Curiously wonderful cola (Fentimans Curiosity Cola)

Member Name: bagoproverbial

Product:	Fentimans Curiosity Cola
Date:	04/10/07 (216 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very different- beats Coke- beats any other cola

Disadvantages: Expensive, not that easy to find everywhere

One day back in 2003 I was wondering through my local Waitrose store when I chanced upon Fentiman's Curiosity Cola, sitting on the shelf in its nice old-style little glass bottle. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I am occasionally a sucker for olde-worlde packaging, so instead of thinking "Oh look, another marketing scheme preying on people's inability to contain their feelings of nostalgia" I actually (being quite bored) thought, "Oh what the hell" and bought a bottle of it.

It's not cheap (yes, I shop in Waitrose- so I wasn't expecting it to be). The 275ml bottle cost 99p (Waitrose had a promotion back then where you could get 2 for £1.50 but that's still not amazingly cheap...) so I thought I'd better take the time to savour it. I suppose at least it was glass (back then, round here we could recycle glass bottles but not plastic ones- apparently).

It's essentially an old-style cola bottle. It has a crinkly metal cap just like those beautiful old glass Coca-Cola bottles (was there ever a better-looking drinks bottle than that?). You pull it off, it fizzes gently (as opposed to Coca-Cola which, if not handled with due care and attention beforehand, can go completely rabid when it smells the outside world) and it makes about two small glasses or one and a half medium ones.

It's fizzy but not too fizzy, and it's worth upending the bottle or shaking it gently (GENTLY he said... backing away) beforehand to make sure the ingredients are mixed properly (what with it being a "botanical" preparation).

Now what really makes this cola is the supreme taste. when I first tried it I was truly taken aback. My initial thought was "My God, it's just like those cola bottle chewy sweets I had at school". And it is. It has a strong, pungent, classical cola aroma and taste, and it's absolutely divine.

My only quibble really is that the people who make this drink don't seem to do it in larger bottles, which might make it more affordable. (And I have written to them to ask). Still, that has nothing to do with the taste and the quality of the drink, which is superb.

Maybe it wouldn't taste quite as nice in a plastic bottle anyway. Coke always tastes better in that nice little glass bottle- don't ask me why or how, it just does.

There isn't a lot more to say about it really (it is just a small bottle of cola after all- nothing more, nothing less), except to add that like other colas it goes well with lemon or lime (I haven't yet tried it with Southern Comfort although I expect it goes very well) and is of course best served ice cold.

Probably the best way to prepare it (in the summer anyway): add some ice cubes to a tall glass, some slices of lime, and top up with Fentiman's Curisoity Cola.

Recommended to everyone, especially as an occasional (or more than occasional) treat.

Summary: Wonderful drink and recommended to everyone