IBC Root Beer (11)

Flavor Scale: 11

It dawned on me that with a scale of comparison might need something people are more familiar with so they know how to compare. So I decided to do a very well-traveled root beer, IBC. IBC Root Beer is found most everywhere, possibly because it is parented by Dr. Pepper. Actually I myself was unaware of this til today, probably because I didn't realize Dr. Pepper owned two root beers, which would seem weird for a company to do. The one I, and probably most everyone, think of as Dr. Pepper's flagship in the root beer industry is the market's #1 root beer, A&W. Anywho, more on IBC's big brother some other time.

I was immediately made aware that IBC may not have been the best choice to demonstrate what happens on each side of the scale, however, I dare say IBC demonstrates the quintessential taste of root beer. It strays equally in both directions from its equilibrium giving only a medium experience of the root side and the sweet side. Describing how it tastes beyond that is diction-numbingly limiting and I can only think to use the phrase "It tastes like root beer..." If you don't know what root beer tastes like, HERE'S A GOOD PLACE TO START. It is so smack-dab in the middle of the scale that, depending on what I most recently ate, it can swing slightly to one side of the scale or the other.

Which reminds me to share this note: this is universal to food tasting of every sorts and you probably already are aware of this yourself after you brush your teeth, assuming you have decent dental hygiene. Eating or especially drinking anything immediately post toothpaste is not a preferable experience. When you introduce flavors and solutions into your mouth, they tend to stick around for a wee bit. So now everything you eat and drink mixes with what is already hanging out on your taste-buds either counter-acting or creating a new taste altogether. Thus I add this precaution to reveling the sweet taste of root beer: eating sugary food during or before-hand can severely dull the sweetness of root beer. A common pastime for we Americans, and others I'm sure, is when we want to grab some candy it's nearly impossible for us to resist getting a soda with it. They're the sweet sugary duo of convenient store nostalgia, stamped into our memory of the times dad took us down to the gas station to have a hyper inducing treat. Today, here are so many of us improperly imbibing fizzy ambrosia dulling its sweetness with what we paired them with out of association and habit.

This is a bit of root beer etiquette I suppose, though in actuality, some may be able to use this to their advantage. If you don't like how sweet it is and you want to taste more of the wintergreen or sassafras flavoring, then by all means, chowing down some [insert candy of choice] before you take a swig may lead you to the experience what you treasure most in root beer's fine spectrum of flavors.

Right, IBC Root Beer, most people I know are familiar with and in favor of a good ole bottle of the stuff. So don't confuse moderate with mediocrity. I myself enjoy a bottle every once in awhile (though it helps that is nearly an omnipresent root beer).

Burp factor: guttural and boisterous, though depleted in a single blast. Not overbearing taste. Thumbs up.

Thank you for sticking around and reading some words about a beloved beverage. May your mugs stay frosty, frothy, and frequently filled!