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Showing posts from November, 2018

Pomegranate, Strawberry and Basil by Happydown

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When looking at the happy down can, see right, you might think that your in for a craft carbonated cocktail, as it says this in the side. It's obviously targeted at the hipster generation with the moustachioed figure on the front and the labels claiming it to be gluten free and vegetarian. Sadly the liquid inside does not live up to the promise of the packaging. When opening the can you get a hint of pomegranate on the nose. The taste is one of raspberry with a touch of pomegranate and there is a mild herbal note at the end, which I suppose is meant to be basil. But the whole flavour of the thing is completely overidden by its sweetness - it's SO sugary. This is soda with booze, closer to a Smirnoff ice than a premixed cocktail. Maybe this is to do with the fact they are taking fortified wine as their alcohol base, probably in order to cut costs, so no good flavours are actually coming from the booze. It evokes memories of raspberry aid or panda pop, not what you want to

Harry Brompton Peach

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Seeing this delightful peach tea got me really excited. I love iced tea, it's delicious and makes me feel very European. So the idea of a boozy one had a lot of promise, especially since the Lemon flavour has been awarded a great taste award (not a guarantee of great taste but at least an indication that it won't be terrible). Sadly I was a little disappointed.  On the nose this gifts off a strong smell of artificial peach and artificial sweetener. There is a small hint of something else, like watermelon or some other tropical fruit, but it is sadly lacking any tea notes. The peach flavour is relatively light and the tea is somewhat weak as well. The overiding flavor is that of the sweetner, which matches with the bitter tanins of the tea in a way that creates a very odd aftertaste. It reminds me of a sugar free hubba bubba, very much artificial. If I was being objective I might give this a 3, since it isn't a bad drink and if you're used to sweetner then maybe y