I've tried just about all of the root beer concentrates out there and the Sprecher is at, or near the top of the list.
For the positives:
* It has a great root beer taste that's hard to say wasn't bought in a store. It's more on the sweeter side than most, but everyone in my family gave it high marks for flavor.
* When it pours it has a nice foamy head that others don't get.
* Since it comes with the sweetener pre-mixed you just add your water and start carbonating, saving a lot of time and mess over other brands that need you to add your own sweetener. This makes for a consistent flavor each time if that's what you are after.
Each positive could be a negative for you though:
* If you don't like a really sweet root beer, this may not be for you.
* If you enjoy adding your own sweeteners to suit your tastes, then this may not be for you.
* When mixing, using the full bottle plus 4 bottles of water fills my 5gal keg almost to the point of spilling out the top. When I throw that super full keg into my kegerator to carbonate, it takes much much longer because I have to take it out and shake it many more times in order to get it ready. This isn't necessary with the other concentrates that typically make 4gals and so much more co2 is in the keg to mix in quicker.
* The price - this is not cheap compared to the other concentrates, coming in about 3x as much. Granted, you aren't adding your own sweetener, so some of that cost is included. But, it doesn't feel like that premium cost is just the sweetener.
Overall, I find that the sweeter taste isn't my personal favorite, but it's still really, really good. And it's my family's favorite. The ease of making it is great, but I like to experiment too (sometimes to my family's chagrin). So I will buy this again, but more as a special treat and not every time. Especially since the cost is much more than others you can get which still taste great.
