(The first in a series of British/Irish Soda Reviews. Cheers!)
Name: Sparkling Ribena or Ribena Spark
Alleged Flavor: "Sparkling Black Currant Flavor Drink"
Actual Flavor: A bit too sweet Sparkling Black Currant Flavor Drink
Color: An unusual pinkish purple
Tasting sample was from: 330 ml. can, poured into glass
Not sure if it’s just due to the lack of exposure in these parts, but I like it when I can get my hands on anything black currant flavored. So when I did raid on the British treats store, I was pleased to walk out with two black currant sodas.
But is Ribena Spark truly a soda? It bills iself as a "sparkling black currant flavour drink", so I say- carbonated + non-alcoholic= soda. You can get all fancy if you want, good people of Ribena, but you’re a soda in my eyes. I’m not about to start a "Jackass Sparkling Fruit Flavour Drink" category.
Interesting notes on the can:
- "Ribena should be enjoyed as part of a healthy diet and active lifestyle" As opposed to all those products geared for an unhealthy and inactive lifestyle
- "This drink is not suitable fobabies and toddlers under 36 months" Um, yeah. It’s a SODA! Do we need to be warned about that? This is like all of those labels on pharmaceuticals…
- "RIBENA and RIBENA SPARK are registered trade marks of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies" Well, that explains all the warnings…
So…the soda then. Carbonation is slightly above average, color is an unoffensive purplish-pink found only in candies, sodas and doll-sized dream houses. The flavor- well, do you know what black currants taste like. To the unware, I’d roughly say halfway between a purple grape and a blackberry, and very "jammy"- a strong, sweet smell that fills your nose. I found it a little sweet, but overall it was nice, good to have a flavor I like that I don’t see every day.
Gavin Edwards, a person I don’t know but who has written some swell books on misheard lyrics and rock and roll myths, wrote an article on England’s carbonated beverages and had the following to say on Ribena:
"a sickly-sweet abomination that disgraces the whole category of liquids. It tastes vaguely like a melted popsicle combined with some NyQuil that’s been sitting behind the mirror for three and a half years; somehow this concoction manages to provide 100% of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C"
I can’t disagree with him completely- I definitely think we were drinking the same soda, except for him, it was the odd product at the corner store. To me, it’s the nectar of some foreign land. It could be better- a little less sweet would be nice. But "an abomination that discraces the whole category of liquids?" Someone needs to send Mr. Edwards some Faygo…
Rating: 6.5 out of 10