Birch beer

Premium Philadelphia Recipe Birch Beer

Hank's Gourmet Beverages · Red birch beer (Philadelphia / Northeast style)

Southampton, Pennsylvania, USA

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A Philadelphia-style red birch beer that leads with the bright, candy-cool wintergreen snap the style is named for, set against a clean, generously sweet cane-sugar base. The carbonation runs lively with a tall head, yet a faint vanilla-cream undertone keeps the body from feeling thin, landing it crisper and more assertive than a typical root beer. It is a solid, accessible benchmark for the minty end of the birch spectrum, though tasters split on it: some catch a slightly muddy or faintly bitter aftertaste, and the red coloring places it on the mass-market rather than artisanal side of the shelf.

Taste profile
Flavor fingerprint for Premium Philadelphia Recipe Birch BeerSweetness 4 of 5, Carbonation 4 of 5, Body 3 of 5, Creaminess 2 of 5, Bitterness 2 of 5, Spice-heat 1 of 5, Aroma intensity 3 of 5, Finish 3 of 5SweetnessCarbonationBodyCreaminessBitternessSpice-heatAromaFinish

Objective sensory intensities (how it tastes) — not a liking score.

Flavor wheel
Flavor wheel for Premium Philadelphia Recipe Birch BeerHighlighted: Wintergreen & birch, Spice (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg), Vanilla & cream, Woody & bark, Off-notes (artificial, metallic, flat, soapy).RootWintergreenAniseSpiceVanillaWoodyOff-notes

Our editorial notes.

Scores

Our score
37/50
What drinkers think
6/9
early estimate
Critics vs. the crowd
+12
A critics’ pick

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The maker

This is Hank's Gourmet Beverages' birch beer, made by the family-owned Pennsylvania soda company in Southampton, near Philadelphia. Hank's traces its origins to a 1958 Philadelphia beer distributorship and is known for cane-sugar craft sodas built on heritage recipes. The birch beer is labeled as a Philadelphia recipe and pours a Northeast-style wintergreen-and-spice profile, bottled in 12 oz glass.

Ingredients & nutrition

Filtered carbonated water, Cane sugar, Caramel color, Sodium benzoate (preservative), Natural & artificial flavors, Yucca extracts, Gum acacia, Citric acid, Red #40.

12 fl oz · 150 cal · 39 g sugar(per serving, as labeled)