Mojitos
Captain Morgan white rum mojito
250ml, £2, ocado.com
Wow! A good balance between acidity, sweetness, mint and alcohol. A really delicious mojito. Multi-layered, I’m even getting the caramel rum flavour. My favourite by a mile.
★★★★
Authentic Cocktail mojito
250ml, £1, morrisons.com
This has an overwhelming minty flavour, very sweet. It has a natural mint flavour, though. Not enough acidity and I can’t taste the alcohol.
★
Marks & Spencer mojito
250ml, £2, marksandspencer.com
This feels more alcoholic than the rest, and lacks acidity. Really boozy. Good rum flavour, though … rum and caramel are the overriding flavours.
★
Bacardi mojito
250ml, £1.80, ocado.com
Urgh! Is this a mojito? There’s nothing mojito about it. It has an astringent mint-like flavour. I can’t taste the alcohol.
★
Sparkling rosés
The Uncommon bubbly rosé
250ml, £5.99, selfridges.com
Dry and sharp. Very pale, with a nice fizz. There’s a white wine tinge to the flavour. My favourite of the bunch.
★★★★
I Heart rosé frizzante
200ml, £2.25, sainsburys.com
It’s got very fine bubbles, it’s very viscous. This tastes the most refined and big-bodied of the bunch ... it tastes expensive.
★★★★
Castellore rosé frizzante
200ml, £1.69, aldi.co.uk
Very berry ... strawberry and apricot notes. Rounded, with body. But it has an iron aftertaste, almost like the can.
★★★
Una rosé
200ml, £2, asda.com
Dark in colour. Very sweet. It’s like it has a slight vanilla tinge to it. Big rosé flavour. It’s got very big bubbles, tastes overly carbonated.
★★
Rosés
Mirabeau pret-a-porter rosé
250ml, £3.49, waitrose.com
This has got the lightness I look for in a rosé and something interesting going on behind it. This is quite nice. Seems alcoholic for a rosé, though.
★★★
Vandra malbec rosé
250ml, £2.50, sainsburys.com
Really watery, it doesn’t taste of anything. This would be OK over ice. It’s not exciting, but a rosé everyone wants to drink.
★★★
Maris rosé
250ml, £2.80, waitrose.com
I am really getting the can flavour, it’s a strange, overwhelming taste on the first sip. Insipid, bitter. I’d almost put this in a cocktail. It’s characterless, no va va voom.
★★
Nice pale rosé
250ml, £2.80, sainsburys.com
This is really acrid, very tinny tasting; it almost tastes like blood. I hate it ... I winced when I tried it.
0 stars
Gin and tonics
Sipsmith Gin and tonic
250ml, £2.75, ocado.com
This tastes like a solid pub G&T. This is something I would buy. It’s got sweetness and body, it’s dry but not drying, and there’s citrus, too.I’m getting the traditional London gin flavour.
★★★★
Alfie gin and tonic
250ml, £1.50, morrisons.com
This has a lot of flavour ... it’s acidic, there’s a lot of citrus and a good balance of sweetness. It has a citrus-elderflower backbone ... a nice flavour that is the sweet fruit side of herbal, rather than herbal-floral.
★★★
Marks & Spencer gin and tonic
250ml, £2, marksandspencer.com
Smells more of gin than tonic … the aroma is juniper over everything else. I’m getting tannins from the quinine. It will do for a quick drink on your way home.
★★★
Gordon’s gin and Schweppes tonic
250ml, £1.80, ocado.com
I’m not getting much smell from this. It doesn’t taste gin-y at all. I can’t tell if it’s got anything jazzy going on. A very sweet gin and tonic … lemonade-y almost. Definitely been masterminded for someone with a sweet tooth.
★★
Gin and diet tonics
Tesco gin and reduced calorie tonic
250ml, £1, tesco.com
It’s got a real citrus backbone to it. Definitely got the dryness … a really crisp flavour. I like the quinine and juniper. Nice.
★★★★
Sipsmith gin and light tonic
250ml, £2.75, ocado.com
This tastes the most alcoholic of the lot, a lot more quinine flavour and dryness than the rest. I like this, the flavour lingers. It’s a decent gin and tonic.
★★★
Sainsbury’s gin and diet tonic
250ml, £1, sainsburys.com
Really fizzy, fine bubbles hit your throat before your palate. Maybe a bit alarmingly fizzy. Inoffensive, it’s not giving me any kicks.
★★
Greyson’s dry gin and diet tonic
250ml, 85p, aldi.co.uk
It’s really lacklustre and is certainly a diet product … it tastes like sweetener to me. It’s not got much going for it. It just tastes like a sweet, slightly alcoholic drink.
★
Pink gin and tonics
Marks & Spencer Think Pink gin and tonic
250ml, £2, marksandspencer.com
This is dry, there is acidity and a gin hit. It’s got that bittery-sweetness, with a tiny bit of fruit at the back. Head and shoulders above the others, more adult in flavour.
★★★
Greyson’s premium dry gin and tonic
250ml, 85p, aldi.co.uk
I feel like I’m on the dancefloor of a trashy nightclub … it’s not classy-tasting, but is certainly not as sweet as some others.
★
Alfie pink gin and tonic
250ml, £1.50, morrisons.com
It has an OK quinine flavour. It’s still very sweet, though. I can’t taste the gin, although there is an alcohol flavour at the back. Pretty disgusting.
★
Gordon’s premium pink distilled gin and tonic
250ml, £1.80, ocado.com
It smells like the Mr Men ice lollies from the 80s. This is the alcopop for grownups. You can taste the gin for sure.
0 stars
All products are blind-tested
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