Virgil's Root Beer Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg

I left the choice of the inaugural beverage up to my children. They chose Virgil's Root Beer.

The only thing I knew about it was the cost: $4.99 at Whole Foods. It better be good.

Imported from Bavaria by Reeds in Los Angeles, Virgil's is boasts all natural ingredients and a full shelf of natural ingredients including anise and licorice which I don't prefer. Those flavors are offset by vanilla, cinnamon, clove, wintergreen, birch, molasses and more.

The drink comes in a 500ml (16.8 ounces, a bit over a pint) swing-top bottle. Nice and reusable for homebrewing. The label features what looks like a couple of youngsters being served by a lumberjack looking man on a white tree stump(?). A couple of boastful marketing phrases and a note on winning an award complete the front label.

I should note that the official name on the label is Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg.

The root beer is made with a nice simple set of fundamental ingredients: carbonated water, unbleached cane sugar, and some caramel coloring to which the large list of flavors are added.

The pour, into a room temperature mug...next time it'll be frosty, but I don't normally freeze my mugs...results in a rather flat looking beer. It is noisy enough. Everyone thought it would have a massive root beer head, but no, nothing.

But this had absolutely no effect on the flavor. The root beer was still actively bubbly in the glass and the mouth. I smelled vanilla first. After that came the traditional root beer smell, but nothing strong.

The taste was everywhere, yet cohesive. The sugar was pure and prominent, and the flavors come through all packed together. The wintergreen (kind of peppermint Lifesaver) lingers on the tongue.

This is very rewarding root beer. The sweetness is not cloying. The flavors are diverse and interesting. And the licorice and anise, while present, are subdued. This isn't Sambuca, after all.

My scores:

Presentation/Appearance - 6/10 Not too impressive in the glass, but points for the swing-top bottle.

Smell/Odor/Aroma - 7/10 Definitely above average. Lots of vanilla made me afraid it would be out of balance.

Taste/Flavor - 9/10 I just can't give a 10 with my first post. I'll reconsider this score at a future date. This is a great root beer, but I need to revisit Thomas Kemper. That is a root beer that I dearly love.

Finish/Satisfaction - 8/10 The fresh wintergreen finish was outstanding. The cane sugar lingers on, too. I was hoping other flavors would assert themselves, though.

Overall - 8.25/10 A great drink.

What a way to start. You cannot go wrong with Virgil's Root Beer.

If you've had this or other Virgil's soft drinks, please let me know in the comments.

The PW Method

We're going to keep this as simple as we can. Drinks are photo- graphed, along with any applicable container and presented alongside a review. If necessary, a little background on the beverage, company, history, or other miscellany is also included.

The beverage is reviewed on four totally subjective measures:

Presentation/Appearance -- How does it look? How pleasing is the container, if applicable? Is it inviting? Aesthetically pleasing? This accounts for no more than 5% of the score.

Smell/Odor/Aroma -- The nose, that is. How does the beverage smell? Does a fruit infused drink smell like the fruit? Sour is ok, if the drink is supposed to be sour. Once again, is the smell inviting? Does it match the beverage? Aroma accounts for 15% of the total score.

Taste -- This is the single most important factor in a rating and it is highly subjective. I'll do my best to describe what I am tasting. This accounts for 50% of the score.

Satisfaction/Enjoyability -- This is a measure of whether I would want more or readily recommend it. For example, a minty soft drink might have an incredible cold mint flavor, but would I make it a regular drink? Would I say to someone, "You really must try this?" Sometimes delicious drinks can be too intense, or too caffeinated or too alcoholic. Again, this is all subjective. And this accounts for 30% of the score.

Scores are based on a scale from 0 to 10. Zero is utterly awful, a very rare score, I would hope. Ten is a euphoria-inducing nectar of the gods sort of thing. I would think this is exceedingly rare also. Five is rather normal. Nothing stands out, not bad, not good sort of thing. I'm sure I'll refine the grading as time passes.

I'll try to maintain link lists to postings based on category, grade, and possibly geographic origin.

Occasionally, I will also do some blind tastings to make sure I am not influenced by packaging and appearances.

Organizing The Potable World

First, thanks to Steve for posting a comment on the water entry and reminding me I have a blog or three that I need to write.

Photography equipment will be arriving shortly so that I don't have to "borrow" photographs on the various drinks that will appear here. The look and feel aspect of the blog is important, too, so there will be a consistent approach to the photos.

The water post was intended to kill time until I was prepared to begin. By the way, I have not kept my promise regarding bottled water. It is just too convenient.

On to what will be included in The Potable World. This blog will be a running catalog of beverages of as many types and origins as I can obtain. Most of these beverages will be canned or bottled,however, some will be sourced from taps, barrels (steel and wood), and animals. The organization of the beverages over time will be by type of drink. If it seems interesting, the geographical source of the beverage will also be used as an alternative organizing principle. I think it will after a while. It is The Potable World after all.

High-level beverage categories are as follows:

Waters

Teas & Tisanes

Coffees

Juices (fruit and vegetable)

Milks

Soft Drinks

Energy Drinks

Beers

Wines

Ciders

Spirits

Cocktails & Mixes (including non-alcohol)

I don't intend to review liquid or near-liquid foods such as soups, broths, sauces, and puddings, unless they are part of a drink. It should go without saying that reviews of liquid medicines will not be included, and that they should never be part of a drink. For example, if someone offers you a NyQuiltini, don't drink it. Leave the party.

The Cocktails & Mixes category is intended to capture the hybrid drinks. Besides traditional cocktails, this would include shandies, nogs, virgin versions of alcholic cocktails, and those random softdrink mixes that kids love to do at soda fountains. I happen to enjoy a splash of lemonade in my Sprite, 7-Up, or Sierra Mist, for example.

For Juices, most will be container versions, however, I will be juicing a variety of fruits and vegetables in order to compare fresh juices to those that are pasteurized and otherwise preserved.

Normally, I don't intentionally drink caffeine, but I will be doing so for this blog. And, I haven'tevolved like most people to where I have the enzyme lactase readily available in my digestive track, so the Milks will present a special problem, but I'll see what I can do about that.

I'm excited and nervous about this. I'm looking forward to things like an intensely hot ginger ale or an exotic fruit juice and I dread buttermilk and anise-flavored spirits (respectively, not mixed.)

In the next post, I'll describe the method and the ratings I'll use. I'll also make a plea for you to follow along and post your ratings. We all have different palates, however slight, and hearing what you think will be the thing that adds value to a simple blog like this.