RB Flavors Root Beer Concentrated Extract - 2 ounces

I live in a region where there is no birch beer and I really had a hankering for one. I have a DrinkMate carbonation system so I figure that making my own small batches of birch beer soda would fix my craving.I mixed a gallon batch as per the quick mix instructions on the website (1/2 ounce extract/ 6-8 cups sugar/gallon of water). I just mixed it in an empty gallon water jug so that I could just pour the mix into the special carbonation bottles as desired.The flavor is rather muted. I tried adding a wee bit more of the extract trying to get the flavor that I grew up enjoying but, while the flavor was amped up, a very bitter undertone emerged. Adding more sugar didn't solve the bitterness issue so I diluted the mix with more water to make it less bitter but I was again left with a weak tasting soda.It might work better making it the old fashioned way with yeast but it just doesn't make the grade with soda machines. I ended up just ordering a case of bottled birch beer soda from Amazon to enjoy.

I was looking for a good BIRCH Beer Extract. This came up in the Amazon search. Its labeled "Birch Root Beer" which first of all, is clearly confusing/misleading. Its brown, not clear.The bottle has a hard screw on plastic lid but no inner lid gasket.Consequently,the bottle was already leaking upon arrival. ( see the clear quilted protected liner next the bottle)To make matters worse, there was nothing structural on the cap to regulate the flow of the brown , loose, sticky liquid, so even tipping the bottle slightly to try to pour out a few drops, ( see the line of substance lining the glass shown here ) resulted in the mess you see in the photo. It took two dish towels to clean this up.. ..I had to wipe down the bottle it came in, the countertop and the outside of the glass because of the unregulated flow.At the end of the day, this isn't even the BIRCH beer flavor I was after.

The spruce extract was shipped and delivered quickly. I am using the essence to flavor some homebrew hop waters. I am using a few drops of flavoring per pint of water and the flavor is strong and pleasant. I will say that there is a vanilla flavor that comes out very strong. I'm guessing this flavor will mellow out in a brew that bottle ages or carbs in keg. The 2oz bottle does not come with a dropper, so if you are going to use this extract to add a little at a time you will need a small dropper.

I'm impressed with this extract - It's got a ton of flavor to it. I use it for seltzer water and use .3ml per pint of sparkly, netting me roughly 10 gallons of flavored seltzer water.I have to admit, this isn't my favorite flavor profile for root beer. That doesn't mean its bad. It's bright and spicy with a good nip to it and its very sweet (without any actual sweeteners), it just doesn't satisfy what my palette wants out of root beer, it's missing something that I can't quite put my finger on. Give it a shot, though, I'm glad I did. I've found that a little fruit flavor fills in the what it's missing a bit.

We make our own soda and have for years. I've only tried the Cream Soda flavor for this brand, but it was undrinkable, despite experimenting with the provided instructions. However, we still got a strong chemical taste even using a tiny few drops in a pint glass. Undrinkable. Maybe we got a bad batch?

Birch beer is spot on.

In the terms of purchase, it says replacement is available if the item arrives damaged. I do not have that option available. Will have to complain to Amazon. Normally I like this brand, disappointed in this purchase.

Instead of using it for brewing, adding a splash (around a teaspoon) to a pint of beer adds a fantastic natural woody flavor that evokes Christmas. Recommended for people who are curious about spruce flavors but aren't into brewing their own spruce beer.