Capt'n Eli's Revisited

So my holiday weekend hasn't really included the requisite amount of blowing-crap-up that this fair nation's birthday typically calls for, but I have partaken of the traditional eat-yourself-silly aspect of just about every holiday.  This, of course, comes down to declaring my independence from keeping track of how much sugar I'm ingesting.  But who are we kidding; I already did that weeks ago...

At any rate, such a turn of events has allowed me to look again at Capt'n Eli's. You'll recall (or not, depending on how much mental energy you personally expend on perusing online root beer pontification...) that my previous meeting with the Capt'n literally left a bad taste in my mouth, which seemed contrary to every other thing I've heard/read about Capt'n Eli's Root Beer as well as all of our other much-earlier meetings (admittedly, it had been a while).  I am happy to report that, upon a more recent encounter, the Capt'n and I have mended our fences and are on much better terms.

Which of course makes me wonder what happened to the last bottle I drank.  Or maybe I shouldn't try to wonder so much because, well, eww...

Yet I only need to revise my previous description of Capt'n Eli's slightly.  Take away the medicinal acridity, and you're left with everything good I had earlier described: still complex, still heavily favoring licorice in scent and flavor, still matching almost word for word my earlier description -- "molasses-y finish, with wintergreen menthol around the edges, [imparting] a rather woodsy, bark-y taste."  And really, all you have to do is take away the acridity and what remains is excellent.  

The U.S. of A. is all about second chances, right?  So happily I give myself a second chance to like Capt'n Eli's Root Beer, and happily the Capt'n obliges me.  Upon further consideration, Capt'n Eli's Root Beer gets a solid 4.