Ben Shaws Original Dandelion & Burdock, estd 1871 is one of
several dandelion and burdock sodas from England. OK - there's gonna be some
culture shock over this. In England you can buy dandelion seeds at the
nursary for your garden. In American you buy "Weed-B-Gone" to get rid of
dandelions. I don't know what burdock is to our British friends - is it the
same plant? In the U.S. burdock is a surly weed that leaves huge seed heads
completly snarled in your dog's hair.
Bottle appearance:
Very formal looking can that could pass for a wine if it
wasn't a can.
Soda appearance:
Extremely high foamy head. Dark brown color.
Smell:
James says this smells like candy. It does remind me of
horehound candy. This soda has a facinating smell that we just can't quite
identify. Doesn't smell like chopped weeds at least!
First Impression of taste:
This reminds me of hard "cut-rock" Christmas candy.
Second Impression:
Rich full flavor. This is definately in the root beer-sasparilla
type of soda. It's almost like a sweet moxie.
Flavor:
We are trying hard to figure out what it smells and tastes
like. There is something very familiar about this and we can't put our
finger on it. There are hints of anise, cherry, root beer, Moxie - all
subtile and elusive. We can't say "this is a root beer" or "this is a fruit
soda". But it is very, very drinkable and enjoyable.
Carbonation:
Very foamy and gentle fizz.
Full Description:
I don't know when I've had this much fun trying to identify
a flavor. It's not like anything we've ever had before (except when we
drank Dandelion & Burdock soda in England in the past), but we've never tried
to analyze it until now. We really love the stuff.
Score:
We quite adore this! Wish we could get it here. We all give
it a 5. But I am bummed - 3 pops in a row with a '5' rating. It's much more
entertaining to write up the horrid ones.