Bayou Bootlegger Hard Root Beer
Abita Brewing Co.

3.5/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Served in a Lagunitas mason jar.

Thanks to Small Town, Sprecher, and the rest, it looks like hard root beers are gonna be a thing. Sweet. This one pours a clear amber-tawny topped by a half-finger or so of taupe foam. The nose is straight indicative of root beer, maybe a touch sweeter than usual, some mild anise in the back for good measure. The taste brings in more of the same, a sweet root beer with some clove and allspice and anise bits here and there. The body is a light medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a slick-ish feel. Overall, a solid hard root beer. 'Nuff said.

Aug 23, 2018

3.45/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
by jadpsu from Georgia

In LAUREL.
I only purchased a single bottle as part of a make your own 6 pack offer.

LOOK: Pour looked identical to the Root Beer days of my youth when A&W was widely available if only occasionally the soft drink choice. Poured near black in color with a brown foamy head that slowly faded.
AROMA: 100% A Root Beer Match, with Root Beer aroma having a touch of clove and vanilla.

TASTE: Flavor and taste was a Root Beer match as well. Sweet, too sweet at this age. Label says it has PURE LOUISIANA CANE SUGAR . For me the clove is unwanted since clove goes straight to my frontal head giving me a light headed headache feeling.
My scoring gave the benefit of the doubt, since this HARD Root Beer did a superior job of creating a true old fashioned Root Beer feel.

Mar 25, 2018

3.68/5  rDev +4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
by tone77 from Pennsylvania

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a damn near black color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is strong of root beer. Taste is syrup, root beer, very sweet. Feels medium/full bodied in the mouth and overall, while I enjoyed this, it just doesn't feel like a beer. One is enough for me.

Apr 23, 2017

4.15/5  rDev +17.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
by BeerBobber from Nevada

The look is so crazy! Looks like I just poured a nice frosty mug of root beer. Dark color with a nice frothy brown head that will stick all the way down the glass.

The smell threw me back to my childhood! Straight out of the fresh ass A&W Root Beer shops we used to go to. I can actually picture that same damn location off of Sheridan Av. just by smelling this.

The taste is the same as the smell! Holy crap Batman I think I am going straight back to my childhood! Taste is just like that classic [email protected] root beer.

Mouth feel seems to be a bit off of the classic root beer I am imagining. Seems to be a bit maltier, if that is a word. And the thickness tosses it off just a bit. Finish is wet and slick.

Wow! I really went back to my childhood with this one. This seems to me to be a very fine root beer from the folks at Abita. With the addition of the 5.9% alcohol this one land in that adult beverage category. Yet to be billed as a beer this one really does tend to confuse me. Well screw that! I am going to enjoy going back to an earlier age with this fine beverage. Cheers BA bro's!

Apr 20, 2017

5/5  rDev +41.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
by BeerWithMike from Nebraska

Bought a single 12-ounce bottle as part of "Make your own 6" at the local grocery store. 5.9% AVB. Bottle chilled down to 36 degrees F in my beer cooler and poured in to a 10-ounce "MOVIE NIGHT" pilsner glass. Pours just like any other decent root beer with a good foamy cap. Aroma is like a Sarsaparilla than a root beer actually. Taste follows the nose and is very easy to drink and don't taste booze unlike some other hard root beers. medium-bodied with lower carbonation. Not as sweet as some of the other ones on the market today. Overall probably my favorite hard root beer to date and perfect in every way for what it is.

Jul 26, 2016

3.46/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
by OKbrew89 from Oklahoma

Drank from the bottle. Didn't see the color, but there was decent carbonation and foam. Smells more like Sarsaparilla than root beer in my opinion, but the nose is spot on. Tastes like root beer without the stickiness that lingers from a cheap soda. Light body and medium-light carbonation with no trace of alcohol.
Kinda surprised this was on here given this isn't beer. It's spiked soda, and a good spiked soda, but not really beer. Refreshing for summer either way.

Jul 09, 2016

3.5/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
by tmimitw from Louisiana

Not bad...like all the other hard root beers...just in a cooler bottle. If you're having a card game with your bros and Ronald Miller don't show cause he's out with Condy Mancini again...this is your drink, dawwg.

Jun 21, 2016

3.82/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
by lwillitz from Wisconsin

12-oz bottle into craft glass

A - 2 fingers of medium tan stick around a lot longer than usual for a root beer; deep brown/black body with ruby highlights; a few small patches of lace stick around

S - wintergreen and bubblegum; smells like a better-than-average root beer

T - wintergreen and vanilla; certainly tastes like root beer; pleasantly complex

M - smooth medium body; carbonation pretty tame for a root beer

O - When I review a hard root beer, I take into account that I'm basically reviewing an alcoholic soda. This one, however, was not so over-the-top in either sweetness or carbonation as some of the other hard root beers I've tried. This one even managed to retain a head for a reasonable duration. Still basically a soda, but this one's more interesting than others.

Apr 28, 2016