of our stove and range hood, but the main focus is Berghoff’s Root Beer.

The layout of the review is a work-in-progress, so it might change as more/less information is available on the beverages I am sampling. I started off alphabetically with the first batch [might switch it up after Keane's comment asking about the Hawaiian one].

This root beer has German origins and was first brewed by The Berghoff in 1898, which was the first establishment to receive a liquor license after Prohibition. During Prohibition, beverages like this root beer were served instead.

On the Label: Old Fashioned, Chicago’s Famous Root Beer, Draft Style, Founded 1898

Bottled by: Clover Club Bottling Co. Chicago, IL

Nutritional Facts: Calories: 120, Sodium: 30mg, Total Carb: 29g, Sugars 29g

Ingredients: carbonated water, pure cane sugar, caramel color, sodium benzoate, natural flavor, citric acid

Notes: What is odd about the nutritional facts is that they are for a serving size of 8 fl. oz. when the bottle itself contains 12 fl. oz. TRICKY, but you cannot fool me! I did the math, and so it’s about 180 calories in a bottle. I am going to guess that to be the average of most bottles, but I’ll have to update once I check the other seven bottles. My initial impression of this root beer is that it smells very good. It was pleasant in flavor, not overly sweet, quite smooth, and not very carbonated [less fizzy than other root beers I have had in the past], lacking any real bite.

Rating:*** I’ve not yet decided a scale, but I did like this one. I don’t often drink sodas and generally prefer smoother/milder flavors. For now, let’s just say that I preferred this one over the Boylan Bottleworks Root Beer I sampled about an hour later.

*** to be updated with a rating

Inspired entirely by the root beer tasting that my friend Zach is currently conducting/documenting, I went and picked out some bottles of my own to try. Searches on the world wide internets will reveal quite a few documented root beer tastings, but I am giving credit to Zach’s in particular because that’s where the inkling of an idea crept into my head.

Actually, I’d read about it in his blog awhile back, but had not really thought anything of it. Fast forward to about a week ago, and I found myself in front of a large selection of sodas. I thought to myself, Hmmm, I’d really like to give these all a try and document them!, of course, completely forgetting that I’d seen this over at Zach’s blog. D’oh! I’m not a connoisseur of root beers, but after this experiment, I might be. :p

My criteria for selecting this first round of bottles seemed simple enough – no high fructose corn syrup. While the store had a wide selection of root beers, there were still over a handful that I had to put back onto the shelf because of HFCS.

Here are the root beers I selected for Round #1 of Root Beer Mania [all purchased at my local BevMo]:

* Berghoff’s Root Beer
* Boylan Bottleworks Root Beer
* Capt’n Eli’s Root Beer
* Dad’s Root Beer
* Sea Dog Root Beer
* Sioux City Root Beer
* Triple XXX Root Beer
* Waialua Hawaiian Root Beer

I’m pretty certain that I will not review as many as the folks over at Root Beer Barrel, but I’ll start somewhere. Eight’s my favorite number, so I’ll start with eight! The rounds to follow will depend greatly on whether or not there is a supply for this girl’s demand.

Illusion Labs [based in Sweden] makes one of my latest favorite iPhone games, Sway. Cutest game ever!

You start off with Lizzie the Lizard, and as you progress, you unlock her friends [the part that keeps me playing]. The graphics are quite impressive on this game, and you spend your time swinging from block to block, collecting stars and dodging obstacles. My favorite character to use is Ninja Man, but some of the other characters have longer arms [Monkee and Scarlet] and prove to be a bit more useful on some levels. Box boy is extra springy too! Using your left and right thumb, you control the swaying action of the character. When you let go of the screen, your character takes off, and when you put your finger back on the screen, your character will latch on to the nearest block. The objective of the game: Collect stars as quickly as you can to the finish line of each level. Rescue friends on the “Save a Friend” levels.

Yup, I shelled out $4.99 for this one after doing a test run of Sway Lite. Some of the levels are quite tough, but there are checkpoints on each level to save the spot you’ve reached in the level. You also have unlimited number of deaths, so you can keep on going. Quite entertaining and fun! I’ve gotten really into the game, and my fingers get all sweaty. Oops! It looks cute, but it is still tough.

Well worth the $$ spent. I’m down to one more friend to rescue, but I’m hoping there will be future updates with more levels + friends.

With all the free time I have now, I may spend some of it crocheting Ninja Man – see pattern here!

Here are screen shots of some of the friends:

Fairlady Media brings to the iPhone world a mobile version of the popular arcade game, Whac-A-Mole.

Is it just me, or does it seem like I find joy in playing games where the cute and cuddly creatures on the little iPhone screen are smacked around? Just this one and that Crazy Penguin Catapult.

It’s one of those games that keeps me on my toes and makes my fingers spastic! Each level is about 30 seconds long [there are time bonuses if you whack a clock], and you can’t miss any or there are penalties.

Whack ‘em All! is for all ages and tests your hand-eye coordination. You have to whack those goofy-looking moles, rabbits, gophers, and skunks, while watching out for kittens.

The silly music will stick to your head as you advance from level to level, knocking the animals out with the mallet. You get extra points for multiple whackings at once, and when you shake your phone, there’s a special mallet that takes care of all the pests in the garden.

Best of all, the game is free if you’re not afraid of a few ads. Otherwise, contribute the 99 cents to check the game out!

Originally, I downloaded the Lite version of the Crazy Penguin Catapult game from Digital Chocolate just to have something to play around with. After beating it, I deleted the app and moved on with my life. But then not too long ago, I re-downloaded the game. Catapulting penguins at polar bears was back in my life.

RV caught the penguin-catapulting bug and ended up downloading the paid version for $4.99. There are many complaints that the $4.99 version is too short, and I’ll have to agree. For such a short game that can be beaten in a few hours, $4.99 is hefty. However, it has actually provided RV and me quite a few hours of entertainment. Yeah, we’ve beaten the game several times, but the silly power-ups have kept us coming back. Gotta love the Rubber and Super Bounce Penguins, Ninja and Double Ninja Penguins, Ice Breakers, Twins and Triplets…

CUTE, right? Oh, casual games. They’re the next big money maker…

Side note: The rain boots didn’t make it again. One more try by the delivery guys before I can call them to arrange a pick-up or something.