This year, boozy root beer has rocketed into the national spotlight. It all started with a small town Illinois craft brewer, which fittingly enough is called Small Town Brewery, and their Not Your Father’s Root Beer. The brew has only been available nationwide for about a year, but according to IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, it’s now the nation’s sixth-best selling craft beer brand. It has even earned an outstanding 94 out of 100 on Beer Advocate.
Not Your Father’s Root Beer and its legions of fans have definitely caught the attention of big name brewers. Sam Adams’ Coney Island Brewery released Coney Island Hard Root Beer over the summer, and now even Anheuser-Busch is jumping on the bandwagon.
Best Damn Root Beer, the first beer from A-B’s new unit, Best Damn Brewing Co., hit stores and taps nationwide Monday. The sweet ale is aged on vanilla beans and contains 5.5% alcohol by volume. It’s being brewed at A-B’s Los Angeles and Cartersville, Ga., breweries and is being marketed as a craft brew. It’s available in bottles, cans and on tap.
SABMiller, which is currently in the process of merging with AB InBev, is said to also be working on its own line of boozy soft drinks.
What do you think about this new trend? Do you think boozy soft drinks are a fad, or are they here to stay? Let us know in the comments.
