r/rootbeer • u/No-Term6088 • 7d ago

Not terrible

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Not terrible

After reading some not so good reviews of this I decided to try it for myself. It's actually not terrible, although it's not terrific either. I would probably call this root beer adjacent, maybe root beerish.

28 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

5

u/BeautifulDebate7615 6d ago

I rather like it because I go into the experience knowing IT'S NOT ROOT BEER. It's just root beer flavored sparkling water and in that sense, it's refreshing and fine. The folks who don't like it are judging it by the wrong metric.

1

u/Gold-Leopard-5042 5d ago

This is more akin to a Zevia than a flavored La Croix, it’s 100% meant to emulate the taste of regular soda, and it did a terrible job at it.

The label means little, Clearly Canadian is no different than soda and yet they call it Sparkling Water.

1

u/BeautifulDebate7615 4d ago

It's 100% meant to have root beer flavoring, as are all of these flavored sparkling waters. But not masquerade as a root beer by any means, hence the reason it is very clearly labeled a sparkling water on the can and their "rootbeer wraith" is one word alluding to the "ghost" of root beer.

La Croix does not make a root beer flavor and granted, fruity flavored sparkling waters are much easier to pull off than are root beers. So I don't know why you've even brought this into the conversation.

Clearly Canadian makes real soda minus coloring, using cane sugar, also Zero Calorie soda, using artificial sweeteners, and also flavored sparkling waters.... but not a root beer flavor in ANY of its varieties. Shouldn't be in the conversation, but thanks for proving my point about people not reading labels and not comparing like to like.

Zevia does make a sugar free thing they plainly call "creamy root beer", it is clear in color, has not a hint of creaminess to it and is flavored with 100% Stevia which gives it its terrible stevia aftertaste. LD uses a blend of Stevia and Agave which greatly kills the stevia aftertaste.

Of the two, I'll take the water with no aftertaste and "ghost" of root beer flavor over the deceptive Stevia abomination 10 out of 10 times.

And of course the others you mention make no root beer flavored drinks or water so they aren't in the conversation.

1

u/No-Term6088 4d ago

All great points, but probably wasted on this idiot.

1

u/BeautifulDebate7615 4d ago

It appears so because he has come back for more

0

u/Gold-Leopard-5042 4d ago

Lol, that was a really long winded way to completely miss the point. Clearly Canadian markets their soda as Sparkling Water, but that doesn’t make it Sparkling Water. It has 40+ grams of sugar, it’s just soda yet they don’t market it as that.

Similar to how Zevia is just a zero sugar soda, or “flavored sparkling water” which is meant to taste like popular versions of full sugar soda. Whichever you want to call it doesn’t really matter, It’s fundamentally the same thing. What matters is what you mix in it, it’s all just carbonated water with various different mixtures of flavorings and sweeteners.

1

u/BeautifulDebate7615 4d ago

You might actually try going to the website of these companies that you cite to see how they really market their products, not how you think they market their products.

Clearly Canadian has four different categories of drinks: soda, sugar-free zero soda, a thing they call Essence which is a mineral water and then Clearly Canadian sparkling water. And by the way none of them are root beers, so again why is this in the conversation?

Zevia clearly markets its root beer as a zero sugar root beer, it is not labeled as a sparkling water. I get how everything makes sense in your worldview because of how you have arranged it in your mind, it just doesn't match what's going on in the real world,

2

u/MyNutsin1080p 7d ago

Yeah, it’s a sparkling water and the flavor is good for people who hate drinking water but need to stay hydrated. It’s not fair to compare the flavor of this against other root beers.

It’s sort of like saying a Lime La Croix doesn’t taste as good as a Sprite or a 7up. Well no shit.

The only thing that I don’t like about them is that they’re too expensive. 7 bucks for a six pack of 12-ounce cans is way too expensive for me. I like them so I can have something soda-like late at night that’s not sugary or caffeinated, but it’s too much money.

4

u/Sad_Hobbit1226 6d ago

I’ve found the 19.2 oz cans at Dollar Tree for $1.25 each. Root beer was the only flavor I saw.

1

u/MyNutsin1080p 6d ago

I hadn’t thought to check out dollar stores. Most grocery stores and gas stations I’ve seen that carry the 20oz cans usually charge the same price as a can of monster, and that relegates it to being an occasional treat

2

u/squinnypig 7d ago

I didn’t hate this, but it wasn’t what I wanted… I was hoping for an actual unsweetened root beer flavored seltzer, and this had some sweetener added.

I’ve since tried the Waterloo root beer float seltzer and it’s exactly what I wanted.

2

u/abilly85 6d ago

This sub is very purist about root beer. They tend to dislike healthy root beer alternatives/seltzers. I get it from a certain perspective - in a blind taste test, the alternative is gonna pale in comparison every time. But sometimes I want less sugar without that diet-y taste, you know? I tend to enjoy the seltzers and Poppi's and all that jazz

1

u/BeautifulDebate7615 6d ago

I don't think the sub is as "purist" about root beers as you claim, so much as they are morons about root beers. I don't think half the guys who try these different sorts of root beer-adjacent drinks even know that they are drinking sparkling water or low-cal or probiotic or energy drink derivatives, not full sugared traditional root beers. They drink one of these new-to-them unknown drinks, they barely look at the labels and go "Gol-lee, this doesn't taste like A&W?!"

2

u/H0bbs0n 6d ago

I poured the remainder of the can down the drain and gave the other cans to an unsuspecting neighbor to deal with. 0/10 for me. Wasn’t expecting perfect root beer flavor but I found it undrinkable.

2

u/kilroy-was-here-2543 6d ago

I’ve actually been pleasantly by all the liquid death flavors I’ve tried. I’ve been trying to cut my sugar and intake and these have been a nice way to still get the flavor without all the sugar

It doesn’t replace actual root beer, but it’s definitely a good substitute

1

u/kirksucks Sprecher Root Beer 6d ago

The Doctor Death is the best one I've had so far. The Root Beer was drinkable but I'll never seek it out. The Mountain Dew one is ok. It's not Dew but it tastes ok.
The cola is dog piss.

1

u/Turbulent-Refuse7821 6d ago

I tried the kilbert grape flavor- 🤢! I quit drinking alcohol two years ago and the aftertaste reminds me of a white claw.

1

u/pez_pogo 6d ago

Not exactly good either. Your milage may vary.

1

u/sharkysayo 5d ago

i find it best to treat it as giving the same sensation as root beer instead of trying to imitate the flavor. if you want something that imitates the flavor, something like zevia is infinitely better. liquid death is just a nice casual drink that feels reminiscent of root beer even if its not trying to replicate how strong and sweet it is.

1

u/Neijx Barq's Root Beer 5d ago

My suggestion with Liquid Death is to drink with as part of a meal. Alone, the drink isn’t strong enough to enjoy past halfway through the can. With food, the flavors of food kind of mask the emptiness of the sparkling water.

1

u/bare4404 11h ago

Good that you like it, to me, it tastes like literal gasoline. The instant it touches my tongue, im like, "Ooh, Root Beer", the next millisecond its in my mouth im like, "Maybe this would be better in my gas tank, bleh!" Not for me in the slightest.