Ely Soda Works

It is truly a rare treat to find a microbrew soda, and Ely Sodas are so local I can't find ANY information on them, beyond this ad from the local Ely gazette, the Ely Echo.

The bottle in my possession doesn't give me any clues, either.  There is no contact information, no phone number, no website.  It is a mystery, indeed.

We tried two varieties, the Minnesota Bear Blueberry Soda and the Minnesota Voyageur ButterScotch Root Beer.

I wasn't able to save the bottle of the blueberry soda (we had smuggled our own pop in and carrying out the empties was inconvenient.)  So I don't have an ingredient list for you.  I can tell you that it was moderately carbonated, not too sweet, and the blueberry flavor reminded me of what I thought was Frankenberry, but my cereal-loving husband corrected me was actually Booberry.  It was pretty much lukewarm by this point, so the carbonation may be a bit more bitey when cold.

I do still have the bottle of the butterscotch root beer.   Ingredients are: Carbonated water, sugar and/or corn sweetener, caramel color, natural & artificial flavors, sodium benzoate (as a preservative)  

The ingredient list didn't fill me with a lot of confidence, but I forged on ahead.  Again, this wasn't as cold as I would have preferred, but I don't think it hurt the flavor.  Nice carbonation, good mouthfeel- not too syrupy, not too thin.  But the flavor!  Have you ever read Harry Potter.  No? Liars.  Of course you've read Harry Potter.  Remember butterbeer?  I'm pretty sure this is exactly what they were talking about.  The strongest notes are the butterscotch.  The root beer is far more subtle, just enough to keep the butterscotch from being too cloying- just a tiny bit of the sassafras.  My favorite of the two.

Definitely worth a trip up to the Boundary Waters.  Between Ely Soda Works and Dorothy Molter Root Beer, Ely might just be on its way to becoming the soda pop mecca of the Great Lakes.

AJ Stephan's Wild Strawberry

AJ Stephan's calls their wild strawberry soda an "elixer."  While this draws up pictures of men with curly mustaches selling patent cures, what you get instead is an old-fashioned soda like your grandma used to make. 

Or didn't make.  My grandma spent more time studying political science than making cookies, but surely, someone's grandma made soda at home.  And it probably tasted like this.

The wonderful thing about AJ Stephan's Wild Strawberry is it isn't too sweet, even though the second ingredient is sugar.  (real sugar, not that HFCS garbage).

The taste is somewhere between a summery wine and strawberry jam, with a nice amount of carbonation.  A good choice for a lazy Sunday afternoon in a hammock.  Wear gingham.

INGREDIENTS: Made with Pure Carbonated New England Water, Cane Sugar, Flavoring, Color & Sodium Benzoate.

Abita Root Beer

 When I came across Abita Root Beer I knew I had to try it.  My husband is familiar with Abita's beer, which is name checked alot in television any time you have a show set in Louisiana (True Blood, I'm looking at you).

Now, Abita has a fairly normal list of ingredients, right up until you hit yucca root.  What is yucca root?

From their website:  Abita Root Beer is made with a hot mix process using spring water, herbs, vanilla and yucca (which creates foam). Unlike most soft drink manufacturers, Abita sweetens its root beer with pure Louisiana cane sugar. The resulting taste is reminiscent of soft drinks made in the 1940s and 1950s, before bottlers turned to corn sugar and fructose. Some soft drink makers add caffeine to their product, but Abita is naturally caffeine-free.

So, there's that.  The rest of the ingredients are:   Carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, root beer flavor, phosphoric acid

It comes in a squat little brown bottle which is very nice to hold in your hand.  Nicely carbonated, with a good, yet clean mouthfeel.  Not too sweet.  Fairly standard "root beer" flavor- none of the notes stand out particularly, just a nice root beer flavor.  I would recommend this if you like your rootbeer to be very balanced flavor without being sugary.

Sprecher Bootleggers Bourbon Barrel Hard Root Beer

I love Root Beer.  I love alcohol.  So this seemed to be a match made in heaven.  Like puppies and rainbows, peanut butter and chocolate.  Or fish fingers and custard.

Friends, run, do not walk, away from this brew.

I had the opportunity to try this at the Sprecher Restaurant in the Wisconsin Dells, and was super excited to try it- not only was it Hard Root Beer, they offered a Hard Root Beer Float!  How could I be expected to resist that?

It tastes neither like beer or root beer.  You get a little bit of licorice on your initial taste, and an odd, oak-y aftertaste (possibly from the bourbon barrels)?  Yet it doesn't really taste like bourbon, either.  There's a bit of a grainy taste, too, more barley than malt.

I really can't recommend this.  If you want to get buzzed with your Root Beer, order a shot of the hard stuff on the side.

Couldn't find an ingredient list, as I got this on tap, but it has a 5% ABV.

Strawberry Zevia

First off, Zevia is a stevia-sweetened pop.  It is not going to taste like sugar.  It does not taste like splenda or saccharine or aspartame.  You need to know this going into it because you will not be happy with this soda if you expect it to taste like a regular, sugar based soda. 

Zevia is an aquired taste. 

Yet when you can't have artificial sweeteners or sugar on a daily basis, it suddenly tastes like the most awesome soda EVER.

The best way to get used to a stevia-sweetened pop is by tasting an unusual flavor.  You'll notice the "off" taste more if you're drinking cola than if you're drinking something that you don't typically drink.

I give you Strawberry Zevia.

The ingredients are simple:  CARBONATED WATER, ERYTHRITOL, NATURAL FLAVORS, CITRIC ACID, REB A (STEVIA EXTRACT).

None of these are scary ingredients, and they won't spike your blood sugar.  Stevia is an herb that is naturally many times sweeter than sugar.  Erythritol is a sugar alchohol that is used to improve the flavor of stevia, it has far less side effects than other sugar alcohols like malitol. (Your mileage may vary)

So...what does it taste like?  Bubble gum.  In a good way.  It has a great amount of carbonation and no sugary mouth feel.  I highly recommend it if you can't drink traditional diet sodas.

Killebrew Root Beer

I really wanted to like Killebrew Root Beer.  I've tried it for the first time at a Saint Paul Saints game and was excited to try it- a local, baseball themed beer at a baseball game!  Sadly, it did not live up to the hype.

It comes in a strange aluminum bottle.  I'm wondering if that is part of the problem, as I've tried several bottles and they are all so lightly carbonated to the point of being flat.

It is very sweet.  It is sweetened both with my nemesis, high fructose corn syrup and honey.  I tend not to be a fan of honey sweetened root beers as they tend to have a surprisingly bland taste, and this is no exception.  It also has a very sugary feel on your mouth, and I was looking for a glass of water after drinking this to get the sticky feeling to go away.

I do not recommend this root beer, other than for the novelty of the aluminum bottle.

Ingredients:  Pure natural spring water, high fructose corn syrup, pure Minnesota honey, caramel color, natural and artificial flavors, and citric acid.

Cock 'n Bull Ginger Beer

I found this ginger beer in a truckstop on our way home from our vacation- after 3 hours of driving I was ready for a little something.  Sadly a sharp left turn out of the parking lot left me wearing more of this ginger beer than I got to drink, but what I had gave me a good idea of what this brew is all about.

First of all, it has a nice, sharp ginger taste.  You'd think that would be obvious, but I've had quite a few ginger beers and ales that had a weird fruity taste, either from their sweeteners or something else.  This one has real sugar, and it really makes a difference in the taste and mouth feel.  This was a nice mix of spicy ginger with just enough sweetness to make it drinkable, it'll warm your tummy and tickle your sinuses.  Good carbonation, and the label makes me giggle.  I would buy this one again, I like it on its own and it would be great in a mixed drink. 

Ingredients:  Carbonated Water, Real Sugar, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Natural Flavors, and less than 1/10 of 1% Sodium Benzoate as a preservative.