Saturday, May 09, 2009

Refreshing Cola News

In a new and stunning Cola development I've now sampled a rather fine bottle of "Fentimans Curiosity Cola" which is so posh it has no need of punctuation. This was very kindly given to me by fellow blogger John Anglis - appalled as he was to see that I'd subjected myself to an M & S own brand.

Now, Fentimans is clearly an upmarket tipple replete with ye olde labels, the proud proclamation that it has been "botanically brewed" and the requirement to shake the bottle before drinking (tip: do not do this with other brands of Cola unless you are in need of an impromptu soaking).

I was also intrigued by the insistence that it would have no more than 0.5% proof. I should think not. I'm an abstemious sort when it comes to Colas so I like to know that I wont be belching up anything alcohólico.

This Cola was certainly an improvement on the M & S version. You can certainly taste the E numbers doing their tasty work. E150, E338 plus "Cola flavour 9594". Allow me to reassure you this is the very finest "Cola flavour 9594" available on the market today.

It still tasted of vegetables, which is a shame, though in a slightly more tangy way. You can really detect that fermented ginger root extract the moment you put your lips to the bottle.

I'm not sure it actually lived up to the label's claim that it is a drink that is "curiously envigorating" [sic] but you do know you're drinking something special whilst chugging it down. Something to be sipped rather than guzzled I suspect. All in all 8.7 out of 10 I think.

5 comments:

Gary Dunion said...

I am firmly of the view that a good cola should have nothing natural about it. Fentimans lemonade, on the other hand, is superb.

Jon said...

Not sure if you've tired Ubuntu fairtrade cola yet. I found it at last year's Big Chill festival and again at Scottish Green Party conference, but I've yet to see it in the shops. You can buy it online, but I can't get my head around mail ordering a can of pop...

Because Ubuntu is also a flavour of linux I keep getting this confused with the open source cola which I've read about but never tasted.

Happy tasting!

Magnus said...

One of the key ingredients to cola is "essential citrus oils". I know this because a friend of mine and I made "Chai Cola". My idea his chemistry. Sadly, he took his "personal" chemistry too far and went bonkers.It tasted good, actually. We made one batch without colouring.
The point is that it should not be too hard to come up with a solid cola without resorting to black carrot and hibiscus.
Just tried Irnbru over here. Bleah.

Magnus said...

I seem to recall vanilla is another key flavouring ingredient as well.

James Atkinson said...

Fentimans for the win!