‘Not Your Father’s’ Unveils Newest Hard Soda, Vanilla Cream Ale

After the rip-roaring success of the hard root beer called Not Your Father’s Root Beer, Small Town Brewery has taken the next logical step and turned another nostalgic childhood soda into a manly man’s drink.

Not Your Father’s Vanilla Cream Ale, along with the brewery’s Ginger Ale and Root Beer, are made using an old German style of traditional brewing called “gruit.” By applying gruit to your brew, the beer develops a unique taste and flavor that stems from a combination of roots, spices, herbs and berries. This process was more or less abandoned when hops came along, however Small Town Brewery found a way to put it to good use again.

Tim Kovac, Brewmaster and founder of Small Town Brewery, got the idea for this new beverage from nostalgic memories he had as a child growing up in Illinois. The vanilla extract used to give the ale its sweet flavor is Madagascar Vanilla, one of three types of vanilla, and the most widely used type to boot.

Not Your Father’s Vanilla Cream Ale won’t get you drunk after one or two either, sporting an easy 4.1% ABV label. The brewery, located in a village in Illinois called Wauconda (no, not the fictional African nation that the Marvel hero Black Panther is from), began in 2011 and has enjoyed critical success since first selling their Not Your Father’s Root Beer, followed by their Not Your Father’s Ginger Ale and a much stronger version of the root beer.

The Vanilla Cream Ale will be available for purchase in June with a suggested retail price of $10.99 for a six pack.