Despite the recently lovely weather, there has been a very unseasonal cold/flu bug doing the rounds where I live. It seems to start off with a sore throat before moving on to the chest, so when it first arrived in our household I decided to pop out and get some Strepsils, as I have always found them to be very good in the past for helping with the discomfort of a sore throat.


I hadn't purchased this particular variety of Strepsils before, and will confess that my primary motivation for selecting them this time was that they were on special offer in our local Numark Chemist for £1 a pack, whereas the other flavours were still full price! As the active ingredients of 2,4-Dichlorobenzyl alcohol and 0.6mg of Amylmetacresol were the same across the range, I decided that I would give this variety a try, particularly as we are a family of 5 who cannot seem to agree on the other flavours, some preferring the cherry and others the honey & lemon, so I hoped that this new flavour might appeal to all of us!


I must say on the flavour and suitability for everyone front I was very pleasantly surprised; I had worried a little bit that the youngest of my daughters (6) may find a "spiced" medicine not to her taste, but in fact she really liked the flavour and the only problem I did have was ensuring she didn't take more than she should as she liked them so much! The flavour reminds me personally of a lightly spiced fruit crumble; it definitely has a fruity edge to it along with a sort of cinnamony taste, but the taste is really very subtle and not at all overpowering. When you first pop the lozenge into your mouth it does to me have a very slightly waxy flavour, but these disappears within seconds and isn't really unpleasant, just a little odd; it reminded me of "cherry drops" sweets we used to have as kids, where they seemed to have a very similar thin waxyish coating which took a few seconds to go before the cherry flavour came out!


The active ingredients in these are very good, numbing and soothing but not to the point of it feeling like your throat is completely numb, just enough really to take the pain away. The warming sensation is moderate but definitely noticeable, and does seem to make my throat feel a little "clearer" and less like I have something lodged in my throat! It takes about 15minutes for the lozenge to completely disappear, but I found the slight numbing lasted a lot longer than this, around 45 minutes at least.


The lozenges are packaged in "blister packs" inside a cardboard outer box, which is handy as you can easily cut a strip of 3 from the main pack to pop into your handbag if, like me, there is so much other stuff in there that space becomes a premium! The lozenge format is also very convenient to use on the go, as well as at home, with no mess or stickiness everywhere unlike some other cold and flu remedies! The lozenges are suitable for anyone over the age of 6 (provided you are not allergic to any of the ingredients, clearly listed on the pack), which is also fantastic for me as it means I can cover my whole family with one pack of medicine rather than having to have several varieties to suit different ages.


Overall I would say this is an effective, affordable medicine suitable for most of the family, and a great standby to have in the cupboard for when those sore throats strike, as they have around a year before they expire from date of purchase (although obviously this depends how long wherever you purchase from has had them on the shelf!)