Reed's Spiced Apple Brew

Let's go straight to the ending, Tarantino style:  the aftertaste of this is apple pie.

Think about that.  Now let's go back to the beginning.

A couple weeks ago we had a pretty disappointing apple soda.  In fact all around apple sodas are hit or miss.  We thought that Jones' had a pretty decent apple soda, one of the better "higher tier" apple sodas, if not the best.  Aside from that we're both fans of Manzanita Sol, which is "lower tier" I guess you'd say.  

I had been hoping for a Virgil's Apple, or Apple Cider, and while that is still a pipe (or bottle) dream, we do have a product here from Reed's, who makes Virgil's products, called Spiced Apple Brew.

First of all the label has a little story of the days before soft-drinks when non-alcoholic beverages were made at home.  It then goes on to suggest that they brew and age their beverages at the same level of quality, with the same level of quality ingredients.  I completely believe it because this is delicious.

When you taste this, without knowing anything in it, your immediate reaction would be "spiced apple pie."  It's liquid apple pie.  You taste the apple, you taste the cinnamon, and it has a ginger spice to it.  Also part of the ingredients is lemon, and when you know it's there you can get a hint of it but that's all, nothing too distracting.  

Everything we've reviewed up until now has been "fun."  Even some of the best drinks we've reviewed have been "fun," while still being high quality.  Virgil's Bavarian Nutmeg Root Beer was a finely crafted beverage for a soda, but it's still a root beer.  It still has that familiarity that goes with a pizza or a cookout.  Spiced Apple Brew takes it to a new level.  This is a drink you really appreciate.  There was obviously a lot of work put into this and you can taste it.  One of the folks at Reed's compared it to a fine wine where you savor it and appreciate all the flavors, and that's a perfect way of putting it.  Again, not to say that some of the other beverages we rated highly didn't have a lot of work put into it them, because we know there was, and they were delicious.  This is just taking it in a direction no one has yet, and it really legitimizes the soda industry as something serious.

Did I mention its aftertaste is apple pie?

-Mike E.

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Reed's)

Jones' Strawberry Lime

Wait a second, Strawberry Lime?  Don't you mean cherry?  No I don't!  Blame the crazy cats over at Jones' soda.  One word for them:  RENEGADES.

This is amazing, one of the best fruit flavored sodas I've had in a long time.  In fact, this beats my previous favorite, Stewart's Key Lime.  Not only does this have the taste advantage, it has the cane sugar instead of HFCS advantage.  It's so good I want to use inappropriate language to describe it, but I'll keep this a family site.

Unlike other strawberry sodas, this one is not heavy or sticky feeling at all, it is very light and refreshing.  I attritube this to, again, the cane sugar and also the lime.  The lime just gives it that extra crispness that offsets the powerful flavor of strawberry.

I'm not a beach guy, but if I was, I would be taking a ton of these in a giant ice chest.  Who thought strawberry would go better with lime than cherry?  Amazing.

-Mike

Virgil's Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg Root Beer

This is it... this is the current Holy Grail of Root Beer for me.  This is... Virgil's Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg Root Beer.  This cost me $4.25 a bottle online to buy... but it had to be done.

The flavor does not disappoint.  It's got the greatness of Virgil's Root Beer, with a kick of nutmeg in it.  You know how some things say "Now with *ingredient*" but you can't taste it?  You can most definitely taste the nutmeg in this.

Another high point is the fact that the water used in this is from a well in Bavaria, considered one of the most pure sources of water in the world... that's freaking cool in my opinion.  Put all of this together in the best bottle I've ever seen anything in, and you have a winning combination.

I'm going to have to agree with Mike on this one though.

~A

I’ve never officially reviewed Virgil’s Root Beer, pretty much because one of us would take care of one beverage at a time, however, being that it’s a new year of The Soda Jerks, this will be our first beverage that we both review.

First of all the bottle. I mean, look at it. This is obviously the real deal here. Can you believe I’m going to give points to a drink for being “fun to open?”

Secondly, the water. This soda is made with water from a well in Bavaria. Wow. I mean, really? Talk about fancy.

Whatever is in the water it’s got a very crisp taste, just like the original. I’d say the key difference between this and the original is the nutmeg. It kind of brings out the vanilla flavor most of all.

The other difference is the price. It’s about $5 a bottle. A bottle. As noted we’re moving on to store brand and discount sodas.

I’m scoring this the same as the original because the price balances out the slight advantages it has over the original.

-Mike

Stewart's Key Lime

I'm finally getting around to reviewing this one. It's so damn good that every time I end up buying some I down it so quickly that I don't have time to review it. As I've said before I like to review whilst I'm drinking. None of this "after the fact" nonsense flies around here.

This one is a little more "mainstream" then what we usually get. By that I mean when it comes to bottled sodas (as opposed to cans or plastic bottles) this is probably the number one mainstream brand. Also the ingredients are chemicals.

But it's so delicious. The smell is a very potent lime, with almost a little cream in it. Appropriate because it's called key lime. Also an appropriate smell because that's how it tastes. It's nothing like a limeade in there's no real citrus bitterness to it, which I don't mind but it's a nice variant on something more common. So essentially a creamy, not sour but still strong lime flavoured beverage. Delicious.

-Mike

Virgil's Real Cola

I don't think either of us would deny the fact that we have a strong like (maybe love) for Virgil's products. They obviously have the belief that there should be soda beverages made to a higher quality, in the same way that there is cheap wine and fine wine. Virgil's is the "fine wine" of sodas, which is why any time I find out about a new product from them I get excited. I always wondered what a cola would taste like from them, and now I know: it's the greatest soda I've ever had.

Now at one point this might have seemed ridiculous. I was torn between different flavours. There's the sweet fruitiness of Stewart's Key Lime, which I should note is so good I haven't even reviewed it yet, I always down it too quickly when I get a bottle, or, another Virgil's product, their Root Beer. But I've always been a big fan of colas, and this one tops them all.

The smell of it after it's opened tells you that you're in for something awesome. It's very sweet and potent with a vanilla and spice scent. The Cola, like their Root Beer, is very smooth, not too carbonated, just enough to give a tingle. You really can taste everything in it; the vanilla, the clove spices, the cinnamon. It even contains orange and lime, and there is a delicate hint of it in the background.

It's fantastic. The message on the back of the bottle ends with this line: "We decided to make a cola that would rival the super premium quality of our root beer." Mission accomplished.

So as much as I rave about this you'll see the score below and wonder why it's not higher. It's not perfect by any means, nothing has been so far and I don't believe anything will be, but of course in the mission to seek the greatest sodas ever you hope to find it. Also the price of drinks has always been a factor in our reviews, and at two dollars a bottle, while that's a fair price for a premium product, that is something that has to be considered. Normally I don't preach about scores versus review text but I think in this case it had to be said.

-Mike

Cricket Green Tea Cola

This had to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing packages I've seen, which is honestly part of the reason I picked it up. That and I actually wanted to enjoy the beverage of choice this week so I played it safe with cola.

My theory was correct as I found another winner. The box exclaimed "Cane Sugar. Kola Nut. Green Tea." How could this not be good? In fact, it also stated "Expect this to be good." Sold.

This cola, in comparison to the ginseng cola I reviewed not too long ago, is more of a Coca-Cola rather than an RC, which is okay, although between those two I'd prefer RC. It's hard to explain but there's almost a lemon-tea flavor going on in the background. I guess that should be easy to notice considering lemon cola exists, but honestly I think it's just the crispness of the cane sugar along with the subtle green tea in the background. Green tea is the third ingredient, even above that "less than .5%" of kola nut, so this is more of a green tea soda than a cola, so you will taste it. Being a green tea fan, that's a very good thing.

Whatever it's boiled down to, it's delicious. Easily as good as ginseng cola, but quite different.

-Mike

Virgil's Root Beer

Video is from 8/12/2022. The original written review from 3/25/2008 is below.

Tastes so pure, it must be made in heaven.... oh how freaking true that is. I passed by Virgil's several times in my local shopping facility. Every time I passed it I would look and see the cost, close to $8 with tax. With your $8 you get 4 twelve oz bottles, and that to me is insane. It was so insane to me that I had to show my friend Mike. We took a look at the packaging and noticed that it had taken home the award for 'Outstanding Beverage' at the International Fancy Food and Confection Show in '94, '96, and '97. Outstanding Beverage, not outstanding Root Beer. Mike being the crazy dare devil that he is bought some.

We took it back to my apartment to enjoy it with some pizza, and a bad movie (Transformers, but I digress) so we threw em in the freezer to chill. Now you may wonder, "Hey, why not just throw some ice in a glass and pour it over that". You will never see me use ice when reviewing these drinks. I strongly believe that ice dilutes the true flavor of a drink, and would definitely be blasphemous in this case. While it was chilling we read the ingredients:

Virgil's Ingredients List

Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer contains these key all-natural ingredients:

carbonated water

unbleached cane sugar

Along with these natural herbs and spices (including point of origin):

anise from Spain

licorice from France

vanilla (bourbon) from Madagascar

cinnamon from Ceylon

clove from Indonesia

wintergreen from China

sweet birch from the southern US

molasses from the US

nutmeg from Indonesia

pimento berry oil from Jamaica

balsam oil from Peru

cassia oil from China

Needless to say, that's a pretty impressive ingredient list. We were especially intrigued by the wintergreen. After the bottles had chilled I took mine out, opened it and sniffed it. The aroma was amazing. I know that sounds like something you'd hear about wine, but it really was the best Root Beer I'd ever had, and all I'd done was smell it. I took my first sip, it was the cleanest root beer I'd ever experienced. It doesn't leave a syrupy taste in your mouth, and the aftertaste is non-existent. In fact I compare the after taste to almost a mountain spring water... basically Virgil's is the most refreshing soda I've ever had, and the reason we started this site. I took a bite of pizza, pepperoni, and noticed that my palate was now permiated with pungent pepperoni. (I like alliterations, what can I say) I took a swig of Virgil's to see how it reacted with the taste, and it cleansed my palate... a root beer cleansed my palate... that is insane. Over all I highly recommend Virgil's root beer to anyone. Yes it costs $8 with tax included, and that's one reason it's kept from being a perfect beverage, but still go out and try it.

~Aaron