Ritchie - Grapefruit with a hint of pineapple

intro: a promising little drink; comes in several flavours, along with a Coke clone. it is actually produced in Belgium and contains cane sugar.

taste profile: straight off the bat you get a strong scent of grapefruit with VERY subtle, but present pineapple. the drink is very, very fizzy, to the point where it censors out some of the taste as it invades your senses. the taste: sweet (but not uncomfortably so) grapefruit, with a strong aftertaste of pineapple. the bitterness of the grapefruit is the first impression and it smoothly rolls off your tongue as you drink, leaving behind the chewy, fragrant sweetness of the pineapple. it's really well balanced and it makes sense, as the flavours complement each other well. in fact, there is no "gap" between the flavours, so to speak, and the taste tells a colourful, coherent story (as opposed to most ginger-based drinks, where there is a clear break between the ginger and whatever else contributed to the taste).

rating: 8.5/10. this is great and it really stands out. the only downside would be the stickiness it leaves behind, which may not be a bad thing for some anyway. this drink very narrowly misses the mark for a 9, just because it doesn't stand out as a novel concept. nevertheless, the execution is exemplary.