This is the first in a new series of posts entitled A Few Of My Favorite Things. From time to time, I am going to go out of my way to do the unthinkable. I am going to expand my horizons. I am going to try something new… and then decide if I like it or not. If I like it, I will tell you. If I do not, I will probably not tell you what I really think, but I will say something ridiculous instead.
Is this a mid-life crisis, you ask? No, no it is not. It is a pre-mid-life crisis. When you get married at the age of twenty two and spawn a pile of kids by twenty nine, you age faster than the average bear. I am actually 45 in bear years.
Let’s get started!
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| Soda Wall at Whole Foods |
One of my favorite things is root beer. I already know this, but I would be lying if I said that I have tasted every variety of root beer in the world. That would be preposterous and ludicrous. Let me quickly clarify for those under the age of twenty five, I said ludicrous not Ludacris, cause I know you immediately thought of the rapper. Anyhoo, I went to Whole Foods today to pick up my first specimen. They didn’t have as huge of a selection as I thought they would.. mostly ginger beers, ginger ales, cranberry ales, cream and other not-root beer sodas. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. One of my friends back in Virginia used to own an old timey soda shoppe. It boasted over 500 unique bottled sodas from all over the world. Floor to ceiling, bottle after bottle of the most beautiful , weird, funny, awe-inspiring sodas. That was what I was hoping to find in Whole Foods. I didn’t find that at all, but what I did discover was still pretty stinking cool!
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| Nothing Says Love Like Flowers and Root Beer |
Let me introduce you to my new friend, Virgil. Since 1916, his family has been making soft drinks, using traditional recipes to create distinctive, original flavors. They claim to brew a root beer so pure, so rich and creamy, you’ll swear it’s made in heaven. I lifted that bit right off the bottle. When I saw that hefty bearded man on the label carrying a pitcher and two frosted mugs to his two caucasian kids sitting in those gigantic chairs, I just couldn’t look away. I felt like I was the little boy on the label anxiously awaiting my turn to finally experience my first taste of heaven on earth. Whoever their marketing guy or gal is… is a genius. So I tucked the four pack under my arm and swooped up some flowers for the missus, then headed for the check out.
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| It’s Root Beer… just look at it! |
When I got home, I wanted to immediately crack into those babies, but I restrained that primal urge. I put the bottles in the refrigerator to chill till I got back from doing some other errands. A few hours later, I sat down at my kitchen table… with my three boys hovering over my shoulders like Whoopi Goldberg and two other animated hyenas eagerly waiting for Scar to share his scraps. My kids can smell sugar from two parishes away. For those who don’t live in Louisiana, parishes are like counties in most other states. I slid the first bottle out of the cardboard carrier sleeve and slowly examined every inch of it. Low Sodium, 12 Fl. Oz, Gluten Free, 160 Cal. I read all of the ingredients… well actually only the first two or three, because it was boring and I didn’t feel like reading them any more.
Close to the rim of the bottle there was another label that boldly said – Winner NASFT “Outstanding Beverage”. Virgil seems to take his job very seriously. Next I took out my iPhone and made a little first impressions video that I have no intention of sharing with the public. In fact, let me go delete that now, so my nosy kids don’t accidentally upload it to youtube. I take my pre-mid-life crisis very seriously.
Interesting side note, my landlord’s first name is actually Virgil. He doesn’t have a wooly beard or pair of gigantic chairs, but I think he is really nice and would probably happily carry a large pitch of root beer to a couple of kids sitting outdoors on a lovely sky-blue day.
Drum roll, please!
On a scale of 1 – 10, I would give Virgil’s Root Beer an… ok
I would probably drink it again if it was on sale or something, but I wouldn’t marry it or anything.
What do you think? Have you tried this root beer? Please comment below, and remember to like, share and repeat! marshalhunter.blogspot.com
Photo Credit: Marshal Hunter – so don’t steal ’em