Arcy's Root Beer

I'm a big fan of root beer. I have no loyalty towards any kind of brand, as I like to try all different kinds of root beer. I do have my favorites like A&W, but my choices are of course, severely limited by where I live. I get access to imported brands through S&R and Rustan's, but here in San Pablo all you get are brands like Sarsi, Mug, Zesto and... well, that's it. A&W used to be more accessible locally, as well as Barq's, but local groceries don't stock them anymore.

I think my favorite would be Dr. Pepper, which sometimes makes an appearance at Ultimart Mall, sourced from, I believe, S&R. It's debatable whether Dr. Pepper is actually root beer, so to avoid any debate, I would say my favorite would be A&W. As much as I like it, it's something I wouldn't want to have regularly. It's the kind of root beer that's so rich and thick that it can get old very quickly if you drink it on a regular basis. For that I would have to go with Mug, which is the kind of a perfect regular root beer for my taste. Light, no too heavy, not so bubblegummy. I also love Sarsi (there's a kind of loyalty involved as it started out as a local brand) but like A&W, it's something I wouldn't want to drink regularly. I think Sarsi and A&W would be just perfect in small doses. Barq's is well... just a little too bubblegummy for me.

So how about Arcy's Root Beer? I saw this online one day and saw that it was being sold locally. But I haven't seen it anywhere here in San Pablo. It's part of the RC family of sodas which should make it easy to access here since RC Cola is sold here. Not as prevalent as Coke or Pepsi, but it's here if you look hard enough.

As a fan of root beer, I wanted so bad to find Arcy's and try it. I was willing to go from sari-sari store to sari-sari store to do it! I even left a message at their official Philippine website, asking if I could order 2 cases of their 240ml bottles (I was that confident I would like it). But I never got a reply.

Then one day I saw a 1.5 liter bottles of Arcy's being sold at Ultimart! I almost flipped! But I didn't buy it. My reasons are weird. I like buying small bottles because I like drinking only small doses per sitting. I don't buy big bottles, drink a glass and save the rest for later. I believe that once you open that bottle, you have to consume it right away or else the carbonation would fall flat and it wouldn't be as nice anymore. I'm perfectly willing to share it with people in the house, but people in the house don't drink soda so much so.... I wouldn't want that much soda going to waste.

So I just let it go, hoping one day I'd find this root beer in smaller bottles.

That's what happened today! I found Arcy's Root Beer being sold in 250ml cans at SM Department Store! I got two cans right away. I wanted to get more, but I wanted to try it out first. I couldn't wait to get home! And once home, I poured it on a tall mug full of ice and then...

wow.

I didn't like it.

Have you ever tasted Bazooka, the bubble gum that came with a comic strip? Well, it tasted EXACTLY like Bazooka bubble gum. What's wrong with Bazooka bubble gum? Nothing really, but as far as root beers go, the ones that taste too much of bubble gum I don't normally like. And this one tasted of bubble gum much... MUCH more than Barq's does.

So now I've got one more can of it. I'm not actually sure if I still want to drink it. Well, perhaps if there's nothing else to drink, aside from water, I probably will. One day.

Si Christina and their Green Bell Pepper Problem

Let me preface this by saying Si Christina is one of my favorite restaurants here in San Pablo. Here's a nice review of their breakfast. I just find it hysterical that they seem to have a real serious problem with green bell pepper. For the life of me, I just can't understand it.

One of my favorite things to eat there is their pizza. Specially their Pepperoni Pizza. You see, I like my pizza like I like my burgers. No frills, simple and pretty much straight to the point. None of that overloaded crap from some popular pizza places. But I also like green bell peppers in my pizza so I usually ask for it as an additional topping. If that would entail additional cost then that would be OK. I mean, pizza places usually charge something for additional toppings, right? So that's just fine with me. Si Christina's Pepperoni Pizza is really simple and that's the way I like it. Of course, it tastes really really nice too.

The first time I ordered it, it turned out really well. But they seem to have problems with it ever since. When I ordered it again some time later, again asking for green bell pepper as an additional topping, they gave me jalapeño instead. Which isn't too bad because I like jalapeño too. In fairness, jalapeño is a green pepper too so I guess they just didn't hear me right.

When I ordered it again the other day, I made sure I articulated "GREEN.BELL.PEPPER." clearly and slowly and several times so they won't mistake my request for anything else. When the pizza arrived, no green bell pepper but they put some hair like reddish things which made me scratch my head. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be RED bell pepper.

I mean, look at it. Two problems: One, I don't understand why they simply can't give me green bell peppers. This is TWICE now. How hard is it to source it? The market nearby and the grocery at the malls in town are stocked with it. Two, how expensive is bell pepper that they have to slice it so thinly that I can hardly see it? I mean how much is ONE bell pepper? Why can't they have thicker slices?

Lest I may seem to be talking behind their back, let me just tell you that I ALREADY sent feedback to them earlier after the jalapeño incident. I suggested that their servers listen carefully to what their customers ask for to prevent confusion. They responded positively to it so I thought that was that. And then THIS. I don't think GREEN sounds anything like RED, does it? Oh well....

You know, I still like their pizza so from now on, I guess I'll just order it out, buy my own green bell pepper and add it at home.

I still love you, Si Christina!