Faygo

The Pooj calls out, "He went that way." *

(BevMo Pasadena, April 2011)

While many a soda has probably been criticized for tasting like carbonated frosting (::cough::Jones::cough::), I think Faygo may be the first I’ve encountered that actually brags of this. Faygo was conceived as the Feigenson Brothers Bottle Works in 1907 by said Feigenson brothers, Detroit Russian-immigrant bakers who developed their soda flavors from cake frosting recipes. Said brothers later shortened their company name to Faygo in the 1920s because their original company name was too long to print on a glass bottle. Interesting historical note – the Faygo website states that sodas were referred to as “pop” because of the popping sound made when bottles were opened. Today, Faygo is available in all canning and bottling mediums (i.e., aluminum, plastic, glass), but the only ones I’ve encountered in Southern California are the “retro” style glass bottles that the company revived in 2007. Back in Michigan, Faygo-flavored cupcakes are also available, harkening back to the company’s frosting roots.

You’ll be glad to hear that Faygo Root Beer does not taste like cake frosting, but instead veers towards the wintergreen and clove end of the herb spectrum. There are also the requisite hints of licorice and vanilla, but the smell and aftertaste are still heavier on the birch and cloves. I would say the herbs also tend towards bark-y, since the aftertaste is almost slightly bitter, but it's just sweet enough to meld well with the heavy dose of herbs. One possible down-side: it seems somewhat acidic, evidenced by a squeaky feel it leaves on my teeth, and it is far from what I’d call smooth. Still, it has a good flavor, with a good scent throughout, similar to something you’d get from a tap (which is good, since they advertise it as draft style).

Faygo Root Beer recently won a taste test of regional root beers over at Serious Eats, but I’m not certain that I'm as impressed as they were. Perhaps my expectations were set a bit high, since I typically hold the Serious Eats team and their opinions in high regard. While I think Faygo is good, I’m not sure it would even break into my top five (maybe my top ten) – probably means I need to do another test later to see how it stacks up against my favorites. But hey, I’ve never claimed to be anything other than subjective. That in mind, Faygo Root Beer gets a very low 4.