Boylan Root Beer

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Boylan Root Beer is made by Boylan Bottling Co. in Teterboro, NJ.  On the Boylan website they describe their root beer as “traditional tasting” and having a “rich and spicy sassafras flavor with only a subtle creamy note.” I agree with that description. It has a different taste. It is sweet, but not overly sweet. It tastes light, like a diet soda. I really like Boylan’s as well as the creamier root beers. Boylan was my favorite root beer for a long time, until I met Sprecher’s.

Boylan Root Beer seems to be widely available. Their website has a list of stores that carry their products, but it only covers New Jersey and New York. I had it for the first time at the Vortex in Atlanta. It is available at all Jason’s Deli locations.

Boylan also make a natural root beer.  I have not tried it yet. “Natural” does not typically equate “better tasting” in my experience. However I still want to try it. You should try Boylan’s Root Beer if you have not already, natural, unnatural, or supernatural. (I made that last one up).

 

Homemade Oven Ribs

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I really like eating ribs. Going out for ribs can get expensive. Occasionally I cook them at home. Admittedly I am much better at eating ribs than cooking them. I use recipes found online and cook them in the oven. If you are willing to work a little, you can have some delicious ribs without breaking the bank.

I purchase ribs from the grocery store. The ribs I used here cost $6.28. I used Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. It’s not bad, nor is it my favorite. They have it at the dollar store near my apartment. Sweet Baby Ray’s is very sweet, like the name. I guess it’s the boss too (according to the label). I used less than 1/3 of the bottle.

I follow the recipe found here from cooks.com. Basically, you cook the ribs for two hours on low heat before adding sauce and cooking for another hour on higher heat. I only cook about 2 lbs. of the ribs, instead of the suggested 5 lbs. The instructions don’t mention it, but you probably want to remove the fat from the underside of the ribs.

I don’t have a broiling pan. The pan pictured above, seems to work fine for me. I cook my ribs in this pan with water in the bottom. I have done it this way a couple times and it has turned out well.  I don’t use the optional meat tenderizer either. They seem tender enough for me!

The ribs always turn out great. Certainly not the best in town, but not the worst either. And they’re definitely easier on your wallet! I can’t imagine cooking hundreds of racks a day like some restaurants do. Rendezvous allegedly serves 4 tons of ribs a week¹.

Sprecher Root Beer

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I had my first bottle of Sprecher Root Beer at Second City in Chicago last summer. The show was hilarious and the root beer was delicious. I was unable to find Sprecher locally and decided to order it online. It is available directly from the Sprecher Brewing Company (sprecherbrewery.com) or from Walmart (walmart.com). Shipping from Walmart was cheaper and I ordered from them. It cost $39.92 (including shipping and tax) for a case of 24 – 16 oz. bottles. It was worth every penny. About a week after it arrived I found that Sprecher is sold in Memphis at Miss Cordelia’s on Mud Island.

This wonderful root beer is brewed at the Sprecher Brewery  in Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. It comes in 16 oz. bottles, so there is 33% more of it than in a standard bottle! Sprecher root beer is made with honey and the sweetness is just about perfect. The flavor is really good too. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes root beer. If you don’t like root beer, you are probably on the wrong website. I also like the bottle. It has an awesome picture of Rooty the root beer mascot. He looks like a crow but he is actually a baby griffin with a mug and a bottle of root beer.

This is easily my favorite root beer. I am trying to make this 24 pack last as long as possible. If you haven’t tried Sprecher Root Beer, you should. It’s a life changing experience.