Abstinence Blood Orange Non Alcoholic Aperitif distilled in South Africa – 75cl

Spurred on by the results of a protracted period of experimentation that started at Christmas (it's May as I write this!) we've spent the last few months in this house trying some of the wackier alcoholic offerings available on Amazon (peanut butter Sheep Dog/various bitters/lemon sherbert vodka liqueur, you name it...).Sadly for my waistline and my pocket, most have been WAY MORE than palatable as a result of which I really needed to find something that delivered the joy but without the alcohol and the price-tag, all these months later. This product was that thing. At £10:99 it was certainly cheaper, but would it deliver on the taste front enough to satisfy this out and out Foodie? Well, yes, absolutely it did.The syrup is thinner and less sickly sweet than feared (yay!) but without meaning to put you off in any way it looks for all the world like a bottle of pee due to the pale yellow, everso slightly cloudy, look of the stuff, which is doing it a HUGE diservice! Don't let that put you off or you'll be missing out.The label is quite attractive and features all the botanicals which the AI gizmo on here advises includes lemon, blackcurrant (the leaves I suspect, as there's no trace of the fruit here), aloe and African wormwood. Coz it looks pretty a bottle of this stuff would make quite the acceptable gift if you were so minded, I think.All those botanicals makes for a satisfyingly adult bitter, but refreshing, kick. I mixed it with a squirt of Jif lemon ( I know, I know......!) and topped it up with plain old fizzy spring water. Delish!The ingredients are water, cane sugar, those aforementioned botanicals, natural flavouring, quinine, citric acid, beta carotene for colour, caramel and two preservatives - sodium sorbate and sodium benzoate. I normally try and avoid too many E-numbers and nasties but in this case I would happily put up with the preservatives to have this again - soon. It's vegan friendly too, apparently..

Great alcohol-free Campari/Aperol substitute. Makes a lovely long aperitif with slimline grapefruit tonic water: excellent substitute for the real thing if you’re watching sugar/calorie/alcohol intake but need a drink after a long day!

Despite other reviews I found this rather nice. A bit sweet but still has a kick so good with tonic and slices of lemon.

I was after a non-alcoholic substitute for Campari and this is exactly what I wanted.It still has that bitterness and sweetness and goes very well with soda water.This is now my favourite soft drink! Will be buying a lot more of this.

Great that it’s non-alcoholic but it’s too sweet, imo

Honestly this was completely grim! Purchased as a shot substitution for Limoncello for wedding guests who were under age or non-drinkers. It was frankly un-drinkable. Hideous. Hateful. Vile. I would not recommend this. Ended up using lemon barley squash instead.

Tastes ok but will stain your glass!

We’ve all been there. The alarm clock goes and you repeatedly hit snooze until you can muster the energy to pull yourself out of bed. It wasn’t even a late one. Just a few beers after work, but by the ripe old age of 27 things are already starting to creep up on you. I stumbled across this though and was genuinely blown away. Firstly, it tastes incredible. Arguably even better than an actual aperol when served with tonic, and why not, throw a slice of orange in too for additional flare. You’ll have a professional cocktail grade drinks in your hands in under 20 seconds, saved a fortune on beers as it’s in fact incredibly good value, and no midweek hangover. Result! I’ll definitely be stocking up for Christmas! Amazing purchase!