It is properly the color of root beer - deep, deep brown with a hint of red. There is no head to speak of, so that's a bit sad, but it definitely show signs of more carbonation than the last one. The aroma is definitely very root beer, but it has an edge that I can't quite make out. At first, I dismissed the possibility of it being alcohol, but further sniffs have really made me think that it is a raw alcohol - like someone took root beer and added a splash of moonshine to it.First sip is, again, very root beer. It has a liquor taste to it that skews it a bit, but it still has that vanilla root beer core. The alcohol finish is really pretty pronounced, even through a simple sip. It's certainly not bad for sipping, but it's not as smooth as I would have expected. Time to dig in.
Tip-in is light carbonation tingle (not a burn) with sweet vanilla. As the middle comes down the road, it suddenly mellows pretty dramatically. The middle is a warm blanket of syrupy smoothness, but it's not sickly sweet or even overly sweet - the sweetness is just right. As the finish drawn near, root beer with it's woody, flowery richness takes hold and lets go sharply as the moonshine alcohol peeks out and then lets the afterglow just kind of fade. It leaves a sweetness on the lips just like regular root beer.
Bottom Line: An improvement over the others, and a good beverage in its own right.
3.75/5
