The Closest UK Taste to Grape Kool Aid (Welch's Purple Grape Juice)

Member Name: Nar2

Product:	Welch's Purple Grape Juice
Date:	05/10/08 (169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong, sweet tasting, delicious scent, good for you

Disadvantages: Price and availability

Ever tried Kool Aid? It's one of America's best loved powdered soft drinks entirely made by fruity additives and perhaps a few chemicals here and there. Although Kool Aid comes in a few different flavours, it's the grape flavour that I absolutely adore! Unless you have a few good friends who make trips to America regularly then there's less of a chance you'll be able to sample this drink. I love their grape flavour because it's full of packed flavour, even though it is largely chemical based. The sugar free variety is simply horrible and should be avoided at all costs because you'll end up putting in about half a bag of sugar to sweeten the darn drink. If you ever hear of anyone saying the closest product in the UK is Ribena, then they are sadly talking a lot of hoof! Why the comparison between the two? Put simply this drink is available in the UK and it's the closest thing I feel to Grape flavour Kool Aid; it is so far away from Schloer and other brands claiming to produce grape juice that the mere taste and scent from this product will have you clambering for more.


This carton is purple in colour, with grapes on the main front and Welch's brand label also in deep purple - it states clearly on the package that this company have been in existence since 1869. The carton is tetra pak in design and carries the Tetra Pak label of which it also states that it is made from a renewable resource. The whole carton is brightly designed using a mix of product ingredient history - Welch for example have been making traditional quality juices since 1869 - for the American market - to ingredient information and other varieties available. Similar to Tropicana's Orange juice cartons, these Welch's cartons all have screw top caps and a security pull ring once the cap has been unscrewed or opened for the first time.


The product claims that is made from 100% concentrate of other grape juices and that it is pure juice. To confirm this, the carton states that 65% has been made from Concord grapes whilst 35% has been made from other grape juices. This is all you will find in the ingredients because nothing else has been added - surely an advantage given most juices these days are seldom just juice! Welch also makes this juice from their own vineyards as well as using Concord grapes which is considered amongst other varieties of grapes, one of the finest types you can find. Fat content is barely 0.0g with 68kcals for the whole carton - so those on diets can gorge themselves freely on this stuff - as I have done! In fact it's quite a surprise that with a product so low in fat content and calories, the carton also states that one glass of this juice provides the recommended daily intake of five fruits and vegetables - a fact that shouldn't go un-noticed since its newest UK advert features gymnasts in purple squeezing into a large glass against orange gymnasts to ram the point home about increased antioxidants.


However the price of this product could be considered to be costly; Per 1 litre carton I paid £2-05 in Safeways although other stores, namely in Glasgow have been found to be slightly cheaper and on trial offers (£1-75 for example at a nearby Tesco outlet!) I haven't seen any other carton size, so I am assuming that this product along with all the other types of flavours available is limited to the 1 litre size cartons.


Compared to other grape juices that I have tried in the past, Schloer being one brand that I used to love as a child, I have found that several brands such as Safeways own brand and St Ivel tend to be bland whenever their juices are lukewarm. To be fair Schloer is fizzy whereas this product is completely still, but whereas most grape juices give off a short timed taste of grape and then filter away to nothing, I find that this juice borders on the sweetness of red wine, with a good body attached whilst there is definitely undertones of Kool Aid Grape flavours, which result in a broad smile across my face! The juice bursts with freshness and ripeness that you can't help yourself to another glass fast enough. When it's lukewarm, or has been allowed to stand in room temperature, the juice tastes exactly the same as it does when it's cold. It's a beautiful combination of fruity grape coupled with an endowed red wine that gives a good kick once the liquid reaches the lips and dances on the tongue. The juice must be refrigerated at all times and once opened, it must be used within 4 days. I also find that this juice is incredibly smooth, particularly if you allow it to swirl inside your mouth before allowing it to flow down your throat in one happy contented swallow. The juice is very dark purple in colour too and I find that there is no bitter aftertaste.


The scent also doesn't give much away if you are looking for additives or anything else - if you don't know what Kool Aid is -there is obviously the scent of sweet dark grapes, but it also carries an undertone scent of the grape flavour so readily apparent in Grape Kool Aid. A scent which seems to be over emphasized in grape and nothing else - and if you're a long time buyer of Yankee Candles and recall the old but discontinued "Vineyard," candle, Welch's Purple Grape Juice smells exactly the same.

Welchs however don't just produce this grape juice alone. In the UK there are other fruit juices they produce as well as fruit drinks such as Purple Grape & Raspberry, Purple Grape & Blackcurrant, Purple Grape & Passion Fruit, White Grape & Peach
and White Grape & Pear. I have sampled the Purple Grape & Raspberry but found that the strong taste of the grape was milder with raspberry and as a result much prefer the original.


I've yet to find a disadvantage with this drink. It's simply one of the best cartons of juice I have come across - Now all Welchs need to do is to bring out a juice to mirror the sweet, fresh taste of cherries that Americans generally know how to bring the flavour out of. Thanks for reading! ©Nar2 2008

www.welchsjuice.co.uk

Summary: A healthy way to get that same Grape Kool Aid taste.