On a vacation to Toronto to see one of my best friends and a couple incredible concerts, I was desperate to find a local soda. In a minuscule espresso bar, I found it. Babbling Brook’s Traditional Root Beer was being sold in a glass bottle at The Nugget Espresso Bar just down the street from my AirBnB, so I knew it was some sort of fate. I purchased the soda and an incredible Americano, talked with the barista about music, and put it straight in the fridge at the AirBnB. A few hours later, it was time. Now, all that aside; Nickel Brook Brewing Company is “A Miracle of Science” according to their bottle. Does that statement apply to their root beer? Let’s find out.
Place of Acquirement: The Nugget Espresso Bar, Toronto, ON.
Drinking Vessel/Portion: 341ml bottle, dark glass.
AROMATICS: 9/10
Almost smells like the Root Beer flavor of Bottle Caps, the candy. So, so good.
FIRST SIP: 8/10
Very, very potent and herbal. Good taste!
TASTE: 8/10
First sip was a very good indicator of what was to come. This is a root beer that begs to be savored rather than chugged. Really nice mix of flavors, really nice sweetness behind those.
AFTERTASTE: 8/10
Very potent aftertaste in a very good way. The taste lingers, the herbal essence (not the shampoo) of the soda teases your tongue for a tiny bit of time after the drink.
MOUTHFEEL: 7/10
Carbonated nicely, the soda has a tiny bit of a acidity to it, but not unpleasantly so.
DEPTH OF FLAVOR: 9/10
There’s something new to taste with each sip, delightfully so. For someone who’s interested in an experience that invites the drinker to think, this is your soda. I found myself trying to identify each flavor individually on most sips.
SWEETNESS: 6/10 (1 being not sweet, 10 being absurdly sweet)
Good amount of sweetness. Definitely does not hit you over the head with how sweet it is. It’s almost an afterthought at some point. Babbling Brook’s is like a person that you think is very cool, and then you learn that they’re very sweet as well.
FLAVOR(S) TASTED:
Herbs/roots, licorice, citrus, “root beer”.
LAST SIP: 7/10
Lost some of the carbonation but still a solid taste.
OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10
The soda had a fantastically potent and herbal smell. It was clearly actually brewed with real roots and herbs. The dichotomy of tastes was there, they blended together to create a cohesive unit but were still identifiable to the dedicated taster. This is a Craft Root Beer for the Craft Root Beer fan, not your 7-year-old nephew who plays Call of Duty and asks to borrow your phone to watch Minecraft videos on YouTube. At the end of the day, while it’s a great thing to drink, the sheer taste of it was only in the “good” category for me, not the “great” category. I would 100% recommend Babbling Brook’s Traditional Root Beer, though! Good work, Nickel Brook.
