DECEM - Aperitif 10% Light Spirit made with Botanicals and Strawberries, 10% ABV 70cl, Low Calorie, Serve as a Spritz with Sparkling Wine + Soda Water

This is a mixer drink, recommended for use at the rate of 50ml of this concentrate with 100ml of sparkling wine. So, with 10 per cent alcohol in this concentrate – probably a little less than the sparkling wine you select – the overall effect will be a mixed drink of around 11 per cent alcohol.I chose a French blanc de blanc (brut) sparkling wine that, except that it is not produced in the official Champagne region, is effectively a Champagne. It is a quality wine.And what a shame to add this ‘earthy’ mix to it! Besides strawberries, the ‘Heritage Botanicals’ are Guelder Rose, Wormwood, Rowan Berries, Hawthorn Berries, Red Grapes, Gentian Root, Rhubarb Root, Burdock Root and Fennel.We are told to add a shot of soda to the mixed drink. No, sorry, I can’t bring myself to add soda to a decent ‘champagne’.I’m disappointed not to be able to recommend this product. I had hoped for a similar effect to adding cassis (sweet blackcurrant concentrate) to a white wine – sparkling or non-sparkling – which some would say is itself sacrilege.For the purposes of using up this product without ruining good wine, I find it adds an interesting – and appropriate – taste to stewed blackberry and apple, but that’s another story….More conventionally, I have tried another of DECEM’s products, ‘London Dry’ light spirit. With added Indian Tonic Water, as directed, that makes a very acceptable G & T equivalent. If the idea of ‘Distilled Botanicals’ appeals to you, you might care to consider that.

This is a curious mixed spirit that works on different levels depending on how you approach it.It’s drinkable neat, or with just a dash of soda, where the more complex and floral side of the flavour is more obvious and you can appreciate some of the details. It’s much less sweet than many spirits which list fruit prominently on the ingredients list. It’s decidedly mild, even when neat, almost like a squash.Strangely though, despite not seeming so sweet when neat, when added to wine like the product prominently suggests, it does to turn into a sweetener. A pale wine becomes like a Schloer and a reasonably rich red wine suddenly tastes like you’ve added some Ribena cordial into it. As those comparisons suggest it does suddenly become a drink for the sweet tooth.At only ten percent by volume it’s weaker than many wines, and flavour-wise neat that’s also true. For the best of the bottle our most likely use of it will be neat, it’s our preferred approach to it despite what’s recommended. It will work perfectly well in a shot glass at the end of a long day as an alternative to Bailey’s when we don’t feel the need for something stronger.At the current asking price of thirty quid for 700ml at 10%, if your main interest is the alcohol content then this wouldn’t work out as particularly good value, but that’s not really what this drink is about.The presentation is smart and it looks great on a drinks shelf, with a rich red colour that’s not too dark, matched perfectly by the colours on the rather smart labelling. It certainly has a visual appeal and draws your eye. But even without needing to catch our eye, this was already a bottle that will be staying in the front row of our drinks cupboard.

This is well packed and looks attractive. When opened the smell reminds me of elderberries, a less-than-enticing scent. Three of us had this with lemonade, like Pimm's, before our meal. To be honest, none of us liked it. It has an unusual taste. It's not horrible but it's not nice, though flavour is a personal thing.It's described as 'a light spirit'. At 10% I wouldn't call it a spirit. It's less alcoholic than wine and several times more expensive. It's not good value at just under £30. I wouldn't buy this.

"A Campari cross Pimms complex and moreish bittersweet drink with fruity undertones". So it says.Packaging fantastic and the blurb reads compellingly but the danger of marketing-led companies is that the product really must also live up to the hype. This does not by some distance.I get the quinine (tonic water) after taste but this is rather sickly and the lack of alcohol doesn't lift the indistinct syrupy mix. There may well be a dozen botanicals in there but I cannot pick any of them out or get a feeling that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.On opening. A slightly organic whiff that places this closer to Aunty Gertrude's hedgerow wine than a premium £30 aperitif/liqueur that this price really should justify.Avoid unless you are a shareholder.

This did taste slightly like cough medicine. I can't say i really noticed that it is a careful blend of botanicals as it has an artificial taste and aroma. There wasn't an alcoholic kick to the mouth sensation when drinking this at all.