Tower

The Pooj is paying close attention.

(Rocket Fizz Valencia, October 2010)

Prospect Hill Beverages is a family-owned company founded in 1914 by Domenick Cusolito, an Italian immigrant who settled his family in the Boston-area city of Somerville. Tower Ginger Ale and Root Beer – named for the Prospect Hill Tower, where the original flag of the 13 Colonies was first raised by General George Washington in 1776 – were their signature drinks for decades before they were acquired by a larger soft drink conglomerate (which is apparently the SAT word of the day, seeing as I’ve used it in both of today’s posts…), reacquired by the Cusolito family when the larger company failed, then dissolved again in 1978 when they were overshadowed by even larger soft drink companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi. After an almost 30 year hiatus, Tower has recently returned once again.*

Tower has a good root beer flavor, with an aftertaste that is mostly sweet – sweeter than the initial taste. My sources say that anisette was a key ingredient in the original recipe, giving it both the anise flavor and a little extra sweetness. I’m fairly certain real anisette is either no longer used, or the liqueur is cooked out during the brewing process, since there’s no alcohol content stated. The root beer/anise flavor is not particularly strong, but not particularly weak either, so it was a generally pleasant experience, if a bit unremarkable. Still, I certainly wouldn’t refuse it in the future – Tower gets a 3.5.

*Source: Edible Boston. It’s a good read.