Älska Strawberry Lime Cider (Aldi @alskacider) By @SpectreUK

Here is a cider that hid itself on a shelf in my beer fridge all of the summer. I'm not much of a cider drinker. I don't mind the odd bottle here and there, and flavoured ciders usually interest me more than regular brands. This Älska Strawberry Lime Cider was made by the Swedish Cider Company. At 4% volume it is a pear cider blended with natural fruit flavourings of strawberries and lime. That sounds like a pretty good flavour combination. I'm sure I've had something similar recently, but I just can't put my finger on it.

Apparently Älska means 'love' in Swedish, so hopefully that's the way I'll feel about this cider. On opening the bottle there was a cheerful fizz that made me smile after a long week at work. Things are very busy indeed and I seem to have a lot of projects on in various stages, which makes time fly by. So I need something refreshing this evening to wash away the work blues on a Friday night. The strong natural smell of strawberries made me think back to warm summer nights, and there was a touch of lime at the back of the aroma to add an extra zing.

This bright almost fluorescent pink cider showed just how strong the strawberries were in the ingredients. On taste the strawberries were ever present from beginning to end. There was a light touch of alcoholic pear cider just underneath that sheer weight of strawberries, and just a dot or two of lime to give the flavour a sour edge as the predominantly strawberry cider travelled into the aftertaste. This is one of those alcoholic drinks I always feel could be mistaken for a alcopop. I can't help wondering what it could taste like frozen in a lolly. Having said that it tastes great. You do need to like strawberries though. And, hey, I'm an adult (sort of) so I can drink an alcoholic pop drink that predominantly tastes of strawberries. So there…!