Boylan's Root Beer: the Natural Kind

I found this in the store yesterday. I was familiar with (and will have to write a review on) the standard Boylan's root beer, but this variety is "sweetened with pure cane sugar; 100 natural," according to the legend on the bottleneck's front.

The root beer comes in a brown glass 12 ounce bottle, with the label printed directly onto the glass, much like Boylan's other products. The legend around the circular label reads "BOYLAN'S" in normal writing, then "THE NATURAL KIND" in reverse letters, with the and kind in smaller letters. The tan twist-off bottle cap bears a logo similar to that on the front of the bottle.

There is a faint smell of what I take to be licorice. The soda is a little thinner than I expected, and not very syrupy at all. Although its flavor is light and not overpoweringly sweet, it has very little behind the sweetness, leaving it somewhat bland. As the soda starts to warm up to room temperature, it gains a very slight aftertaste of artificial sweetener (peculiar, given that it's marketed as only being sweetened with cane sugar).

Grade: 5

170 calories per 12 ounce bottle = 14.2 Calories per ounce (moderately high)
Kosher Parve (Kosher Technical Konsultants)
www.boylanbottling.com

[Image added 9 Oct @ 12:30am]
[Nutrition info added 9 Oct at 1:30am]