Reviews: SNAP (and a second look at ROOT)
Finding a category for spirits like ROOT and SNAP is difficult. They're closest to flavored rums since they are distilled from sugar cane, not aged, and then flavored after distillation with herbs and spices (and molasses in Snap's case). Art in the Age, it seems, would like them to be viewed as entirely original, stand-alone spirits. They are very nice products, but until AITA starts distilling from something other than cane sugar and/or aging they are going to remain flavored neutral spirits in my book.
This is my second time taking ROOT for a spin and I'm significantly more impressed with it than I was last time I reviewed it. I'm a BIG root beer fan. I collect bottles from around the world and it is my soft drink of choice. ROOT still doesn't live up to my high expectations for what the ultimate root beer flavored booze should taste like, but they seem to have remedied the overpowering smoked birch and sassafras flavor in the last sample I got which makes it much more enjoyable. Before I would have said ROOT was at a 2 out of 5 star rating whereas now I would upgrade it to a cautionary 3 to 3 1/2 stars . (Cautionary because it still ain't rootbeer and it still is $35 a bottle)
SNAP is inspired by old fashioned ginger snap cookies. The kind your great grandmother would have made with molasses and dirt AND YOU WOULD'VE EATEN IT GLADLY! Actually, a ginger snap cookies is almost exactly what SNAP tastes like. It's uncanny how much it smells like fresh ginger snaps. The taste is pleasant but not too sweet. I think this one has some cocktail potential but it's going to have a hard time dethroning Domaine de Canton on most bars. They're different animals, but a similar product nonetheless.
Our Ratings - SNAP: *** (Recommended) ROOT: ***1/2 (Slightly More Recommended - Much better than last time) Price: around $35 each. www.artintheage.com
January 18th, 2011 - 02:15
Oh, snap! Don’t know who to root for.
Have nothing to add, just wanted to say that.
January 19th, 2011 - 09:46
There’s a really huge difference between flavored alcohol products and Root and Snap. The main one is that Root and Snap do not contain flavors and therefore, under the law, are not flavored. (It’s the difference between vanilla ice cream and vanilla-flavored ice cream or, say, deliciousness and crap!). Just sayin’.
January 19th, 2011 - 11:48
I’m not saying that Root and Snap are equal to the quality of, say, Bacardi “Razz.” But just because the law says they don’t have to use the same words on their bottle it doesn’t make them not-flavored. From the vague description on AITA’s website all we can tell is that they distill sugar cane sugar and then flavor it with something. It’s certified organic flavor, sure. But whether that’s from a bottle or from actual bits of birch, cinnamon, anise, ect…they aren’t saying. I said in the review it’s closest to a rum, but assuming that it’s completely un-aged, categorically speaking, it’s probably closer to a flavored vodka.
January 20th, 2011 - 17:08
Unless they are mislabeling, this is not a flavored product. It contains food, not flavors. There’s a pretty major difference between a food ingredient that imparts flavor and an actual flavor. Sorry, I’m not trying to start something, just sharing my area of expertise.
January 21st, 2011 - 00:11
I’m not trying to say that they are dumping a bunch of extracts into the spirit to make their product. My guess is its some kind of natural maceration process that involves soaking the spices involved for a period of time before filtering and bottling. What I’m trying to work out is how to categorize whatever it is; not what the labeling says about how they made it. For instance, Belvedere Vodka likes to say that “we don’t flavor our vodka, we macerate it.” Which really just means they’re flavoring their citrus vodkas with things like orange peels instead of natural extracts or artificial flavors.
Unless you have some kind of inside information about how they distill it, all we can say for sure that it is distilled from sugar cane and then flavored via maceration or something similar. This means it starts life as a neutral spirit and could be categorized as some kind of organic, naturally-flavored vodka. NOW! That will never happen because the makers of ROOT and SNAP have chosen not to market them as a flavored anything because they would rather them be viewed as an entirely new spirits. That doesn’t change the fact that when describing it to my readers the closest thing I can compare it to (categorically) would be flavored vodka. I understand the negative connotation, but when you get down to it gin is a flavored vodka too.
April 7th, 2012 - 21:11
Nice little debate you guys have going on here.