Skittles Crazy Sours Cooler Ice Lollies (Asda) By @Cinabar

In what was a spell of slightly warmer weather I went and had look in the freezer to see what ice lollies we had in and I found this box of Skittles Crazy Sours Cooler Ice Lollies, yay. As a fan of Skittles Sours I was intrigued to find out how that translated to the ice cream section.

So first thing is that these aren’t the most appealing shade of green when they are unwrapped, there is something slightly grey-ish green about them. I have issues with green as a food colour generally, vegetables are fine obviously though. I started off by trying the green ice lolly part and oh my word was it sour! Tongue curling acidic sour that both surprised me and made me smile! There was lime and mixed fruits but mostly super sharp sour. I realised that if you bit into the Skittles lolly you got the vanilla ice cream too and this was the contrast the super sour ice needed to bring balance. The ice cream was good, sweet and had little bits of Skittles sweets that were fun to eat. I was impressed I can get past the colour and take these for a refreshing zingy ice cream treat, they really were Crazy Sour. Here is hoping for another hot day to enjoy them on.

Walkers Nando’s Peri-Peri Chicken Flavour Crisps (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Of all the crisps in the world my favourite ones are chicken flavoured. Of all the chain restaurants in the world my favourite is Nando’s, so I think my love of chicken might be shining through and the idea of the combination of the restaurant and crisp flavour all in one was sounding rather perfect. So these Nando’s Peri-Peri Chicken Flavour Crisps are part of Walkers restaurant range where they are recreating their popular dishes as crisps. We decided to try out the crisps one lunch time with a sandwich and yoghurt. They smelt rather lovely, plenty of spices.

I gave one a try and much to my surprise it wasn’t that exciting. I have no idea how or why. The chicken flavour on the crisps was there, there was peri-peri and something acidic like lemon and they were nice. They weren’t very hot in terms of chilli heat and they didn’t taste like Nano’s Medium of Lemon and Herb just some weird combination of both of those. I can’ possibly say they weren’t nice, they just weren’t special. I found myself eating them wishing I’d picked up a bag of the burger flavour also recently released. Who knew. Spectre too agreed; “they are ok” was his opinion. Seriously folks if you can’t mix my favourite food with crisps and come up with something that I love something has gone wrong. Have you tried them? Were my expectations just too high?

Sip Shack - Sky Juice (@NLi10) @SipShack

A friend of mine has a knack for spotting oddities in his local shops and bringing them to work for me to try.  Here we have a Sip Shack - Sky Juice - which is a fairly vague, still water based drink in a stylish glass bottle.  So cool it doesn't even claim to be a specific flavour, but the fruit circling the lips gives you a good idea.

So far, so intriguing.  Yet - we've seen a lot of cool branding just be water and some sweeteners.

It says to shake it - so I did!

Nice branding & a sleek product gets you to try a lot of things once, but they are basically just water and you never go back.

Not this time though - this is a little bit awesome.

Not only does this drink have a much more sophisticated texture to it - more like a fruit juice than a water drink - the flavours are deep and interesting.  While there are certainly sweet elements there is an undeniable fruityness to it too.  Like a red fruit desert in a high-end restaurant.  This isn't a children's froot shoot then - more like a sophisticated mixer for an epic night out, or the non-alcoholic refreshment at a picnic (if we could still have picnics).

My immediate response was to message said friend and get them to see what other flavours there are.  Seems from their Facebook that they've recently shown up in the usual cash-n-carry places around Birmingham, and for what appears to be a small local firm that's a great step in the right direction.

It looks like they also sell this flavour on Amazon  so if you are looking for something to wow people and you aren't in Birmingham England then that's an option too.  This is certainly good enough to give as a present.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if they can get a few more flavours at this quality then they could become the Fentimans of the none fizzy drinks world.

Ed: Pictures updated 3rd Dec as the drink is usually much more red than the first one I bought! (I've had a fair few now!)

Hop & Stagger Golden Wander Beer (Co-op) By @SpectreUK

No, this blog isn't for a packet of crisps and unfortunately I don't have any of that famous brand to hand to eat with this Golden Wander golden ale. This beer is produced by the Hop & Stagger Brewery, in Shropshire, which is just down the road (almost) from where we live. I do like the name of the brewery. It makes me want to start up a brewery myself and call it the One Step Forwards, Two Steps Back Brewery! Although maybe that's a bit long…

I am getting used to my Friday beer and blog after working out all morning. I guess once I finally get a start date at my new place of work after wrangling with HR, I'll have to change things around a little. Although probably not a lot, as I've paused my gym membership again until January this time due to the dreaded bug and so many restrictions on the place. I understand the 'why', but I don't half miss this sauna and steam room, and the company there. It'd be difficult to mingle with all those people though, what with all the visors and masks, and wipes, and temperature checks. Last time I was at the gym back in early March if you cleared your throat you felt like you'd be pounced on by people in Hazmat suits!

This 4.1% volume Golden Wander golden ale is low enough in ABV to be a session ale and I'm sure it would be a treat for anyone in-between work and gym sessions. It states on the front of the bottle that it has a citrus fruity bitterness and a slightly spicy finish. That sounds pretty good to me. So after chilling the bottle in the fridge as recommended, but not too much as to hide the malted barley and hoppy flavours, I retrieved one of my beer glasses from the cupboard and popped open the bottle.

There was a good deal of sweetness in the aroma of this Golden Wander, and it was packed full of malted barley and wheat. The mixture of malted barley and wheat overpowered any hope of smelling the hops though. This is not a bad thing, I guess, but I'm used to smelling a range of aromas on opening a beer and I found it a little unnerving. A break from the norm is as good as a holiday, so they say, and besides this beer is called Golden Wander after all.

On taste I found the wheat seemed to be fighting against the malted barley rather than working with it somehow. This created a bit of an odd flavour, not bad, but not wholly pleasant either. This made me think I may have left this bottle a little late to drink it, although the 'Best Before' date had another month on it. There was a slight herbal lightly spiced bitterness towards the finish, but I couldn't detect much citrus in the flavour. I must admit and this is definitely rare… I got a little lost in the battle between the malted barley and wheat with this Golden Wander beer. I think I'd rather stay at home!

After Eight: Gin Tonic & Mint (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

This year has been a trial, the area where I live is on the edge of a second lockdown as cases of the dreaded Covid rise. Somehow we have managed to keep blogging, every day we have written about something new or interesting which is quite impressive particularly when you think back to the early days when people were struggling to buy toilet rolls! Anyway this is something quite exciting, not quite enough to forget about the dangers out there but at least enough to bring a smile to my face whilst gaming and snacking on a Friday night. We have a new Limited Edition flavour of After Eight, is there anything posher sounding than After Eight: Gin Tonic & Mint edition. I’m not sure there could be a more middle class chocolate snack if they tried.

The box is beautiful too, it is nicely decorated and even enticing on the inside. The After Eight chocolates are lovely, they are mostly mint and not that different to a regular After Eight, but they do have a gorgeous aftertaste. The flavour is a little bitter, a little citrus sour and a little floral at the end, just so you know you have the different edition. These are nice easy to eat, and true to the original minty goodness. Yum. I think it is important to enjoy the little treats too at times like these. Here is hoping these After Eight: Gin Tonic & Mint edition chocs fuel me through gaming this evening, I have a Call Of Duty Warzone night planned, and may they bring us luck (we need it).