Peach Coca-Cola - Zero Sugar (WH Smiths) By @Cinabar

We don’t usually get that many limited edition flavoured colas from Coca-Cola in the UK. There are the usual suspects like cherry, but the Exotic Mango which I spotted last week was rather exciting. Today I found Peach Coca-Cola and I was pleasantly surprised to see another new edition.
I feel I need to mention sugar here. I know it is a hot topic at the minute, with talk of sugar tax and obesity. Well the Exotic Mango Coke came under the Diet Coke brand, so was low calorie as you would expect. This bottle of Peach Coca-Cola is not branded under Diet Coke, and the label is mostly red which meant I assumed it was full sugar. However underneath the word Peach I spotted the line that shows Zero Sugar, and indeed a closer look at the ingredient label confirms this to be low calorie too. I just couldn’t work out why if you have taken away the sugar they didn’t bread this as Diet Coke. Sugar curiosities aside, I gave it the taste test.
The drink had a gentle Peach aroma as it fizzed in the glass. The flavour was nice, the smooth sweet flavour from the peach worked well with the cola, and it gave it a nice sweet edge. It was fairly similar to the mango edition, but with a gentler finish. As a fan of mango that one is still my favourite, but this was a lovely refreshing and tasty new flavour and one that will be perfect for the summer. I wonder if we will see any other new flavours launching, fingers crossed.

Monin Apple Pie Syrup (Amazon) By @Cinabar

Regular readers will probably be aware that I’m a fan of my flavoured coffees. I’ve reviewed quite a few limited edition drinks from Starbucks and Costa, and some syrups and coffee flavourings too. The most recent purchase was some gorgeous Chocolate Coffee Mate imported via Amazon, but I also ordered this bottle of syrup too at the same time. I’ve tried a few Monin syrups before and they have all been of excellent quality, so when I spotted Apple Pie flavour I couldn’t wait to see what they had done with that particular taste. The bottle arrived packaged in a large amount of bubble wrap in a box within a box, but it is in a glass bottle so I guess it kept it safe.
I made myself a latte and added three teaspoons of the syrup and stirred it into my drink. This is the same amount I use with other syrups I have had from Monin and seems to work perfectly for my sized mug. The flavour was actually a success with the coffee, despite it sounding a bit like a curious match. The sweetness from the pie flavour added a pleasant warmth to the drink, and the touch of spiced cinnamon worked a treat. What took a few seconds to get used to was the tartness of the apple, it was a bit of a strange combination with the coffee and it took me me a few sip to acclimatise to it, after that I really started to like it. I’ve made myself a second latte with this syrup and absolutely loved it from the start, an unusual combination, but one that did exactly what was promised. Sweet apple pie, with a hint of bite and spice all mixed dreamily with my coffee. Next stop, I’m trying this in hot chocolate!

Gosh! Chickpea, courgette and Morrocan spiced bakes - @NLi10

It’s boring to just have plain veggie burgers over and over again, so having things that are a bit similar but a bit different is great.  These are essentially a block of grains and veggies, but all premixed and wonderful.

They are fairly minimal and and packed with enough good things to count towards the mythical t a day.

And they look pretty good too when cooked.

The outside became almost biscuity and had a lovely crunch, the peppers on top were a nice touch. It all worked really well and was tasty and filling too. Something we will be getting again soon.

Heritage Series: Vintage Fine Ale (sold in Tesco) By @SpectreUK

Being a beer blogger has it's perks, although rarely (a little too rare for my liking) on the odd occasion I get sent a beer or two from a brewery (hint, hint). I'm feeling pretty honoured at the moment I must say, as I have been sent two bottles from Greene King's new limited edition Heritage Series. Now folks these are limited edition, not because they're only making a few bottles for the sake of it. Greene King have produced three fields of the near extinct Chevalier barley from a seed bank deep in the vaults. I have no idea what Chevalier malted barley tastes like and not many people in the last hundred or so years do either. Greene King have produced two beers, a Suffolk Pale Ale (I'll try next week), and this Vintage Fine Ale…

Vintage Fine Ale is a mixture of Chevalier malted barley and amber malt, with English hops of Fuggle, Bramling Cross, and Goldings. It certainly sounds like a treat from a classic brewer. From this 6.5% volume ale I'm expecting a rich flavour with hints of biscuit and caramel from the malts and spicy floral fruitiness from the hops. On opening the 568ml bottle there was the biscuity sweet fragrance from the malts merged with the slightly stronger floral hops aroma than the spices and fruitiness at the back of the smell. Wow! On taste this amber ale really has a flavoursome kick. They liked their ale strong in 1825 I can tell you. There is certainly a caramel sweetness to the biscuit amber malt to begin with, then the Chevalier malted barley complements the powerful spice from the hops, mixed with floral hops and undertones of soft fruits. If you like your beer strong this is for you. If you'd like your tastebuds to travel back in time this is for you. If you'd like to drink a beer that you may only see once a blue moon this is for you. Personally I reckon I was born in the wrong century…

New Cadbury Dairy Milk Oreo Sandwich Chocolate (WH Smiths) By @Cinabar

I almost didn’t buy this bar, I was suspicious of the “new” label because I know I have tried Oreo Dairy Milk before, but this bar did look rather different. Once I got it home and unwrapped the bar I have to admit it is a very different bar to the previous one I tried.

The older version had an Oreo style filling, this new bar has actual mini Oreos weaved into the bar with a layer of Dairy Milk through them holding it all together. It does look very smart, and is very different to anything I’ve seen before.

The next thing I tried to do was to break the bar into pieces to share, and this is where I found a bit of a design fault, the bar didn’t break up easily. The mini Oreos made the chocolate break in a very uneven way and was rather difficult to then share out. Still we all grabbed some chocolate bits and gave it a taste test. As someone who loves a mix of textures I thought this bar worked really well. The crunch of biscuit, soft filling and firm Dairy Milk chocolate was lovely to munch on. The flavour too was predominantly chocolatey, and the Oreo taste went really well with it. Sweet and satisfying. It makes a fab afternoon snack combining chocolate and biscuits, what more could you want. It was a pleasure to eat and rather moreish. If they could find a way to make it break into equal pieces for sharing it would then be perfect. Oreos with an extra layer of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate are indeed heaven!