kutztown

I'm telling you, the trip to St. Louis this go-around really was an abundance of riches. I found yet another root beer from Pennsylvania: Kutztown. I will say this: I'm fascinated by the fact that so many microbreweries make root beer and birch beer, but not many tackle colas. Why is that? Do they just not want to compete with Coke and Pepsi? Why is there such a variety of root beers and cream sodas? It is like no one has cornered the market on root beer, cream soda, and sarsaparilla. But cola -- don't touch it with a 10-foot pole.

I don't have many notes from this tasting, but it was noted that this root beer was better than another one I bought (but haven't blogged about yet: stay tuned. I think that one is coming up next week).

The bottle cap, however, is very nice!  Bright yellow, bold lettering and a frosty mug of root beer highlighted in the middle. If i didn't know it was root beer I might think it was from The Simpsons!

triple xxx root beer

Triple XXX continues my quest to try at least one microbrew root beer from every state. Hurray, Indiana!
Of the root beers from this particular haul, Triple XXX seems to have pushed its way to the top. It is more vanilla-y than the others, and has a bit of a Sprecher element to it. Overall, everyone who tried Triple XXX liked it.

I love the website, too: and be sure to check out the "about" page. Multiple generations running the same restaurant? Fabulous. It does make me sad that there used to be a whole lot more Triple XXX restaurants across the Midwest.

The bottle cap is great.  I love the bright yellow, with the orange oval. And who doesn't like an italic "drink" that is also underlined? Please, try this beverage! It will quench your root beer thirst.

sioux city

It's taken me a little while to collect even part of the bottle caps from Sioux City bottle caps, the soda company that hails from Wisconsin.

Clearly I don't have all of the bottle caps to make a set, but I do have enough for a blog post!

I've had the privilege of trying the Root Beer, Cream Soda (yum!) and Sarsaparilla varieties, all at unique places around the US. The root beer I got from a Cracker Barrel in Pennsylvania -- I actually think it may have been the first time I ever ate there (Michael and his family were shocked -- SHOCKED -- that I had never been to one before). The cream soda was procured at none other than Oklahoma Joe's in, of all places, a gas station in Kansas City, Kansas. And the sarsaparilla was found, of all places, at a local pizza joint that also has the most amazing Four Cheese gnocchi I've ever had.

These are pretty standard-looking bottle caps. It's nice that they switch up the colors and names for each of the different types of drinks, and the sodas are pretty tasty, too. When drinking the sarsaparilla, Michael and I got into a discussion about the difference between root beer and sarsaparilla (other than the fact that sarsaparilla is spelled funny -- OR we just pronounce it funny.) Any thoughts, readers? Enlighten me.

ted's root beer

It was certainly a stellar week in bottle caps for me. Not only did I get a great shipment of bottle caps from Greg, I also got a few from Michael's mother (in a package of things containing, among other things, a full season's supply of sweet potatoes). My mom also took me on a beer/soda run. More about that later this week.

But the best thing was this weekend when Michael and I went up to my parents' house for our annual trip upstate to visit our favorite apple orchard and purchase fruit, pies, freshly made donuts, hot cider, all natural peanut butter and other delicious things for the fall. We peep leaves, listen to 80's rock on the radio, and just get out of the city for a few hours. It's a nice annual tradition that I've been doing since I was a kid, and I'm glad that Michael is game for continuing the tradition every year.

Down the street from Salinger's Orchard, there's a Barn Sale. Some woman sells pumpkins, old milk bottles, light-switch covers, and junk from her basement, along with some tin signs that may or may not be vintage (I think not, but I could be wrong). Usually, the Barn Sale is good for a laugh, but generally a bust in terms of actually finding fun stuff to buy.

Last year that changed when we found an awesome replica tin sign for Michael's dad -- which we were able to get signed by Stan the Man Musial. The streak continued this year when I found...yes...4 bins full of cork-lined soda caps. You could probably hear my squealing with delight all the way up the hill at Salinger's. They didn't know what was going on!

I'll be sure to make a note in the labels below when I'm blogging about a Barn Sale bottle cap, but the one that I'm most excited about, which also ties in well with last week's Suds Series, is Ted's Root Beer, a line of beer made by Moxie in the '60s.

I had been coveting this bottle cap via eBay for some time now, and kept threatening to spend up to $10-$15 for the bottle cap. But I knew that this was just way too much for a crown, so I held off. Thank goodness I did.

This bottle cap is pretty amazing. It has a lot going for it: endorsed by a celebrity, it has "stitching" like a baseball, it's a root beer bottle cap, and it's cork-lined. Who knows if it is authentic, but it wasn't expensive, and damn, it makes me happy.

This might be a contender for the HOF! Even without an animal on it!

route 66 soda & bottling

One of the best by-products of this blog are the surprises I get in the mail.  Recently, I received a very exciting bottle cap that I hadn't encountered before.

Route 66 looks like it makes fantastic sodas. Root beer, cream soda... black cherry! I've gotta get my hands on some of this.

This bottle cap is fantastic. It has the iconic Route 66 logo (which I have driven on!) and even says "From Chicago to L.A." I've even eaten at some Old Route 66 Landmarks -- the Ariston Cafe, Ted Drewes. I almost went to a movie in a working drive-in on Route 66 (but didn't, because the movie advertised was not the movie being shown. We didn't really want to see Hot Rod.)  Michael is, conveniently, from a town that is on Route 66, so I am luckily very familiar with the St. Louis to Springfield stretch of road.  So, this bottle cap has a special place in my heart, no matter what!

Someday, I will do the Chicago-to-L.A. drive of Route 66 and I will collect bottle caps along the way. And maybe I'll even drink a Route 66 Root Beer on the road. They can't pull me over for that.

frostie

I know I blogged briefly about Frostie in the past, but I feel it's necessary to bring up a new bottle cap, and with it, a new story.

Driving back from Kansas City through central Missouri, we saw many interesting billboards. Lots for fireworks, Antique Malls and the Mizzou team store. But my absolute favorite billboards were the ones for Nostalgiaville, USA. They were incredibly insistent (billboard after billboard after billboard for nearly sixty miles) on us visiting them, and despite Michael's protests, we ended up pulling off I-70 on exit 148 and checking out what proved to be an excellent nostalgia trip. So, yeah, the advertising worked

They had old bottles with soda. They had tin signs. They had sections devoted to Bettie Boop, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, I Love Lucy, and Elvis. They even had a fridge chock full of.. yes... Frostie sodas.  They had Blue Cream Soda, Root Beer, Cherry Limeade and others. I was VERY tempted to get a Blue Cream Soda (by the way, what is up with all of the colored cream sodas? I've seen red, blue, honey and clear. Any thoughts on the cream soda color craze?). But, before I could place my money on the counter, I spied a bottle cap turned upside down in a mostly empty garbage pail. Yes, I admit it. I dumpster-dove for a Frostie Root Beer Bottle Cap. And then I didn't buy a soda.

I would like to publicly apologize here to Nostalgiaville, and offer this as my penance: Go shop there! They have awesome stuff. They sell bottles of Vitameatavegamin (even if it is candy). And of course, they sell a wide variety of Frostie Sodas, which are delicious. Should you be in central Missouri (it might happen), I highly suggest you check it out. Or face the wrath of their billboards.

foxon park

This weekend Michael and I took a trip to Connecticut with a friend of ours. Her father generously let us use his house as our home base, as well as borrow his car so that we could drive all over the state. We did everything from antiquing, to going to minor league baseball games, to drinking lots of beer in German beer gardens, to eating grilled lobster while sitting on a tree stump. And we also looked for some bottle caps.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm now on a quest to find root beers from all 50 states. Connecticut, you are checked off the list. Foxon Park has been found. Hailing from East Haven, CT, and family-run for 80+ years, Foxon Park is an excellent specimen to represent The Nutmeg State. There were many flavors to choose from, and we tried the Cream Soda, Root Beer, Ginger Ale and Iron Brew.

I will admit that the Cream Soda was much better than the Root Beer. And I've never had an Iron Brew before, but according to our friend, it's something that hails from Scotland. I'll definitely need to investigate further.

The bottle cap seems a bit old fashioned. Red on silver with an old-timey font and the twist off/pry off instructions (just twist it off!). For some reason, when I look at the bottle cap quickly, I think it says foxtrot. Yet the root beer does not make me want to do a jig. The aftertaste was too overpowering, lingering in the mouth for a good minute or so after each sip. I preferred the smooth and sweet vanilla taste of the Cream Soda. As for the Iron Brew, well, let's just say that we had a ten minute conversation trying to figure out just what flavor it was supposed to be. The bottle, with a picture of a detached arm clutching an axe, offered no clue -- is it the flavor of lumberjack? It's a mystery, really.


Foxon, I know you're trying to portray an old fashioned soda, but you can still have a cool bottle cap in the meantime.

saint arnold

I had about 1 hour of free time for the entire 36 hours I was in Austin. Despite it being 103F when I had a chance to walk around outside, I was able to take a stroll around downtown Austin and find myself a local Texas Root Beer.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company, billed as Texas' Oldest Craft Brewery and hailing from Houston makes a darn flavorful root beer. Or, as they say on the bottle cap, "Yummy Root Beer".  How can you not like a bottle cap that describes its contents as "yummy"?!

This bottle cap is cool not only because of the "yummy" factor.  It also has the full state of Texas on there. And with everything being bigger in Texas (and Texas being a pretty big state to begin with), the fact that they got the whole state on there with room to spare, frankly, is impressive.

The funniest part about tasting Saint Arnold was sharing with my coworker who, being from another country, was not entirely familiar with root beer.  He tasted it and immediately had the most sour look on his face.  He described it as a "wintergreen" taste and for the rest of the trip made a point to chide me every time I tried a new soda or beverage.  Alas, not everyone has an interest in new and unusual drinks!

Another state checked off the list. I'm still looking for map apps... any ideas?

waialua

On my travels for work, I managed to pick up a few new sodas that I will highlight this week.  One of the more unusual root beers I came across (this one from a Whole Foods in LA) was Hawaii's Waialua.  Which made me think: can I find a root beer bottle cap from all 50 states? Beer bottle caps? Cola bottle caps? I'm sure that I'm already well on my way (and I did just find another one today, thanks to a fantastic cheese shop in the West Village).   Faithful readers, I hope you'll help me find the local root beer brews in each city I go to.  Upcoming destinations:  Kansas City, Philadelphia, Hartford, CT -- I'll also be in St. Louis, but I already have Fitz's covered... so if there are any others, lemme know! Leave me a comment if there is anything I should be looking out for. Also, if you know of a good online map system that I can plug into the blog so that I can track the progress. Any feedback is appreciated!

Anyway, back to Wailalua.  This was purchased for a lunch on the go, that sadly, was never eaten (damn you 12 hour days!).  But the root beer was saved and enjoyed with a delicious burrito dinner late at night in my hotel room after a VERY long day of work. It was smooth and refreshing. It has a hula girl on the bottle cap. I think that any soda or beer out of Hawaii is pretty much obligated to have a hula girl, palm tree, macadamia nut or umm.. a roasted pig... on the cap and/or label. Hula girl? Check.

At Whole Foods, I believe there were a few options for crazy flavors, but since I was on the clock, I didn't want to tip my hand as to what I was doing, so root beer it was.  I wonder if other Whole Foods carry Waialua so that I can do additional taste tests.  I'll definitely have to check it out.

I have a few more bottle caps from my travels. Stay tuned!

sprecher's soda

You may remember my mini-rant a few weeks ago against those who went to Milwaukee without me. And I promised that if I ever made it there, it would be beer and cheese galore. Well, shortly thereafter, Michael found some cheap tickets to the land of Wisconsin over Memorial Day weekend, and off we went.

It started off rocky. The bus to the airport didn't come for over an hour, and we barely squeezed on (the bus driver tried to tell us to wait for the next bus). Then we got off at the wrong terminal (the D instead of the B terminal! Damn you MTA and your scratchy PA systems. "D" should be distinguishable from "B" if at all possible). Then, we sat on the runway for an hour after having already lounged in the narrow terminal beforehand for hours. Finally, shortly before midnight, we arrived in Milwaukee. But then we strolled to the Enterprise desk and were told that they had underestimated their reservations for the weekend. We ended up having to wait for an additional hour while they called in cars from some mystical off-site land. Sigh. There were numerous calls to the hotel to make sure we would still have a room when we finally did arrive. But arrive we did, and we quickly went to sleep in anticipation of a big day of breweries and sightseeing for Saturday.

One of the breweries that I was really excited about seeing was Sprecher. I've already blogged about their caps in the past, and so far the sodas I've tried have been pretty good (thumbs up for the root beer... sideways thumb for the cream soda). I love their bottle caps and really wanted to see where, as they say, the magic happens.

It turns out that when Randy Sprecher started the company in 1985, he brewed only beer. Many of his visitors then were children, and he wanted something to give them at the end of the tour. So he started making root beer as well. Now they output more root beer than all of their other beverages combined.  Michael and I tried some beer at the end of the tour -- amber ales, which was delicious -- but we were more excited by the prospect of trying their Red Apple Soda, Cherry Cola, Ginger Ale, and Lo Cal Root Beer. None of them disappointed. (Well, maybe the Red Apple Soda -- it was too sweet.) The best part is that I've found a new favorite Cherry Cola. (I've been a Cherry Coke Zero drinker for quite some time.  But man! If I could find a local deli or store in NYC that sells Sprecher Cherry Cola, it would be all over for me.)

These soda crowns are fun: each with a unique color and font. The fonts are both retro and sincere -- a tough combination, to be sure. Their seasonal sodas have plain colored crowns... disappointing, to be honest. Think about the possibilities for Red Apple or Raspberry!

Another thing to note: I'm sorry to report that Sprecher is slowly switching over from their awesome 16oz bottles to 12oz. Stock up on 16oz's while you still can!

16 oz bottles! They're goin' fast! 

Root Beer and Red Apple Soda. The Red Apple Soda was really sweet, so I went back for some Cherry Cola. YUM.

sparky's and frostop

I love a good root beer.  There are some days (few, admittedly) when I don't want a beer, I don't want wine, I don't want a mixed drink -- I just want a crisp, refreshing, and delicious root beer. After a shipment arrived from Old52 full of sodas with awesome crowns (I hope the folks in my office didn't hear me screaming with delight when that box arrived!), I figured I'd take home two bottles at a time and do a few taste-tests.

Sparky's (reviewed here at rootbeerreviews) had a lot of bite and not a lot of honey flavor, which I appreciate (that Sprecher's Creme Soda with the honey was all wrong!).

The bottle cap is a lot of fun.  Sparky's gives off an old-fashioned-but-hip vibe, with upper and lowercase letters and a funky red and white swirl design in the background, which doesn't take away from the name, but offers a kind of pharmacist feel. I know it hasn't been around that long, but it has a fun, old-timey feel.

The other root beer that I brought home was Frostop. This one is a diet root beer, and was sweeter (but not too sweet) and less bitter than the Sparky's. I know I shouldn't really be putting a diet up against a regular, but surprisingly, I liked the diet better. (I always like regular... )

The Frostop crown is also fun. Loopy fonts dominate the crown, which also boasts the brew year (in this case, 1926).  It also reminds us that more often than not, root beer is caffeine free -- which is quite nice for someone who can really drink caffeine only in the morning...

Over the next few weeks, I'll be reviewing a few more of the crowns gotten from Old52, and I'll be sure to note it in the tags.

hank's

When Michael told me that he was taking a trip to Atlanta, I told him that directive number one was finding me some bottle caps. You wouldn't believe how quickly we've gone through the sodas in our neighborhood. Every once in a while we find a new one, but the bodegas, supermarkets, and health food stores can supply us with only so much!

So, when I got a text message from him that he found a new crown before he even took off, I knew that the trip was going to be fruitful. You'll see the remaining fruits of his labor as we move through the week.

Hank's is a Philadelphia-based soda company that offers beverages like root beer, cream soda, orange cream, black cherry and more. I can't vouch for the taste, since Michael was the one who had it, but the bottle cap is just lovely.  A big, bold name, with the claim of being gourmet (who wouldn't want a gourmet soda?), Hank's offers a better-than-average crown.

The next time I'm in an airport, I'll have to put them head-to-head against Boylan's (currently my favorite soda) -- especially since they offer many of the same flavors.  The one problem I might face is getting the soda through security! Sorry, TSA officer, it's for my blog.  Official bottle caps business....

stewart's

If you had to choose the most ubiquitous bottled cream soda/root beer in NYC, Stewart's would definitely be at the top of the list. Found in almost all delis and many lunch joints across the boroughs, Stewart's is New York's craft soda of choice. Depending on which neighborhood you live in, you might also find Stewart's Key Lime or Orange 'n Cream or even Birch, Peach, or Grape, but I most often find the straight-up root beer, cream soda, and diet varieties.

I know there are many more varieties of bottle cap than my meager collection, but here we go:

Stewart's keeps it simple: I actually like the newer crowns better since they leave off the ingredients and let the logo really shine. It will never be in the HOF (sorry Stewart's!) but it's just the kind of root beer you'd want to snag at a moment's notice, which is another reason why I love living in NYC!

my pop's root beer, frostie root beer

This will be the last installment of the crownvention blog posts. (Sorry I missed Thursday! I got a bit backlogged with afterwork events this week!)  Today's theme is root beer.

My Pop's Root Beer is a fun cap with bright colors, fun fonts, and circles that might be bubbles. It just seems exciting to drink -- doesn't this crown make you want to drink a root beer?

And from the 10-for-a-dollar box, I found a Frostie Root Beer cap. This one is fun in a different way: there is a gnome or elf or some sort of magical creature seemingly excited at the prospect of you drinking a Frostie. And who doesn't want to drink a Frostie Root beer? No really, who?

Last night, Michael and I met up with some friends at a local pool hall. One of the options on the menu was a root beer float. It made me hope that it was either Pop's or Frostie on tap. Unfortunately, it was neither, so we didn't get a float. But we did play some foozball and Big Buck Hunter, which was a good second option.

sprecher root beer & cream soda

Well, how about that! I thought Sprecher made only root beer. How wrong I was. I first had Sprecher's tasty root beer in Chicago at Second City.  We took in a hilarious improv show over the holidays and what was on the menu? Sprecher Root Beer in a bottle. The waitress kindly gave me the bottle cap, and the root beer was so creamy and flavorful, we ordered another one.

Just this past weekend I had some meetings in Brooklyn. Perusing the soda/beer selection over lunch, I came upon Sprecher's cream soda. My excitement, however, quickly turned to disappointment after the first swallow. You see, Sprecher puts honey in their cream soda, and I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to cream soda. I want it vanilla all around. They also make their bottles 16 oz., which made it difficult to finish with my lunch.

However, the caps of both are fantastic.  Brightly colored, striking design and twist off. While doing some research for this blog post, I found that Sprecher also makes a Cherry Cola** and a Puma Kola. I want them! I will scour the city, but if anyone has leads, let me know! Or if you have extra caps and you want to donate them to the cause I will GLADLY accept them.
** It turns out I DO have a Cherry Cola cap and didn't even realize it! But I would still love to try the actual soda.