River City Root Beer enters the palate neutral to slightly saccharine. It doesn’t taste of medicine, but it teeters close enough that the thought will cross your mind. A latent, more sincere sweetness is its finishing touch, making the beverage vaguely seductive, like a first date you’re not sure you should call again. But in a pinch …
Sampling date: July 24, 2012
Ingredients: Carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, natural flavor, quillaia extract, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), potassium sorbate
Nutritional information: 12-ounce serving, 180 calories, 0 grams fat, 46 grams sugar, 15 milligrams sodium, 0 grams protein
Headquarters: Sacramento, California
Rankings to date:
1) Route 66 Root Beer
2) Bulldog Root Beer
3) River City Root Beer
4) Cool Mountain Root Beer
Anonymous
Ah, the things we miss out on here in Aus. We just have…. Beer ;)
Anonymous
You’re not missing anything.
Anonymous
Do you have a plant called ‘Sassafras’? I was born in Kentucky and people there dug up these roots and made tea which tasted a lot like root beer. Come to think of it, considering it is “Root Beer’, that is probably its origin.
Anonymous
Another similar soft drink is birch beer.
Anonymous
Haven’t heard of it
Jason Ungar
I wonder which Root Beer will work best with a brisket?? If you guys want to make yummy shreaded beef tacos and then for the second night BBQ beef sandwiches..use 16 ounces of root beer and pour into a crock pot. Rub the brisket with garlic (3 cloves), chili Powder (bout a tablespoon) and salt and pepper. Set on low for about 6 hours and you are good to go. We just made it yesterday. We used Barqs (it has bite!) since we already had it in the fridge.
Anonymous
I doubt the Dodgers trade for a good outfielder because Mattingly is so in love with Rivera, Abreu, and Gwynn that he wouldn’t give one of them up…
Jon Weisman
Come on. You just named all the LF options, except for Hairston, who also gets time there. It’s ridiculous to suggest that Mattingly wouldn’t prefer a better option.
Anonymous
We’ll see…
Anonymous
Who would you prefer to see in left? It’s not like Roberto Clemente is being held back in the minor leagues. Same thing for 1st base. If the Dodgers had had any options at those spots, they would have been playing them.
Anonymous
Maybe Puig will turn out to be the best of all!
Anonymous
I hope you are right, but it’s not going to be this year and probably not next year either.
Anonymous
Varying opinions on whether Gordon is an asset or a liability, has anyone done a breakdown on Dodger winning percentage when he plays versus not playing?
Anonymous
It wouldn’t be hard to such a breakdown, but what would that tell us? Every sign points to the Dodgers winning in spite of Gordon. Gordon is one of the worst hitters in the league with 63 wRC+ (and .562 OPS for those who care for that stat). Gordon is one of the worst fielders at SS with 17 errors in 77 games, of which 11 are fielding errors and 6 throwing. UZR says he’s cost the team 13 runs so far on the field. RZR says he converts 80% of the balls in his area to outs and made 21 plays on balls out of his zone–in other words, Dee is basically (young) Derek Jeter with the glove, except with many more errors.
Anonymous
good post
Anonymous
I used out of his zone to make OOZ more colloquial. I was surprised as well that Gordon’s range (at least according to RZR) is underwhelming. I had thought that Gordon’s low UZR was the result of his high error rate. Obviously Dee has the athleticism, so he can improve, but Dee will have to work hard on fielding.
@nxstasy, I like Cruz as well and he’s been a solid depth option at SS in the absence of Sellers. I think we are fairly well situated now at SS with Hanley and Cruz at SS with Dee as the wild card.
Whether we would be better served by having Cruz start over Uribe/Hairston/Kennedy is a question that hinges more on Hanleys preference, at least as I see it. If Hanleys decline is indeed due to unhappiness and discomfort over the recent position change, then any bounce back on Hanleys part will likely outweigh whatever surplus value Cruz can provide over Uribe.
Anonymous
From what I’ve seen, most of the fielding stats tend to be not very meaningful at describing how well someone fields. Based on my observations, though, he definitely still needs some development in the field (as well as at the plate). Like Mike, I’ve observed him getting to balls that others wouldn’t, so he has more range in the field than most shortstops. But once he gets to the ball, he might field and throw cleanly, but he might not.
I think Luis Cruz has been doing a fine job in the field. Just to cite one particular example, I liked his quick recovery on that ball that Hanley botched. But he’s been consistently good; I don’t cringe when the ball is hit his way. Both in the field and at the plate, I think he’s superior to Justin Sellers as well as to Dee Gordon, although with further development Dee may eventually be the better player. In the meantime, can we keep Hanley at third please?
Anonymous
42-36 when he plays, 39-34 when he starts. Which makes them 11-11 without Gordon.
Anonymous
14-13 when he either doesn’t play or comes in in the 7th inning or later (just for completeness)
The team was 16-9 last Sept when Gordon started; but, in that month he was an offensive positive.
Anonymous
Even this stat is misleading, since Ethier and Kemp were out for the first 9 games of those 22. It’s not as though the team has lit things up since their return either, but still.
Anonymous
Speaking of River City, I’m back from St. Louis. What a nightmare of a trip! The brutality of the heat (the record high of 107 degrees hit at 5 pm Tuesday and Wednesday, just as they were opening the gates at Busch, and the other two games weren’t much better), and sitting alongside the WORST FANS IN BASEBALL. Maybe it might have been worth it if we could have won more than a single game in the series, but that wasn’t going to happen. The Boys in Blue looked pathetic. Maybe I’m just bad luck for the Dodgers. Oh well, no more baseball trips for me. (On a side note, I ate well, including great barbecue at Bogart’s Smokehouse, and a great high-end meal at Niche.)
KT
wish the results of the game were better for your trip ( I think I’m also being a little selfish here)…At least you got to enjoy some good grub
Anonymous
Sounds brutal all around, except for the eats.
Anonymous
Anyone know if they still make Hires Root Beer?
Anonymous
Yes, it’s owned by Dr Pepper/Snapple
Anonymous
I’ve heard of it.
Anonymous
Yes, still made, and now owned by Dr. Pepper/Snapple, according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hires_Root_Beer
Jon Weisman
NPUT