Belvoir Fruit Farms - 7 Reviews

Let's get things sorted, shall we. First off, this is a company with a French name, which means “beautiful.” Secondly, it is not a French company, and they actually reside in the United Kingdom. Finally, this is a flavor that leads my mind to not drift to neither France, nor the UK, but instead to the American South. This is something I could imagine being sipped on the porch of a fancy plantation in a time when racism ran rampant. Wait, am I talking about the 1800s, or 2018? Garbage humans aside, this is one hell of a beverage. It's as refreshing as anything on an oppressively hot summer day.
Something about the cucumber and mint gives it an almost pickle smell, but trust me that is nowhere to be found in the taste (as pointed out by recording engineer Jay Zubricky). This is pure luxury in a sipable format. It is mostly cucumber and mint, in a good way that does not resemble chewing gum one bit. I had thought that just being at that point would be wonderful, and the added lemon seemed like overkill, but I was wrong, it adds something wonderful to the mix. It hides around the edges and gives it the little bump it needed to become an ultimate summer beverage.

This smells like a showgirl's dressing room in a retirement home. Let me tell you that would not be a pleasant place to be if such a place in fact did exist. This beverage has the scent of far too much perfume and old ladies. It's horrible, but two be expected when two different flowers are mixed together. Luckily the flavor is infinitely better than the nose on this thing.

The elderflower is the stronger of the two flavors, but there is definitely some rose in the planning hijinks. It's right on the cusp of going overboard and taking things to far. It seems like it's going to just up and throw a pie in your face (that's what showgirls do, right?), but at the last minute it decides better of it, gets ashamed and hides in with the scenery. I'm pretty sure that it's the lemon juice in here that is the moral compass that the drink needs. It keeps everyone in line and brings the best out of all flavors involved.

This is one of those drinks that you are unsure of after a sip, but the more you drink it the more you learn to enjoy it's intricacies. Don't be put off by that smell. Think of all the wonderful things your grandmother did for you over the years, and then forgive the scent, and the unwrapped pocket candies and learn to love it like you love her.

Now I'm sure that rhubarb grows somewhere in the United Kingdom, but will forever be associated with American country living to me. I can't think of a single time in my life where I was offered rhubarb when I wasn't on a farm. Goats, bails of hay, horses, barn cats and rhubarb are all grouped together for me. Oh yeah and don't forget strawberries. Is there anything better then being on a farm and plucking a strawberry from the plant and jamming it in your mouth. Oh man, the tiny ones are so damn good.

Now that I think about it all of the things I've mentioned could very easily exist in England. Maybe I just need to spend less time in the cities there and more in the rural areas. I once spent two days on a farm in Bavaria and it was one of the best experiences in my life. Everything we ate was grown on the farm. I'm talking homemade veggie burgers that were composed of fresh vegetables. Being vegetarian was never so good.

Okay, I retract my statement. I will assume this makes sense abroad, and let it be. I now wish that I had been on a farm over there whilst I was drinking this. Instead I was in a kitchen of a friend's house in Wales. It was a perfectly pleasant place to be, I had a cat and dog around me, but it didn't have the same effect as a farm.

Okay, pondering/complaining aside, this sure is wonderful. It's subtle and the rhubarb isn't over the top (not that I would complain if it were). The strawberry is very present and it's just shy of tasting like fresh fruit, which is quite a feat for a concentrate. I wish I had some bubbly water here because this would make one fantastic soda. It's more than fine with still water, but the bubbles would take it over the top. Now just close your eyes and think of goats as you take a sip.

I've looked it up and elderflower plants thrive in the United States. Why on Earth hasn't this flavor epidemic swept over us? Sure pomegranate, mango and acai are wonderful and all, but I want, nay, I demand companies start releasing elderflower flavored beverages! I don't want to have to rely on trips to the United Kingdom to get my fix, or paying ridiculous amounts of money for imported drinks. Is there some sort of conspiracy I'm unaware of that is keeping the elderflower down? Do we need to march on Washington? Was that statement insensitive? If so I apologize, I am just very passionate when it comes to this specific flavor.

As you may (but probably don't) know I am not a fan of concentrates/cordials. I can never seem to get the ratios right, even when I use measuring cups. They just never taste right to me. I like a consistency to the taste of my drinks that they just don't provide. Yes I know it's something wrong with me and not the concentrates.

The thing with this cordial is that I have experimented and no matter what ratios I put together, it tastes fantastic. I'm making it with still water, and it's not quite the same without the bubbles, but I'm not letting that stop my enjoyment. This is sweet and vaguely floral in the best possible way. I would liken it to lychee if it didn't taste like old lady perfume, but also different enough to make it mouth watering.

Get on board America, the train is leaving without you.

Man, cordials are just not my thing. I understand them, and in theory I like that I could make either still or carbonated versions of the beverage, but for the life of me I just can't get it right. You could give me a hundred attempts to recreate the companies “real” version and I would never be able to get duplicate it to my liking. Does everyone have this problem? Am I cursed in the drink mix world? Perhaps I'm just too damn picky. Whatever the reasons I tend to stay away from them.

I bet that if I purchased a ready to drink version of this beverage I would certainly love it. Making it myself I still enjoyed it, but it left something to be desired. The rose flavoring isn't very floral, which is a good thing. You still get a rose flavor out of it, but the sugar covers it up a bit so it's not screaming in your face. The raspberry on the other hand is nice and strong. This is composed of 55% raspberry juice (30% pressed, 25% from concentrate). Anything with that much raspberry is bound to be great. Unfortunately, the opposite of the rose happens with it and the added sugar makes it a tad too sweet at the recommended proportions. I tried watering it down a bit more, which fixed the sweetness problem, but weakened the flavor of the rose to a level that it might as well not have been there at all.

I apparently need more than a little suggested direction. I need the finished product plopped down right in front of me. Hell, I've never even been able to make Kool Aid correctly.

Here is another company who graciously put together a care package for me during my stay in the United Kingdom. In the early days of Thirsty Dudes we reviewed a bottle of their elderflower presse that we found in a gourmet shop. It was great but it had a hefty price tag, due to it being imported and all (shipping on glass bottle beverages is obscene even in the states, let alone overseas). I was thrilled to have access to a variety of the flavors for my trip. For the most part I found them to be outstanding, this bottle of raspberry lemonade was no exception.

Let me start by saying that sparkling lemonade is very rare in the US, but in the UK it is everywhere. It's nearly as common as cola is over here. Actually I'll say that it's as common as lemon lime soda is here, which is an inferior flavor in every way. Lime on it's own is great, and I've learned on this trip that sparkling lemon can also be wonderful. I can't say that it is my favorite, but it certainly has its charms, especially since it has real pressed juice added to it. If it were just lemonade this would be nothing to scoff at, but that extra juice pushes it in the exact right direction. I mean anything that has pressed raspberries in it has to be fantastic, especially when it makes you feel like you're eating perfectly ripe berries like this does. It's so damn good. Before I knew it I had drunk this entire oversized bottle, which led to a lot of guilt. I dealt with it though and continued to drink an obscene amount of sodas over the course of my trip. I do it all for you our fair readers. Just remember me when I'm huge and diabetic. Help pay my medical bills. I mean it's only fair since I told you what some drinks tasted like…€¦.right?

We're getting a little high class here. This drink was imported from the U.K. The bottle makes it look like a white wine, but fortunately for us it didn't smell like death and decay. It has a weird fruity/flowery smell and taste. It kind of reminds me of lychee, but a bit more floral. I feel like it could accent a meal very nicely, but drinking it on it's own might be a little much. It was a bit pricey at $7 a bottle, but hey it's imported.