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Welcome to the Root Beer Rundown. Over the last few years, I've had a lot of fun drinking a lot of root beer and posting my root beer reviews for your reading pleasure. Use the tools on the right to see the complete history of my reviews, find all the brews within a given scoring range, or simply search for your favorite brew to see if it's one I've reviewed. I always like to hear what other root beer lovers like and dislike about different brews, so feel free to sound off in the comments of the reviews. I've also provided some links to a few other great root beer resources. Let me know if I've missed any so I can add them to the list. Enjoy the site!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Chowning's Tavern

Who Made This Stuff?     Old Dominion Brewing Co., Dover, DE

Website:                              www.olddominion.com

Where’d It Come From?    Picked up a by a friend

Review Date:                      11/24/12
             
Commentary:  I received this root beer from a friend who picked it up on a weekend road trip.  I can’t remember exactly where he got it, though.  I liked the artwork on the label (a drawing of Old Man Chowning, perhaps?) and saw that it was made by Old Dominion.  Those two things gave me high hopes for this brew:  1) a nice label that led me to believe some real thought went into its design, and 2) a pedigree of an actual brewery.

When I opened this bottle, it had a significant licorice and spice aroma. You may have noticed by now that I’m not a huge fan of the licorice thing, but the spice side of the aroma intrigued me.  When poured in the glass it did create a head, but it was mainly composed of large bubbles and is dissipated really quickly.  By the time I could get a photo, the head was pretty much gone.
     
The first sips told me this was not going to be a creamy brew.  The sweetness was there, but it wasn’t overpowering.  The fact that sugar and honey were on the ingredient list, instead of HFCS, earns it a few points.  I got a few nice spicey drinks from the glass.  Things went downhill from there.

This root beer had the potential to develop a nice bite.  Unfortunately, it could not live up to that potential.  The carbonation dissipated way too fast to work with the spices to help produce any bite.  Half-way through the glass, the aroma had disappeared completely.  Once the carbonation was mostly gone, this one did not have a pleasant taste at all and left a strong wintergreeny aftertaste.

Sorry folks.  I can’t give this one high marks.  I think I’ll go with…………………….63.

What about you?  Have you tried this one?  I understand that Old Dominion produces a few different root beers under different labels.  Have you tried any of Old Dominion’s root beers?