Levi Roots Fiery Ginger Beer

There seems to be a real Caribbean vibe to the site at the minute and as an honorary Jamaican, (I have a Bob Marley Best Of compilation, supported the reggae boys in World Cup 98 and throw acid in the faces of my enemies) I thought I’d get in on the action.

A few days ago P-Walk was non-fussed by Levi Roots’ Caribbean Crush and mentioned that the sauce monger had a new Ginger Beer out, and seeing as I have already reviewed a Scottish Ginger Beer this week I thought I’d see what ma Rasta brethren had to offer in comparison.
The first thing I have to mention is that I picked a 2 litre bottle of this for £1 at Poundland, lovely, lovely Poundland. I’m not sure if this is going to be the standard price when it rolls out across the nation or if it is just one of those crazy deals Poundworld seems to have a knack for negotiating, but at £1 for 2ls the pricing is a big plus point.

Packaging wise the bottle is well branded in the Reggae Reggae colours, which makes good business sense but to me personally made it hard to shake the thought that I was just about to drink a chilled pint of Jerk Chicken Sauce.

Drinking a pint of Jerk Chicken sauce might’ve actually made for a more interesting experience.

As a Ginger Beer it does exactly what it says on the bottle ‘Fiery Ginger Beer with Honey and Lime’ and yep it is a fiery ginger beer with a honey aftertaste and a lime kick, but it just doesn’t cut it for me. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is missing, the spice level is generous the honey balances it out nicely and the lime makes for an interesting, although slightly misplaced twist. All the ingredients are there for what should be a great drink but it just doesn’t gel. I think I was just expecting something more. When a drink like this launches, with a high profile name behind it, it really needs to be something special to step out of the shadow of its branding, and sadly this drink is nothing special.

I love Levi Roots, I really do and am a big fan of his guitar playing sauce pimping ways but it seems he has taken a step too far with his move into the soft drinks market. Put some music in my glass? No thanks blud.
P.s My faith in all things Jamaican have been restored by another drink I will review later in the week.

Levi Roots Caribbean Crush

Ahh Levi Roots. What a man. Levi Roots is such a fantastically likeable man that I recently managed to stomach close to 15 minutes of Jamie Olivers new cooking programme just because Levi Roots was on it. Yep he might be the cure for the common Jamie Oliver.

With this in mind you could probably guess that I was pretty excited about the prospect of LEVI ROOT BRANDED SOFT DRINKS. Yeah that deserves capital letters as this was a capital idea from the minds of Vimtos finest.

Levi was brinking out 3 drinks a Reggae Reggae Tomato Juice Drink (and some other juice drinks it must be said), err ok maybe not for me that one, a Ginger Beer (which we hope to have G-PEZ review soon) and one that was right up my alley, so to speak, Carribean Crush. A Reggae Reggae take on Lilt.

Carribean Crush proposes itself to be a tropical blend of mango, grapefruit and pineapple so yeah we're on pretty safe ground to assume we're looking at a Lilt type deal here. Lilt is a mix of Pineapple and Grapefruit so unless we're mangoed up to the hilt here it should be pretty similar.

I opened my nicely branded 500ml bottle and it is nicely branded. It jumps off the shelf at you and I have noticed it getting a little traction with customers locally as I'm seeing the bottles about a lot. More the Crush than Ginger Beer but still it's nice to see a new brand taking off and I think that's largely down to the man behind the brand.

First things first it smells like Lilt it's that tropical welcoming smell. First taste and the carbonation seems similar to Lilt, which is deliberately less carbonated than other Coke products to make the drink seem more relaxed. The grapefruit and pineapple are instantly recognisable, the mango a little less so. The pineapple after taste is strong and rides out well but then you're hit with another after taste one of dissapointment.

It tastes like an own brand version of Lilt. It doesn't feel like it has it's own identity or flavour to it, maybe side by side you could appreciate mango a little bit more but as it is it's feels like an impersonator. The looks there and it all seems right but deep down you know it's just not the real thing.

One thing that has come out of this is though that Lilt are bringing out a new Mango flavour to counteract this, so they've got someone rattled. I think if possible they should see if they can reinvent the flavour a little maybe by adding papaya or blood orange even if just to change the colour and outlook of the drink.

Sorry Levi Roots, I am dissapoint