Squash, in general is a good concept. Take a small dash of concentrated fruit essence, add h2o of the common or mineral variety, serve ice-cold for the perfect combination of flavour and refreshment. Juice is good, but a) it’s expensive and b) sometimes it makes you more thirsty than when you started.
However, not all flavours work as a squash or cordial. Orange and lemon yes. Blackcurrant definitely. Apple… well, I’m inclined to say no, but then again, combine Apple with Blackcurrant and you’re back on to a total winner. Whose idea was it to add barley? Who knows which concussed lunatic decided to throw a cereal crop in, but whoever they were, they had genius on the side of madness and get a fruit-based medal. Lemon barley rocks!
So, what about Robinson’s Apple & Pear flavour, which I was forced to pick up from the shops due to a mixture of boredom and foolish risk-taking? We have already established that Apple is a recessive flavour in the world of squash so does Pear – lets face it, a pretty damn tasty fruit, but prone to quick-turning to mush – turn this drink to flavour gold and what is the impact of adding fizz?
Ok, well firstly, no, I can answer that Robinson’s Apple & Pear (with added Barley) is a pretty disturbing flavour. Very sweet to the point of sickliness and with an after-taste like a bad fruit gum. Robinson’s usually do a good job of producing pretty natural tasting drinks, but seem to have thrown the rule book out of the window on this one, going for a crazed and pretty unpleasant mixture of pear drop sweets and sugar-water. I can’t detect the apple in it, but two glasses down, this may be because I have lost the will to live.
However, having tried this flavour in both still and carbonated form, I definitely feel the fizzy version is an improvement. The fizz helps to temper the sweetness and the bubbles temporarily fool you into thinking you are drinking a bottle of tasty Lucozade. A super fizzy version can almost be counted as refreshing. It has an almost medicinal quantity.
Well, almost, but not quite and in fact, who am I kidding. This flavour is rank. The after-taste alone is pure evil distilled into drink form. It’s not SodaStream’s fault, fizz helps, but does not save and really it should be banned. Does anyone want a half-finished bottle of syrup?
