Jones Soda Just Quietly Dropped Two Zero Sugar Flavors

Only in a day and age with “functional” nutrition running amok is the word “zero” increasingly celebrated. Of course zero on a product label tends to indicate either zero calories, zero alcohol, or zero sugar. And again, we’re often happy to see zero on a product label―it’s about to be a long season of navigating treats on menus and store shelves. So yes, we’ll take some new zero sugar additions to our beverage options, please. We’re just a little bit surprised to find they’re coming from a brand like Jones. 

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Two New Sodas

Previously sold as limited-run items, Jones is bringing its Jones ZERO Root Beer and Jones ZERO Berry Lemonade sodas back for good. Formerly special releases, the sodas did kind of a major pivot from what the Jones brand is built on. Per their own product descriptions, Jones sodas are made with all natural cane sugar.

Granted, this isn’t the Jones brand’s first pivot from the old-timey wholesomeness of cane sugar sodas (with funky, consumer-submitted photos for the labels). Back in 2024 they debuted the Pop Jones prebiotic soda line, which have added zinc, real fruit juice, and only 2 grams of real cane sugar. And while the Pop Jones line isn’t the most visible prebiotic soda out there, it’s surviving in an increasingly crowded market―so maybe Jones can pull off the zero sugar thing. Why else would they go permanent? 

Everything We Know

The brand seems confident, at least. According to the website, the ZERO line―with two permanent flavors so far―will continue to be “made with the same commitment to bold taste.” Zero will mean both zero calories and “zero compromises.” (That second one is a nice idea, but seems like we’ve already compromised on delicious, delicious sugar.)

This might be the time to mention that in place of cane sugar, you’ll find sucralose, which is branded commonly as Splenda. (Meaning, if you’re a Jones fan but not a Splenda fan―and sugar substitute people are loyalists if nothing else―this one’s not for you.) Sucralose does tend to avoid the bitterness you find at the end of stevia-sweetened things, but like most artificial and alternative sweeteners, there’s always the faint (or not so faint) whisper of that chemical aftertaste. As for the flavors (and we all know Jones likes its flavors), we’re surprised to see the Jones ZERO Berry Lemonade included, considering summer’s almost over. But as fans of craft soda in general, it’s a good bet the Jones ZERO Root Beer will stand up to, if not surpass, most major market diet root beers out there.