Gale's Root Beer "Oh Rootie!"
12 fl. oz.
glass bottle
Dynamic Duo, Inc., Riverwoods, IL
lukewarm, no ice

First, the good news: this cinnamon/ginger/vanilla root beer created by a Chicago-area chef is, in Kate's words, "crazy good." Now, the bad news: it's only available around Chi-town, and even there it's hard to find. We found it at an Italian deli in the basement of the John Hancock building, right off Michigan Avenue, and boy were we glad we did!

It's truly an original take on root beer, powerfully cinnamon-y where most others let vanilla or licorice flavors dominate. It had a pretty good head on it, even luke warm (we were walking around with the bottle), and a nice rich brown color. Our only quibble was this: if you're going to micro-brew a root beer, why in God's name skimp and use high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar? The flavor evaporated too quickly.

Final verdict: Kate says, "Everything Frostop promised but wasn't"; I, less vindictive, confine myself to "An excellent, natural-tasting root beer." If Chef Gale had used real sugar instead of the fake stuff, it would be perfect.

KP: 9 of 10
MG: 9 of 10