Braum's

 

The Pooj is vertically challenged.

(Braum’s - Owasso, OK; August 2012)

Ask anyone from the Plains states and they'll know Braum's Ice Cream. My first Braum's experience was a cookies n' cream cone back in college during spring break, and seeing as I still remember it now, it clearly made an impression on me. I learned back then that Braum's does not operate anywhere farther than their trucks can deliver products fresh daily, which sadly means we'll not likely ever see one in California (oh well, we have In-N-Out, so I guess that's fair turnaround). What I did not learn until recently (i.e., doing research for this post...) is that those stores are specifically within a 300 mile radius of Braum's Tuttle, OK processing plant, and despite this geographic limitation, Braum's still operates close to 300 stores in 5 states: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, and their home state of Oklahoma. This is due to the fact that Braum's is almost completely vertically integrated as a company.

Let's back up a bit first. Henry H. Braum started leasing a butter processing plant in 1933 in Emporia, KS, and built his company upward from there. By 1940, Braum had gained his own facilities, and had just added ice cream to the menu of dairy products handled at his plant. This ice cream, which they named Peter Pan Ice Cream for a local park, would go on to make quite a name for the Braums, so much so that when the family sold Peter Pan in 1967, a few years after Henry's son Bill took over, they had to agree not to sell ice cream in the entire state of Kansas for 10 years following the company's sale.

Consequently, the Braums moved their entire post-Pan operation to Oklahoma, dairy farm and all, eventually settling in Tuttle, where they remain headquartered today on a 10,000 acre dairy farm. And as if their 260,000 sf dairy processing center wasn't enough, the Braum's company also operates a 240,000 sf bakery on the property, and also owns several hundreds of thousands of acres of additional farmland elsewhere in OK and TX just to grow alfalfa and hay to feed their cows – quite necessary when you take into account that the Tuttle farm births 40 calves each day. These cows – an entirely private herd, 1,600 milked per hour – combine to produce 150,000 lbs of raw milk every day (not a small feat given that they do not give the cows hormones to promote milk production). Much of this is sold just as milk, but much of it goes to producing Braum's signature ice cream, making Braum's the only major ice cream producer in the US that milks their own cows – how's that for vertical integration (source)?

But as much as we like ice cream, it is beside the point – Braum's makes their own line of sodas, root beer included. Thanks to friends in flat places, I have acquired a significant amount of said root beer. Unfortunately, although the cans were purchased just last August, the date on the cans indicates that they expired this past January, and I did not receive them until recently, well past its stated expiration date. I feel that in the interests of full disclosure, I need to offer this disclaimer, in case this expiration negatively affects its flavor.

I am at least pleased to note that, despite its stated expiration, Braum's Root Beer does not taste like the can it came in. Not taking any chances, however, I'm consuming this from a glass rather than straight from the can, knowing what we do about how that can affect the perception of flavor. And the flavor's not bad at all – it's on the generic/weaker/milder end of the root spectrum, and mostly dominated by sweetness, so there's nothing particularly distinct about it, but nothing offensive either. The scent is also mildly root-y and mostly sweet, somewhat candy-ish, so it's not surprising that the taste can come off a little syrupy. Same goes for the aftertaste, which is decently root-y and lingers for a little while before finishing with a clean sweetness. Either due to the yucca extract foaming agent or the aforementioned syrup-iness, the texture is smoother and fuller than your typical HFCS-sweetened root beer.

While Braum's Root Beer isn't particularly special – not a "treat" root beer by any means, it's certainly good enough to accompany the burger I would get at a Braum's restaurant were I to visit one, which I will need to do at some point just in case my representative sample really did lose something in its expiration. Upon such an occurrence, should I discover that there is no difference between fresh and expired, then I might opt to save my calories for an extra scoop of frozen custard instead. For now, Braum's Root Beer gets a solid 3.