Today's Review: Ribena Winter Spice

I was recently sent a nice big bottle of the new Ribena flavour to try out. But this ain't any old Ribena, this is a seasonal Ribena. Forget different fruits, it's time to spice things up, literally. Here we have Ribena Winter Spice, the first Ribena that's designed to drink hot. Now, I can't say I ever used to have hot squash for the vast majority of my life, but I've grown to appreciate it over the last few years. So this sounded pretty appealing to me. A hot blackcurrant spice concoction, oh boy.

This is said to taste a lot like a non-alcoholic mulled wine, but for reasons that escape me I can't say I've tried mulled wine before. I've never been compelled to buy a lot of alcohol in my adult years, and perhaps my parents kept it all to themselves, instead of doing the responsible thing and giving their under age son booze for giggles. That is to say, I can't exactly draw comparisons between this and mulled wine, but perhaps I'll try some out over the festive period and get back to you. 

As it stands though, this is a pretty solid drink. It certainly has a much deeper, richer flavour than your regular Ribena, and it's certainly helped along by the warm temperature. The base is a bold, fruity blackcurrant, very dark and sweet, and certainly delicious. The spices layered on top are a nice touch, there are definite hints of cinnamon and nutmeg that really give this drink a satisfying tingle. It is, perhaps, a little too rich, it does get a little sickly at times, and the spices do sometimes work together to somewhat overpower the fruitiness, leaving an ever so slightly bitter after taste. But I can't say I didn't have a good time drinking this. The weather's getting colder already, and my mood has improved after I've drunk a glass of this over the last few evenings (specially designed hot drink glasses mind you, be safe kids!) This is a great new variety from Ribena that certainly fits the festive period, and it's well worth picking up while it's still around.

My rating: 4/5