The Famous Grouse Whiskey
Price Per Liter: €9.60
Serving: 1.5 fluid ounces
Calories: 100
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 0%, 0mg
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrates: 0%, 0g
The Famous Grouse says: Golden, clear and bright; the colour is a hint of the balance of liquids inside: satisfying malts like The Macallan and Highland Park married with fine grain whiskies.
We say: After waking at 4:45 am to catch an 8 am flight out of Rome, Madrid’s airport seemed a good place to consume something ridiculously American (we had to prep for the US) and poke around in the Duty Free shops. Now, most of us already know that Duty Free shops are a complete rip-off. A box of Baci that’s 9 Euro at the Termini suddenly becomes 12 Euro at the Duty Free shop. The same seemed to hold true for just about every single item we checked out, including Balsamic Vinegar tasting sets, olive oil, and pancetta.
Fortunately, they had free samples of whiskey, something every traveler wishes to consume prior to a 9 hour flight over the Atlantic. I can’t tell you whether or not Famous Grouse Whiskey is fantastic. All I can say is that it is smoky and bright, with a fine amber color. Also, you shouldn’t drink it when your body thinks that it is all of 9 o’clock in the morning. Though, if the folks at Famous Grouse wouldn’t mind sending a sample (or coupon - do they make coupons for booze? Is that allowed?) then we’d definitely like to try it again.
Sainsbury's Vanilla Bean & Honey Smoothie
Price: £1.29
Serving: 250 ml, 8.5 fluid oz.
Calories: 246 per serving
Total Fat: 6.8g
Saturated Fat: 4.8g
Protein: 9.0g
Carbohydrates: 37.3g
Fiber: traceg
Sugar: 33.0g
Salt: 0.3g
Calcium:30% RDA
Sainsbury’s says: Silky smooth wholemilk yogurt blended with rich vanilla beans and golden Argentinean honey.
We say: Yogurt smoothies are the halfway house between food and drink. They fill that low-blood-sugar gap that occurs in the late afternoon and taste delicious to boot. This drink is perfect for a ‘Leave me alone I’m having a moment’ comfort indulgence and should not be shared, even with one’s supposed life partner. Requests for sharing will likely be met with glaring and possibly violence as you defend this ambrosia of a yogurt smoothie.
When Sainsbury’s says their smoothies are “silky smooth” they aren’t kidding - if this smoothie was a human it would be the king of cool, hanging out in swank lounges and chilling with all of the fine ladies. Before you know it you’ll be at the bottom of the bottle wondering what happened to all of that deliciousness. Of course, when we got to that point we had a momentary lapse of sanity and considered pulling out a pair of scissors and cutting apart the entire bottle to lick out every last drop. Yes, we’re that desperate.
As an added bonus, Sainsbury’s went the natural route, using the simple ingredients of whole milk yogurt, apple juice (for natural sweetening and thinning the yoghurt), Argentinean honey, vanilla extract, vanilla beans.
We’re not sure why they needed to point out that the honey was from Argentina because it wasn’t sexy or dressed as a bullfighter. So, does provenance make any sort of difference? The non-Argentinean vanilla provides subtle but still strong flavor, combining with the South American honey to give this a comfort food factor of 10. At 246 calories, the size of a ‘diet’ microwave meal, this is an unfortunately hefty drink, but that’s what we get for enjoying something so unbelievably creamy.
Filed Under Probiotic Bacteria, Vanilla, Sainsbury's, United Kingdom, Smoothies, Five Stars
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Lemonade
Price: £0.99
Serving: 250ml
Calories: 64 per serving
Fat: trace
Sodium: trace
Protein: 0.1g
Carbohydrates: 14.8g
Fiber: 0.2g
Sugar: 12.8g
Caffeine: 0mg
Sainsbury’s says: Lemonade made from freshly squeezed lemons. Sharp yet refreshing.
We say: Summer means summer drinks and you don’t get more summery than old fashioned lemonade. Sadly, society has become accustomed to chemical drinks rather than good ‘ole squished lemons. This drink harks back to a finer age when grandma squashed the lemons from her own back garden. One pleasant surprise in these times of complicated ingredients you need a degree to understand is that this lemonade contains only water, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar and lemon pulp.
Sainsbury’s lemonade is sweet initially (but not sickly), with the sour finish expected in all good lemonades. It reminded us a bit of the aromatic honey and lemon one would use to treat a cold. Plus, we were pleasantly surprised to find they’d not sieved it, leaving the elixir au natural with bits of lemon pulp. Reaching the bottom of the bottle we experienced a refreshing sour shiver from that pulp sediment. Due to the strong flavour this is not a down in one gulp drink - and savoring rather than gulping is the point of this lemonade. It’s only ‘fizzy’ nature is the slight zing from the fresh lemons, so you’ll need to look elsewhere for something carbonated.
Instead of the laborious squeezing of tons of lemons you’d need for decent lemonade Sainsbury’s bottled product really does reach the spot. And the complete lack of artificial sweeteners ensures that the taste is pure and fresh, not the chemical aftertaste found in other lemonades. Too bad it’s not a very large serving and didn’t refresh our thirst so much as make us want to drink 2.
Filed Under United Kingdom, Sainsbury's, Vegan, Lemonade, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Juice Cocktails, Four Stars
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