When I was a young lad 'back in the day', I used to get constantly ridiculed by my mates for drinking Lambrini. Whenever there was some sort of house party I would always turn up with a large bottle of Lambrini, whilst all my mates were drinking bottles of lager or cider.
The problem for me was that Lambrini was marketed under the catchphrase 'Lambrini Girls just wanna have fun', which didn't quite fit with my image, but I was prepared to put up with the jokes, as I really enjoyed drinking it.

Lambrini is a brand of light Perry, which was launched in the UK back in 1994 (when my drinking days were just starting). The drink is manufactured in Liverpool by Halewood International Limited. It was and still is available in most supermarkets and off licenses and is quite cheap at around £4 for a large 1.5 litre bottle (which is twice the size of a normal bottle of wine). Although it is not a wine but a Perry, Lambrini is marketed more in the style of a wine than of a traditional Perry or cider. It comes in a clear glass bottle, very similar to a standard wine bottle, and the liquid inside looks just like a white wine.

For £4 you get 1.5 litres, or about 7-8 wine glasses full of a nice refreshing and fruity, sparkling Perry drink, which is 7.5% alc / vol in strength, meaning that if you manage to consume the whole bottle in one night you can really tell you have had a drink!
A full 1.5 litre bottle of Lambrini actually contains 12 units of alcohol, and this was one of my main attractions to it when I was young, the fact that a steady night on this drink would cost me just £4, coupled with the fact that I was never too keen on lager at that age.

Over the years Lambrini have introduced a few other alternative flavours to their range (a few of which I have tried and enjoyed), and today there are a total of eight varieties:

Original
Light
Cherry
Peach
Cream
Bubbly
Pink Bubbly
Bucks Fizz
Still

From time to time I still have the odd bottle of this, and find it ideal in the summer at a BBQ, as it is cheap and easy to drink, and goes down pretty well, but is not as strong as normal wine, and so gives a much gentler hangover the next day.
This is not a classy drink by any stretch of the imagination, and to be fair Lambrini have never pretended that it is. It is simply a nice cheap and cheerful drink, designed to be consumed for fun and laughter.

Overall this is an enjoyable drink that I have enjoyed drinking over the years, and still enjoy from time to time nowadays. For the low price it offers a fresh and sweet alcoholic drink that can be enjoyed especially in the summer, and is obviously best served chilled.
It is marketed towards the female drinker, which is unfortunate for us males that enjoy a glass of it, although it takes more than a few jokes and jibes to put me off anything that I enjoy drinking.


Thanks for reading.

© L500589 2012