Fentimans & Bloom Pre-mixed Gin & Tonic

Fans of the site will know that I have a penchant fro premixes and it has been a puzzlement to me that no-one had made a very decent pre-mixed gin and tonic so imagine my intrigue when I saw that Fentimans had teamed up with Bloom Gin to make a high-end gin and tonic.

This is bottled in Fentimans standard 250ml bottle and comes with a high-end price tag of £3.99 a bottle (I got mine for a discount to £3.50).

It is bottled at 6.5%ABV which as Bloom is bottled at 40% means the drink is one part gin to six parts tonic.

THE TASTE

CHILLED: OK but too bitter at the end and only a little zestiness. The gin is there but it is rather lost. Part of this is due to the alcoholic weakness of the gin.

WITH ICE: much better with ice but still decidedly mediocre. Not even a patch on a fresh made Bloom Gin and tonic; which can be superb!
Fentimans-wise I'd rather have a chilled bottle of their (non-alcoholic) ginger beer on it's own.

This combination does neither the gin the tonic or the attractive bottle justice.

In Conclusion
To my mind this disappointing product is a waste of time. The gin is not nearly strong enough and it represents poor value for money.

Cocktail in a Can—Finally a tasty ready-to-drink cocktail?

Everytime I write about premixes I mention how I’m curious about them and am always keen to find a hidden gem among a generally mediocre market-place.

Todays feature will look at the Authentic Cocktail Company and four of their flavours. The Authentic Cocktail Company is operated by the Manchester Drinks Company who make a variety of premixes and other ready-to-serve drinks as well as a Champagne alternative and their own fruit cup.

All of the cocktails are served in 250ml cans and “bottled” at 5% ABV.

Mojito
With the distinctive green-blue glow of bitter lemon, this was also quite fizzy. Sweet initially with some rum and then a relatively fresh mintiness with a slightly tart mint-sauce quality, although it sounds very fizzy when poured the extreme effervescent quickly subsides to a gently bubbling.

Pina Colada

Good strong buttery Bounty coconut smell. Very coconut flavour too then some rum and the pineapple juice. For my money maybe it’s a bit strong on the coconut but otherwise a perfectly pleasant, suppable still beverage.

On The Beach

Clearly a Sex on the Beach cocktail but with the offending word removed*.  This tastes pretty much like a Sex on the Beach (although it’s been a few weeks since I last had one!) Quite fruity with the peach coming through and pleasant fruit salad impression. This is refreshing and very easy to drink without any unpleasant cloying or sickly sweetness.

Cosmopolitan

A staple of the premix cocktails market but usually too sweet.

Very smooth and with little presence from the alcohol. This is very easy to drink with hint of strawberry and cranberry coming through and a tart citrus at the end. I actually thought this was quite pleasant and is easy to drink on it’s own chilled, or on the rocks.

In Conclusion
It is true that there is a lot of awful premix/ready-to-mixes out there that bear little to no resemblance to the cocktails they are looking to imitate but I have to hand it to the Authentic Cocktail company they have created a range of very respectable and affordable drinks (all four cost me less than £5) some are better than others but they are all very easy to drink and would appeal to a wide variety of people.

The panel’s unanimous favourite was: Cosmopolitan 


Authentic Cocktail Company Drinks are available for around £1.20 for a can from Asda.



*For a split second I thought “surely no-one has copyrighted ‘Sex on the Beach’” and then realised that was ludicrous idea. It just shows the nonsense I, and many others, have become accustomed to with cocktail trademarking. Looking in the direction of some rum and brandy/whisky cocktails…