Mission Brewery Hard Root Beer

Beer Name: Hard Root Beer
Brewery: Mission Brewery (San Diego, CA)
ABV: 7.5%
How sold: 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles
Where bought: Online store at Craft City (San Diego, CA)
Price: $11.99 for a 6-pack

Date Ordered: May 31, 2015
Date Received: June 4, 2015
Date Opened/Drank: June 5, 2015
When brewed? Year-round beer

Where distributed: Mission Brewery ships to select U.S. states. As far as I know, they do not ship to Washington or Oregon. I had to order mine through Craft City, a business based in San Diego.

What's on the Website: "Our Hard Root Beer is a hand-crafted adult twist on a classic soda. Creamy, smooth, and sweet but not cloying, the 7.5% ABV is all but undetectable. With traditional root beer notes of sarsaparilla and vanilla, this is a craft beverage for someone cravcing a little something different. Serve over ice or with a scoop of ice cream and enjoy." Click here for more!

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured black into a pint glass. Virtually zero head, just carbonation upon pouring. Basically zero lacing on the glass. 4.5/5

Smell (25%): Damn. It smells exactly like Mug root beer. Another favorite root beer of mine growing up, next to Barq's. Yet again, instant nostalgia kicks in. 5/5

Taste (40%): Unreal. These brewers of Hard Root Beer don't mess around. Again, it tastes exactly like root beer. I understand how people did not care for the extra medicinal or sarsaparilla qualities assigned to this one, but I don't mind that at all. Further, as advertised, I detected zero alcohol. I could see myself drinking a ton of these bottles, which makes it more dangerous than Not Your Father's Root Beer due to the higher alcohol content. While I might see myself drinking NYFRB just a bit more, this is also incredible. I truly wish more people got into the hard root beer game -- because they would get a lot of my money. 5/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Medium-bodied and coats the tongue well. Some carbonation. Once again, the ideal root beer experience for adults. 5/5

Overall (20%): A world-class beer. After reviewing Not Your Father's Root Beer and giving it such a high score, Mission Brewery had a very tough act to follow. Still, Mission passed with flying colors. It probably helped that I drank all types of root beer -- even the so-called generic or crappy ones -- as a kid, and didn't really mind. Equally hooked from the first sip and smell, and nostalgia kicked in once again. This too needs a couple scoops of quality vanilla ice cream. There will likely be days where I would prefer this over NYFRB when I wanted something stronger but just as tasty. As a session hard root beer, the nod still goes to NYFRB for the lower ABV. In my book, the two are pretty much equal. I just wish Mission Brewery shipped their hard root beer to my area. 5/5

Final Weighted Rating: 4.975/5