British alcohol I’d never seen (until moving to the UK)

I’d had Pimm’s out of a can, but I’d never actually made a glass myself. For a Canadian living in England, that felt like something I should finally put right. I bought a bottle at Tesco, gathered the fruit and tried it alongside some other British drinks I’d only discovered after moving here.

The Pimm’s was a favourite. The other drinks gave me a much better idea of what I liked, including a way to make beer more appealing and an English wine I really wanted to enjoy but didn’t.

Watch my British drinks taste test on YouTube.

The fruit made the Pimm’s

I mixed Pimm’s with lemonade and added orange and some absolutely monstrous strawberries. Cucumber and mint stayed out because I don’t like them in drinks. I love chocolate mint ice cream, but mint in a glass is too close to toothpaste for me.

I didn’t use ice because we’d gone through it during the recent heatwaves. The things that needed chilling were already cold, so that would have to do.

The fresh fruit made a difference immediately. With my nose near the glass, I could smell the citrus and strawberry, and the lemonade made me think of summer. I struggled to explain the flavour of Pimm’s itself. The closest comparison that came to mind was a British Aperol spritz, although even that didn’t really solve my problem.

At first I said it wasn’t super sweet, then took that back. It was kind of sweet, and absolutely wonderful. I preferred it to the canned version because the fresh fruit added so much to both the smell and taste. Even if I bought a can again, I’d still cut up some fruit to put in it.

Beer I liked more with something in it

I’m usually happy to take or leave beer, but I love cider. Snakebite, which I made with equal parts lager and cider, seemed worth a go. I used Stella and a Strongbow can labelled dry apple cider, without being sure whether it was a different version from the Strongbow I’d tasted before.

The mixture was crisp, tart and refreshing. I couldn’t quite decide whether I was tasting more cider or lager, but the cider made it more interesting to me than straight beer. Would I choose it over a nice local cider? No. I did like it more than beer on its own.

Adding blackcurrant cordial made snakebite and black. That changed the crisp, tart drink into a sweeter one, which was pleasant without knocking Pimm’s off its perch.

The cordial itself was part of the novelty. Back in Canada, we would mix frozen juice concentrate with water in a jug and keep it in the fridge. Squash and cordial were a different habit for me to encounter here. Blackcurrant isn’t usually my first choice either. I tend to choose summer fruits or peach and orange, but I liked this addition.

A shandy was another success. I used the remaining Stella and lemonade, and the result reminded me of Pimm’s. I think the lemonade was responsible for that summer association, the idea of being outside with family and friends, hopefully without rain. It was delicious.

Sweet bottles and one disappointment

Buck’s Fizz reminded me of the mimosas we’d have at Christmas. The bottle I bought contained white wine and orange juice from concentrate, and I found it more sweet than citrusy. It was smooth and very easy to drink. My receipt put it at £2.70 on that shopping trip.

Lambrini gave me a similar reaction. It tasted like lightly sparkling juice, sweet and inoffensive rather than complex. The label called it a lightly sparkling perry, and I realised how little experience I had with perries. I liked it enough to want to try more. That bottle had cost £2.60, ten pence less than the Buck’s Fizz.

The English rosé was the let-down. I’d been talking about how frustrating I found the small selection of English wines in supermarkets. Living in Kent, where I’d taken my mom to a wine tasting the year before, I wished local wine were easier to find.

Then I tasted the bottle I’d bought and found it a little vinegary. I’d chosen one of the cheaper options, £13 with my Clubcard on that trip, but I still didn’t enjoy it. My enthusiasm for finding English wine hadn’t made this particular bottle taste better.

The Pimm’s, though, was absolutely worth making. I’d known the canned drink, but the orange and strawberries showed me why I’d been missing something.