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Henry's Hard Soda (2016-), a MillerCoors Industrial Product Made with Cane Sugar, 4.2% ABV, and Several Different Flavors


JBag57

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There are several brands mentioned in this thread:

Sprecher's Root Beer (Soft)

 

Description: This truly old fashioned soda has the rich, creamy flavor that only comes from using pure Wisconsin honey direct from the combs. Extracts are prepared at the brewery in a hand-made, gas-fired brew kettle, by combining honey, pure vanilla and a host of aromatic botanicals. The dark, honeyed brew will build a delicious, frothy head when properly poured into a frosted mug.[/size]

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Maltodextrin, Raw Wisconsin Honey, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Phosphoric Acid, Quillaia/Yucca Extract, Sodium Chloride, Caramel Color, and Vanilla.[/size]

Not Your Father's Root Beer (Hard)[/size]

05/05/15 - "Pabst Enters The Ranks Of Import- and Craft-Beer Companies" by Steve Holtz on cspnet.com

07/02/15 - "The Story Behind Not Your Father's Root Beer" on joesixpack.net

Coney Island Hard Root Beer[/size]

 

08/28/13 - "Sam Adams Maker Boston Beer Co. Acquires Coney Island: Signs Of Expansion?" by Kyle Clauss on bostinno.streetwise.co

I first saw the Not Your Father's product last Fall in a grocery store (strike #1) and laughed out loud at the "Small Town Brewery" listed on the label.  Flavored malt beverage "alcopops" aren't created in a brewery, they are created in a lab with flavoring agents.  These are merely the next branch on a family tree that has Zima rootstock.

As much as I am now a huge craft beer aficionado, I liked Zima in its day. It was not too cloying, and was a refreshing change from the macros.  That being said, the hard root beers do nothing for me.  However, Henry's Hard Soda is putting out flavors in addition to root beer, including orange, which I doubt that I will ever try, and ginger ale.  The ginger ale lacks the snap of some of the livelier non-hard ones out there, but does not bring in too much sweetness.  And it comes in at a manageable 4.2% ABV. I have found that the hard ginger beers taste more sweet than their non-hard counterparts, and that is a turn off for me.  I would drink the Henry's ginger ale, which I found at my local 7-11, again, when warmer weather comes around.

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As much as I am now a huge craft beer aficionado, I liked Zima in its day. It was not too cloying, and was a refreshing change from the macros.  That being said, the hard root beers do nothing for me.  However, Henry's Hard Soda is putting out flavors in addition to root beer, including orange, which I doubt that I will ever try, and ginger ale.  The ginger ale lacks the snap of some of the livelier non-hard ones out there, but does not bring in too much sweetness.  And it comes in at a manageable 4.2% ABV. I have found that the hard ginger beers taste more sweet than their non-hard counterparts, and that is a turn off for me.  I would drink the Henry's ginger ale, which I found at my local 7-11, again, when warmer weather comes around.

I have no problem with the taste of these drinks in general, and they are certainly refreshing in hot weather (see also: Steigl Radler, any number of "shandies", etc.).  Branding them like traditionally brewed micro products goes a bit far, though.  I agree that the cloying sweetness is a bit too much; I had a hard ginger beer last year that was really nice (it was imported, but I can't remember the brand).  Much more of a dry bite to that one, something I could stomach more than one of in a sitting.

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I have no problem with the taste of these drinks in general, and they are certainly refreshing in hot weather (see also: Steigl Radler, any number of "shandies", etc.).  Branding them like traditionally brewed micro products goes a bit far, though.  I agree that the cloying sweetness is a bit too much; I had a hard ginger beer last year that was really nice (it was imported, but I can't remember the brand).  Much more of a dry bite to that one, something I could stomach more than one of in a sitting.

All these drinks - Zima, Red Bull, Diet Coke, all of them - are engineered to appeal to human's primal sense of taste, just like McDonald's cheeseburgers.

Ugh, I feel like all this stuff (and I drink Diet Coke, so I'm as guilty as anyone) is manufactured in some chemical plant in New Jersey.

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All these drinks - Zima, Red Bull, Diet Coke, all of them - are engineered to appeal to human's primal sense of taste, just like McDonald's cheeseburgers.

Ugh, I feel like all this stuff (and I drink Diet Coke, so I'm as guilty as anyone) is manufactured in some chemical plant in New Jersey.

I feel like a variation on "the dish is engineered to appeal to a human's primal sense of taste" has probably been used to describe dishes prepared by the best chefs in the world.

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TedE. I agree, except, for the most part, I have been able, so far, to see right past the branding.  Something about the packaging for these and other pseudo-micros screams to me "not a micro!"  Maybe they will get "better" at fooling us over time, but hopefully not.

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TedE. I agree, except, for the most part, I have been able, so far, to see right past the branding.  Something about the packaging for these and other pseudo-micros screams to me "not a micro!"  Maybe they will get "better" at fooling us over time, but hopefully not.

Plank Road Brewery's "Ice House" was the first one to fool me, about fifteen years ago, I believe.

Essentially, if you can find a beer in Harris-Teeter, it isn't a micro-brew.

And if you can find a beer in 7-11, it's industrialized, mass-production, crap-o-la.

The above two sentences hold true 100% of the time, and I don't *care* what the "technical definition" of a micro-brew is - that definition was created by the macro-breweries.

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Plank Road Brewery's "Ice House" was the first one to fool me, about fifteen years ago, I believe.

Essentially, if you can find a beer in Harris-Teeter, it isn't a micro-brew.

And if you can find a beer in 7-11, it's industrialized, mass-production, crap-o-la.

The above two sentences hold true 100% of the time, and I don't *care* what the "technical definition" of a micro-brew is - that definition was created by the macro-breweries.

I'd say they hold true 70-80% of the time.  You'd have no problem finding a good selection of larger scale craft breweries (Sierra Nevada, Dogfish Head, Lagunitas, Green Flash), some true local micros (DC Brau, 3 Stars, Port City, Atlas, Devil's Backbone), and some nice imports (Duvel, Chimay) on the shelf at a Harris Teeter.  Some of the imports are InBev portfolio offerings for sure, but if you didn't know that in advance you certainly couldn't tell.  Where the market supports it you will find some of them at 7-11 and CVS as well.  A good distributor will know what sells where.  In DC that increasingly isn't brands from the Big 2.

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I disagree that "beers found at Harris Teeter" is the barrier for micro vs non. Speaking for my local store (Adams Morgan), and it has most of the DC breweries, a few small NC breweries like Natty Greene's and Foothills (which was started when I was in college in the mid-2000s), and some other semi-locals that I'm not sure how you'd classify them (Flying Dog and Devils Backbone).

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