Robinsons have really done it this time (Britvic Robinsons Fruit & Barley)

Member Name: skittle

Product:	Britvic Robinsons Fruit & Barley
Date:	12/11/07 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely drink

Disadvantages: high price

The Fruit & Barley range was first launched in 1994 and is available in a range of No Added Sugar flavours with added vitamins. The available flavours are apple & blackcurrant, citrus, orange, peach, pink grapefruit, summer fruits and my personal favourite, and the subject of this opinion, Strawberry & Kiwi flavour.

I’ve only tasted two flavours from this range so far, the orange, which is very nice, but the strawberry & kiwi flavour is the one I prefer out of the two. That is surprising for me, as I don’t normally like strawberry flavoured drinks, but this one is really lovely. It has a very subtle strawberry flavour, but if I’m absolutely honest, I really can’t taste the kiwi at all. Still, the drink has a really pleasant taste even if the kiwi is a little too subtle.

Fruit & Barley comes in a one-litre bottle, which the label says makes 20 servings. 20 servings is about what I get from a bottle, but obviously the amount of servings it dilutes into would be dependent upon the amount of it you use in a drink, and the size of your glass, etc. If you like your drink very strong it’ll make less, of course. To be honest, though, I don’t think you’d ever feel the need to make a particularly strong glass of Fruit & Barley. The addition of barley to a drink always struck me as a little odd, but it actually works very well, it seems to make the drink a little thicker and smoother than a normal juice drink. Because of this thickening affect I think that if you did make a particularly strong glass of Fruit & Barley you could practically stand a spoon up in it. Still, that must be a bonus, as less juice per drink means it’ll go further and cost you less in the long run.

The fruit juices in Fruit & Barley strawberry & kiwi are from concentrate with strawberry at 5%, kiwi at 3% and apple at 2%. There are no artificial colours or preservatives added, but Robinsons do use aspartame and saccharin, sweeteners that Sainsbury’s have recently removed from their soft drinks and replaced with Sucralose, a sweetener made from sugar that tastes like sugar. Sainsbury’s don’t mention that there is any problem with aspartame, they don’t explain why they’ve decided to remove it at all, but it would surprise me if they’d removed it from their soft drinks for absolutely no reason.

As you can see from the picture above, this drink comes in a clear, plastic bottle. The drink itself looks cloudy in the bottle, unlike an ordinary juice drink, presumably because of the barley. The whole range has no added sugar, so 100ml of Fruit & Barley has only 15 calories, and any sugars in the drink are the natural ones from the fruits and other ingredients.

When you open the bottle of Fruit & Barley you’re met by a sweetly subtle, strawberry flavour. Pouring a measure of the juice into a glass you’ll notice the thickness that I mentioned earlier, although it is only slight. Top up the glass with water and the drink will still be cloudy and a lovely, pretty pink. This would be a great drink for a girly party, made up with lemonade or fizzy water with crushed ice and a slice of kiwi on the side – and perhaps a splash or two of vodka if you’re feeling naughty.

The only problem that would prevent me from buying Robinsons Fruit & Barley on a regular basis is the cost. I’m almost afraid to tell you that a 1 litre bottle costs a whopping £1.09 from Asda and Sainsbury’s. The only reason I purchased a bottle at all was because it was recently on buy one get one free from Sainsbury’s, an offer which is now over. However, Asda produce their own Fruit & Barley drink in orange, grapefruit and peach & apricot flavours for only 58p per litre, and in apple & blackcurrant flavour for 61p a litre. I’ve tried this too, and it’s easily on a par with the Robinsons drink. At that price I really can’t justify paying the extra for Robinsons Fruit & Barley, even if I do adore the strawberry & kiwi flavour.

Summary: I love this stuff, but it's just too expensive