Fentimans Pink Ginger

It's been too long since I've partaken of Fentimans. If you haven't read my previous posts, they can be found here. I like their products and the old fashioned style they adhere to.

The aroma of this bottle is ginger heavy when opening. I thought this might be a little more like pink lemonade, but the scent is giving me ginger beer vibes. It has nice carbonation, but it has no real pink lemonade flavor and only a tiny hint of citrus. The ginger wins over everything else in this drink and if you've not had ginger beer before, the ginger is heavier than in ginger ales. I enjoy a lot of ginger ale, but don't like ginger beers. At best I have found one or two that were tolerable. This one isn't so harsh that the ginger burns the palate but I think makes a better mixer than a drinkable soda. 

Cawston Press Elderflower Lemonade

Cawston Press is located in the UK and opened shop in 1986 with an apple orchard. This particular can is labeled as being made in the Netherlands, but I believe they have some other facilities in Europe as well. While listed as sparkling juice, I basically consider any beverage that is carbonated and non-alcoholic a soda. By definition, it's a soft drink, but I use the term soda. In any case, Cawston Press has several flavors of both regular juice as well as sparkling juices, such as this one. All of which are made by pressing real fruit and no added sugar or sweeteners. 

There is a fresh lemony scent upon opening. A sip comes across a bit sour, but that is owing to the fact that most beverages are so sugary that tasting naturally sweet flavors are duller in comparison. I taste the lemon quite strongly. I think the pressed apple juice in the ingredients does come through in the background. The sourness reminds me quite a bit of a hoppy beer. I can't really pick up the elderflower. Maybe its being masked by the lemon. All in all, it's a decent, naturally made sparkling lemonade. Since I had to purchase this in a pack, it will make a nice drink in the summer heat to mix things up every now and then. 

Schwip Schwap Cola & Orange

Here's an interesting find I came across in London. From PepsiCo Deutschland comes this interesting flavor combo. I can't find evidence of other flavors from the Schwip Schwap label, so it may only be the cola and orange option. It sounded intriguing and there are certainly precedents for it where both Coca-Cola and Pepsi have released lime and lemon combinations with cola. 

It does smell like a glass of cola with a slice of orange added for garnish. However, I find the orange flavor is overpowering the cola taste. This is much more like an orange juice with a touch of cola added than the other way around. The concept seems solid, but the taste isn't really there, in my opinion. Nonetheless its supposedly popular in Germany. 

Rubicon Sparkling Mango

Rubicon began in 1981 and is listed has having facilities in both Canada and the UK. They specialize in juices but have a line of carbonated juice drinks as well. 

It has a fleshy mango scent with a bright orange color. The color alone makes me think this could be carbonated fruit juice rather than soda flavored with fruit, if that makes sense. The taste is decent. It has a dense mango flavor with a sugary finish. I'd say this has a fairly faithful taste to real mango. It may make a good breakfast drink choice, but isn't a "daily drinker" for myself. After a while I becomes a bit too much for me, but sipping over it for a while is nice. 

Barr Bubblegum

Another soda to grace the blog from Barr. I spotted this one on the shelf and had to grab it knowing I probably would loathe the taste. It was hard to miss with that color. Many of Barr's sodas seem to be on the cheaper end of the spectrum, such as this one.

Bubblegum is usually such a cloying sugary taste that I went into this fully expecting not to like it. Flavors like this often make adults sick to their stomach quickly, but I was willing to give it a try. The smell reminds me of Kool-Aid made with copious amounts of sugar with a hint of that smell of cheap Bazooka bubblegum hiding in the background. Indeed, its close in taste to cheap, penny bubblegum like Bazooka or that circus stuff thrown out to kids at parades. It is powerfully sugary in nature and I'm sick of it after just a few sips. 

Mr. Fitzpatrick's Superior Black Currant Cordial

Well this was an interesting find. Perusing a gourmet food store on my recent trip to the Orkney's I stumbled on a range of different cordial flavors from Mr. Fitzpatrick's. The brand has been producing botanicals beverage products for over a century. While there were a lot of options I selected this black currant bottle. As mentioned in a previous post, black currant flavoring is very popular in the UK.

Now, based on the bottling and my limited knowledge of cordials I thought they were alcoholic beverages like an aperitif. Cordial apparently has a slightly different meaning in the UK. The shop staff told me they weren't alcoholic, but I later learned cordials require a mixer. They are essentially just a concentrated syrup. Although I've never reviewed a cordial before on this blog, I already had the beverage and it's still a soda as an end product so why not? 

I eventually located a bottle of sparkling water and chilled both the sparkling water and the cordial in the fridge. The syrup was quite thick so I ended up mixing about three parts sparkling water to one part syrup. The flavor was not heavy, but you could always just adjust the amount of water used to make it stronger I suppose. I think this ratio worked pretty well and is refreshing with a nice currant flavoring but the taste dies off pretty quickly. This means there is no real aftertaste lingers, but some folks that like this flavor my find it disappointing to have such a short lived taste. All around I find it made a nice sipping beverage. 

Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit (Lilt)

Imagine my surprise when I thought I'd discovered another new Fanta flavor on my latest trip in the UK. I was pretty exited, but later noticed the Lilt logo on the side. A short google later I discovered that Coca-Cola has merely relabeled the old Lilt brand as a new Fanta flavor. Apparently, lagging sales for Lilt meant that Coca-Cola came up with bringing it under the Fanta label. I'm unsure how they think the same flavor would perform differently being called something else, but I could be totally wrong about that since Fanta is a powerful brand worldwide. 

Since I reviewed Lilt many years ago there's little more to mention on it. It does release a very audible amount of carbonation when opening. The taste is as described. It's quite citrus in nature tasting of about equal amounts of grapefruit and pineapple, both soda flavors I enjoy, but this is noticeable less sugary than it might be if similarly released in the US. Still a good drink in my opinion and another nice choice for breakfast. 

Tango Dark Berry Sugar Free

Another Tango flavor makes its appearance. The last flavor featured was their flagship orange soda. Here I've found a bottle of what they've named "Dark Berry", which is really more of a black currant. The UK is pretty wild about black current flavored everything, from drinks to jams and more. Probably the most well-known is a competitive beverage named Ribena that is ubiquitous in shops around the UK. 

The can did not release a great deal of carbonation upon opening. Opening it released a pleasant smell like that of black currant jam. Noting that this is a sugar free soda, the sweeteners listed are sucralose and acesulfame. It actually tastes like a rich jam as well. For those unfamiliar with black currant, its like a robust grape; very deep and definitely keeping with the black currant flavor profile. I find this to be quite nice to drink. 

M&S Very Interesting Cola

Found this bottle in the Marks & Spencer Foodhall on my recent trip. Marks & Spencer is an upscale retailer with everything from clothing to beauty products and food items, similar to Target in some ways but more posh. 

I find the scent to be smooth but not a strong cola scent, with the tiniest hint of vanilla in the background. I don’t get the impression of much carbonation just by hearing the cap open or seeing any bubbles in the drink. A draw from the bottle presents a little bit of carbonation, but not that much. The cola flavor is seriously lacking in my opinion. It’s very subdued and I think the Madagascar vanilla is tainting the flavor. This soda isn’t very pleasant to me so I recommend a pass. 

Paisley Drinks Ginger Beer

Launched in 2018, by founder Brian O'Shea, Paisley Drinks produces craft sodas using unrefined sugar and are listed as being gluten free and vegan friendly. The sodas are produced in Paisley, a town to the West of Glasgow in Scotland. I wished I had been able to find some of their other flavors on this trip.

There is a very pungent ginger aroma. Each sip has an almost medicinal quality to the level of ginger flavor. It’s very strong. The liquid is clear, but lightly cloudy, not golden in color. While the taste is bold it is less "fiery" than expected. Many ginger beers can be almost hot when sipped. This one is very strong but tolerable, unlike some ginger beers I’ve had. So if you like ginger beer but want something a little easier on the palate give this is try. Being a smaller label though it may not be found outside of the Northern UK. 

Tango Orange

Tango has been around since 1950 in the UK and Ireland. Although I've had this before on previous trips to the UK, it struck me that I hadn't done a post on it. The beverage group Britvic has owned Tango since 1987. While orange is the go-to flavor for Tango, over the years they've added some additional flavors as well.

This soda is not to be mistaken for some more common orange sodas. I find it has a bit of an orange zest flavoring to it while simultaneously tasting just a touch chemical in the way that Sunny D beverage does. However, unlike Sunny D which pretends to be orange juice, this orange soda is drinkable. I actually picked this up at the station with a bit to eat for breakfast and enjoyed it. 

Fentimans Rose Lemonade

Rounding out this spate of lemonades, I'll be tasting this rose lemonade. Fentimans began back in 1905. I enjoy finding their sodas because they do a great service to the classic era of sodas when the Victorian Age pushed their creation through quack health marketing in pharmacies. In addition, Fentimans actually brew's their sodas rather than just mixing chemicals with sugar. 

This lemonade is made with lemon juice, fermented ginger and rose oil. As I usually do when I open a bottle, I place my nose over it and inhale deeply. Smell is deeply associated with taste. When I smell this bottle I immediately feel like I've opened a 150 year old armoire in an antique shop. It has hints of cedar, ginger. The color is a very light pink as well. It has an usual taste as well, tart and pine-like. Like some of their other flavors, the fermentation process lends it a tiny kick as though it was alcoholic, but it is not. I've not tasted anything with rose oil before so am not sure what to make of it but it does not taste like any standard lemonade you'd expect. I welcome you to try it out.

Fentimans Victorian Lemonade

Continuing in a recent series of lemonades, we move on to another of Fentimans sodas. Regular visitors will have seen several flavors from Fentimans over the years I've been writing this blog. 

While not heavily carbonated, this doesn't smell like lemon. It has a sweet citrus scent but more reminiscent of pineapple. This lemonade is made from fermented lemon with some ginger and herbal extracts. It certainly taste fermented. It is very sour and tastes as if it were spiked with vodka. My mouth is watering from the tartness it delivers. It isn't unpleasing, though I doubt kids would like it unless you notice they have a real penchant for sour candies. I'm not going to pass judgement on this one and just say that it's worth a try to see if it's for you.

Barr's Originals Dandelion & Burdock

Barr's Originals is a lineup of old fashioned recipes from the A.G. Barr company. Although a large company today, it was started by Robert Barr in 1875. The company began in Falkirk, Scotland, a town a little north and halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. They soon grew to have a position in Glasgow as well. Barr's started selling Irn-Bru in 1901 and is still a Scotland original available in the UK. In 1959, the Glasgow and Falkirk divisions merged. In 2012 there were plans for the company to merge with Britvic, but those plans later fell through.

This is only the second dandelion and burdock soda I've found and the last one I had was long enough ago that I don't really recall the taste. For those who haven't read my previous post about this flavor... yes, dandelion as in the weed. Burdock is a type of thistle. Dandelion and burdock is one of the oldest flavors of soda so just getting to taste it should be considered a bit of a rite of passage. 

The smell is light and airy with a tiny bit of anise. The carbonation is moderate, but the flavor is like that of a chicory. The tongue has a different concentration of taste receptors in different areas, so I sometimes taste a soda by holding it in my mouth in different areas. With the front of my tongue I taste virtually nothing. The front of the tongue is strongly associated with sweetness. When I move the liquid to the the back of my mouth the areas associated with bitterness and sour come alive. The odd root-like taste of this makes the mouth water though. I personally don't care for the flavor, but I do recommend that fans of soda at least try it.

Fentimans Cherry Tree Cola

Fentimans has been featured on my blog many times as I work my way through their catalog. Read more about their history in one of my earliest posts here.

This bottle has a delicious ginger aroma when I pop the cap off. If I closed my eyes I would think I was in a Christmas shop. The flavor is less cherry than potpourri in a bottle. The flavor isn't amazing, but the scents sure are. The drink looks positively flat until it's tipped, but has just enough carbonation to make it alluring. Thankfully, they've balanced the ginger to keep it from overpowering the rest of the herbs and not to burn like a ginger beer. Again, I think the best think about it may be the smell. I'd like to get some more of this around the holidays. Definitely try a bottle of this for yourself if you can. 

Fentimans Ginger Beer

Fentimans is an old UK brand that I've featured before. There's a little more about their history on an earlier post. And from what little direct contact I've had with them, they've been very cordial. I really enjoyed the funny Victorian themed cards and the novel Quaffer they sent me.

In the interest of full-disclosure, I'm not a fan of ginger beers. I find them to be too strong and usually have a spicy heat to them. This particular ginger beer smells very much like a fragrant evergreen tree. Fentimans includes juniper, speedwell and yarrow with their ginger beer. Speedwell is a family of perennial flowering plants. You can certainly feel the presence juniper adds to this flavor as well. Yarrow has a long history of herbal/medicinal use as an astringent, diaphoretic and used to treat topical wounds. These ingredients fall very much in line with Fentimans traditional brewing of old-world sodas. All that said, it's still a strong flavor that brings a slight burning sensation to the back of my throat and isn't for me.

Fentimans Curiosity Cola

This is the second variety of Fentimans to grace the blog. Fentimans fills a niche of old world sodas, owing to its historical beginnings and old world brewing recipes.

Due to their trend towards more ancestral flavors I'm half expecting this to taste more like the early cola beverages of the late 1800's. But with a qualifier like 'Curious' anything is up for grabs.

The aroma from this bottle is very rich. This is the type of smell I'd expect from a turn of the century soda counter in an old pharmacy to smell like. Likewise the taste owes much more to a kola nut than modern colas. It's commonly known that the sense of smell and taste are closely linked, which is why people commonly make analogies of tastes to things they would never touch their tongue to, but I can say that the taste transports me to any number of antique stores I've walked through with their stale air and aging wood, paper and metal items. Because most brewed beverages obtain their carbonation from natural processes I'd venture to guess that's why it has a light carbonation with small bubbles. I think this would be a great cola to drink while also enjoying an old world meal like a dinner of haggis in Scotland. Perhaps the next time I'm in Glasgow I'll make my way back to the Drum & Monkey with a bottle of this to give it a go.

Red Kola

Barr, which also makes Irn-Bru, produces this beverage typically found in the British Isles like their other drinks. I was expecting a cola flavored drink with a touch of cream soda taste added. Rather this is a pink/red colored liquid closer to the red cream taste of Big Red. But it's cheap and found in manly places around Scotland so of course I had to give it a go.

Fentimans Dandelion & Burdock

Fentimans is a UK based beverage company that began in 1905. Interestingly it was not started by Thomas Fentiman, rather he provided a loan to a fellow who began making brewed ginger beer and Thomas took ownership when the loan was not repaid. An interesting way to enter the beverage industry. The company was shuttered in the 1960's due to market competition but was renewed by Thomas Fentiman's great-grandson in the 1980's.

Dandelion and Burdock is a brewed botanical drink dating as far back as the 13th century. See the entry on Moxie for more historical information on sodas. These early "soft drinks" were naturally carbonated due to the brewing process of their ingredients and similar to other "antique" sodas was created from various root extracts.

No one that grew up with a yard in America needs to be told what a dandelion is or that we consider it a weed... an unwanted pest in on the lawn our parents would sometimes pay a bounty for us to remove. But did you know that for all our efforts to remove them, it never had to be that way because the dandelion is not a native American plant. It was imported from Europe to be used as a food ingredient and to provide food for honeybees. The leaves of the dandelion are rich in vitamins and minerals and have been used for centuries as a diuretic.

Burdock is a species of thistle, and rather odd looking if I may say so. The flowering heads turn into a sort of cross between the fluffy, seeded dandelion and what looks like the burs produced by sweet gum trees. It was the burs of the burdock plant that inspired the inventor of velcro. Burdock too has been used for centuries as a natural diuretic and blood purifier.

So what flavor am I to expect from my first tasting of this classic beverage? Let's see...  For starters, it has only a light carbonation and a strong smell of licorice from the aniseed included in the ingredients. The best way to describe this drink would be taste of black licorice with the leafy flavor of tea and carbonation of a soda. It's quite unique and a tad strong on flavor. I'm not sure how soda ever became popular with flavors like this, but that's why they have their origins in the pharmacies. I can see how someone would put up with certain flavors if they were told it was good for their health... just look at some of the medicines we consume today. The licorice isn't too bad, but I suppose you'd have to be a tea drinker to enjoy it or perhaps be raised on the stuff. I find it tolerable to sip at, but this is not a drink that will be a regular with me. If you feel brave, try a bottle for the experience.