Root beer
Steelhead Handcrafted Root Beer
Steelhead Brewing Co. (bottled by Orca Beverage Co.) · Honey-vanilla cane-sugar root beer
Eugene, Oregon, USA (bottled in Mukilteo, Washington, USA)
A smooth, honey-and-vanilla pour that leans candy-sweet, with the honey arriving up front and a creamy, slightly sticky vanilla tail carried by a full, maltodextrin-rounded body. Cane sugar keeps it clean, and a whisper of anise and faint wintergreen sits behind the sweetness — but there is essentially no spice bite, which is the one thing keeping it from greatness. It is an easy-drinking, dessert-leaning root beer that rewards a cold pour over ice; we like it, even if the soft spice keeps it shy of the top shelf.
Objective sensory intensities (how it tastes) — not a liking score.
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The maker
Steelhead Brewing Co. opened its first brewpub and microbrewery in downtown Eugene, Oregon in 1991, later expanding to brewpub locations in California (Burlingame, Irvine, and San Francisco), and its honey-vanilla root beer became a longtime house signature. The bottled retail version sold in stores is produced under contract by Orca Beverage Co., a soda bottler in Mukilteo, Washington that handles many nostalgic and licensed craft-soda brands; reviewers note the recipe is closely related to Orca's "Bulldog" root beer. Note: despite a name overlap, this is unrelated to the "Steelhead" beer line from Mad River Brewing in Humboldt County, California — that association does not hold up, and we attribute this soda to Steelhead Brewing Co. with the Orca bottling noted.
Ingredients & nutrition
Carbonated water, Cane sugar, Honey, Maltodextrin, Natural and artificial flavors, Sodium benzoate, Real vanilla, Phosphoric acid, Salt.