Lovely, thick and creamy (Horlicks Malted Milk Drink)

Member Name: Munchkin2009

Product:	Horlicks Malted Milk Drink
Date:	22/05/09 (224 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely taste, thick and creamy

Disadvantages: Jar sometimes pops open, fiddly to microwave

Horlicks is a malted hot drink made with milk, which is marketed as the ideal drink for bedtime based on the old wives tale that a warm milky drink before you go to bed relaxes you and promotes a restful night's sleep. I'm not really one for sleep aids as I would rather address the issues that are likely to keep me awake, I do listen to music if I can't sleep though. I tend to drink Horlicks when I am off my food as it contains vitamins and minerals, it isn't a replacement for a balanced diet though. I sometimes have it as a change from tea and coffee as well - especially the Light chocolate one.

Horlicks comes in three different varieties, including the Light and Extra Light which are made with water rather than milk. The latter comes in a few different flavours - I've already mentioned the Chocolate one, but that's another review. The version I'm reviewing is the original one made with milk.

PACKAGING AND SIZES

Comes in a plastic jar with a royal blue lid that you flip open after you remove the bit of wrapping that overlaps the lid. I can't really describe the shape as it's not your typical round jar, It's sort of pillow shaped if you ask me - it certainly stands out on the shelf being such a unique shape. Anyway it features the Horlicks logo, with a picture of a cloud and the moon, plus a sprig of wheat. The strapline is 'unwind for a good night's sleep' up until recently it was 'sleep better, feel better'. On the back of the bottle is some trivia about sleep, and all of the nutritional and ingredients information. It also tells me that I should drink this before bed when I want to relax and awaken refreshed and revived.

For best results, the packaging recommends that you use it within four weeks of opening. I think I can understand why, I had a jar turn into a solid bar of Horlicks that you could easily make a sculpture out of it!

The packaging is recyclable, you may find you will have to take the empty jar to a dedicated plastic recycling place. The 'green box' people in my area don't take plastic as yet, but they do take glass. I must admit that I prefered the old glass jar this product used to come in to be honest as I find the lid has a tendancy to pop open sometimes.

It's made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

AVAILABILITY AND PRICE

Horlicks Original comes in three sized pillow shaped jars, 800g, 500g and the 300g jar that I purchased. I bought mine in Tesco and cost me £1.59. A quick look at the Tesco website shows the 800g jar priced at £3.59 and the 500g at £2.00. The price varies from shop to shop.

SUITABILITY AND ALLERGIES

It's suitable for vegetarians.

Horlicks isn't suitable for coeliacs, or if you have an allergy to dairy products or wheat. It is also unsuitable for babies under one year old and warns that it might contain traces of soyabean.

The Horlicks website also mentions that you may want to avoid/limit consumption of this drink during pregnancy due to its vitamin A content.

MY OPINION

I was introduced to this drink when I was 7 years old, and my first experience with it wasn't at all pleasant. My parents thought I was having problems sleeping, and decided I needed something to help me relax to get a good night's sleep. My mum told me about this malted milk drink and she assured me that it tasted nice, and like toffee. So, the evening came and before I went to bed my dad made me a cup of Horlicks. I took one sip of it, spat it out and poured the rest down the sink - it really was the worst drink ever, it tasted how I would imagine kaoline and morphine would taste if heated up. How could something that was supposed to taste like toffee taste so revolting? Eeeeww!! As for the alleged sleep issues, my parents went back to putting music on for me again. However in my mid/late teens my Grandmother persuaded me to give it another try when I was staying up there once, and I was pleasantly surprised that I loved it that time.

You can make this drink in two ways. The old fashioned way is measure out a mug of cold milk and put it into a saucepan, then put 3-4 teaspoons (I use 5, but that's personal preference) into a mug and mix to a paste with a little water. Then heat up the milk on the hob, and when it's ready stir into the Horlicks paste, then it's ready to drink. I use full cream milk, but you can also use semi or skimmed milk if you wish.

You can also make it in the microwave, by putting the Horlicks in your mug and mixing it to a paste with water, and topping it up with milk and heating it in the microwave for 1 minute then giving it a stir and heating if for another 30 seconds. My microwave is 900 watts so I reduce the time by 10 seconds. For some reason, when I microwave Horlicks it's a disaster. It always boils over and I end up with sticky Horlicks mixture adorning the sides of my favourite cat mug, and a lovely mess to clear up on the microwave rotating disc. Washing the mug afterwards is a nightmare! Also I find when I make this in the microwave it has a tendency to go lumpy with bits of chewy congealed Horlicks powder that gets stuck on my teeth.

It's a pleasant tasting, thick, malty and creamy drink - I do agree that it tastes like a cross between digestive biscuits and malteasers. It does have a sweet taste so you don't really need to add sugar to it that's personal choice, I think it was the proverbial half a tonne of sugar my dad put in the drink that put me off it the first time I tried it.

I do find when I make it on the hob it is nice and smooth. Sometimes with milky drinks like hot chocolate you can end up with that horrible powdery residue at the bottom of your cup, which isn't very pleasant as it leaves the feeling that you've just swallowed a load of sand, which isn't very nice when you want to go to sleep. You don't get that with Horlicks, which stays pleasant right down to the bottom of the cup. I have sometimes had a cup of this at bedtime, but I don't think it is any more relaxing than any other hot drink. I don't typically experience trouble sleeping, but a mug of Horlicks hasn't prevented a restless night when I occasionally get them, and I haven't noticed any difference in quality of sleep from when I have had Horlicks or a normal cup of tea.

The 300g jar will give you roughly 12 mugs if you follow the instructions on the jar to the letter, I get about 9 mugs as I prefer to use more powder. I feel it is a little expensive to drink every day though, but that said I still highly recommend this.

Also on Ciao under member Munchkin2009

Summary: Lovely, thick and creamy