Hey Song Sarsaparilla

For some reason, Blogger un-posted this post from May of 2011, so I'm re-posting it...

The Pooj is not the issue here, Dude.

(99 Ranch Market, March 2011)

First of all, yes, I realize that the can says it’s sarsaparilla, not root beer – I bring this beverage to you because my father described it to me as “Taiwan root beer.” Second of all, there was a second type of Hey Song Sarsaparilla next to this one which is supposedly preserved plum flavor, which somewhat throws into doubt whether this is actually sarsaparilla, or that’s just the name of the company. Third of all, aside from Bundaberg, I have yet to encounter any other foreign root beers – best as I remember, the only thing available in Hong Kong that falls into the root beer category was something called Sarse, which sounds a lot like “sarsaparilla” for people whose native tongue maybe prevents them from saying “sarsaparilla,” and thus may indicate that sarsaparilla is the closest one will get to home grown root beer in Southeast Asia. Fourth of all, assuming you’re not already tired of it all, as best as I can tell (and please correct me on this if you know more than I do) the name Hey Song is basically sounds like a transliteration of the Chinese term for soda, or perhaps a play on words in that regard. I also read somewhere that it actually says “black pine,” but I can’t confirm one way or the other since I don’t read Chinese. Yes, shameful, I know.

Despite all aforementioned factors, however, is this the root beer of my people?

Ermmmm, maybe yes, maybe no. Let’s start with the maybe no. Actually, let’s back it up a little further. Since we’ve established that drinking out of an aluminum can may affect the flavor of a beverage, we begin by first decanting into something less aluminum. Which also gives opportunity to show off some nifty glasses one of my best buddies recently gave me for my birthday…

Hey, careful Pooj, there's a beverage here.

They’re made by cutting the top off of an old soda bottle – pretty neat reuse of an otherwise trashed bottle, if you ask me. And they hold a remarkable amount of beverage, given their deceptively small appearance.

Anyways, back to the maybe no: my first reaction is that Hey Song Sarsaparilla smells like gummy worms. Turns out that the flavor is pretty similar – it kind of tastes like candy, like gummy soda bottles. It has a thin syrupy flavor, slightly sour, with only a lingering, slightly root-y aftertaste. Calling the slightly root-y aftertaste barky might not be entirely accurate though.

Which brings me to the maybe yes: since this is a foreign beverage, I would venture to guess it is geared towards slightly different sensibilities when it comes to the herb blend. I’ve said in the past that there have been root beers that taste like Chinese preserved plums – while I’m not saying Hey Song Sarsaparilla tastes like preserved plums (which begs the question of what the Hey Song Sarsaparilla Preserved Plum soda tastes like), I am saying that perhaps those typical root beer ingredients that remind me of Chinese herbs may exist in higher proportions in actual Chinese root beer or sarsaparilla.

That being said, my root beer sensibilities are distinctly American. Or perhaps the preferred nomenclature is Asian American, please (hah!*). I’d probably drink it in the homeland when better root beer options are unavailable, but I’ll skip it when I can get my hands on something better. Hey Song Sarsaparilla therefore gets a 2.

* Say, friend - you got any more of that good sarsaparilla?