Irn Bru 1901

This has been out for a couple of weeks now, but I've only just been able to track down a couple of bottles. I'd started to think that reports of its existence were yet more of the fake news that has so come to plague our existences.

There's a lot of fake news surrounding Irn Bru. But I've ranted about that before, so I'll not repeat it again.

But it is a truly remarkable coincidence that, just as Barr's have been forced to issue a profit warning, they just happen to find a handwritten copy of the 'original' recipe, and it just happens to be close to, but not quite the same as, the old version. Gosh, that was lucky!

Anyway.

This 'new' product is a horrible, even disgusting, price gouge. The RRP is £2 for a 750ml bottle of the stuff. This is made worse by the painfully limited availability - I actually paid £4.98 for two bottles. By way of contrast, Coke costs £3 for 3 litres in Tesco. (Technically, Coke should cost more than that. But Tesco has it on a near-permanent reduced price offer - either two 1.5 litre bottles for £3, or 1 litre bottles for £1. It's extremely unusual for neither of those offers to be running.)

Still, I felt I had to pay it when I had the chance. But that's too much for it to be more than a very occasional indulgence.

Upon getting home, I gave it a try. It's fizzier than the old stuff, the main effect of which is that it takes longer to pour. But that's fine. And then came the taste...

It's okay. It's certainly better than the new "full fat" Irn Bru.

But it's not as good as the old version. As with the new "full fat" version, it tastes like it's missing... something. However, I'm not able to pinpoint what that is - the "full fat" version is very obviously missing sugar, with the artificial sweeteners very clearly providing a hollowness in its place. But that criticism can't be levelled at the 1901 version, which actually has more sugar even than the old version. I would suggest caffeine as the missing link, but I'm not sure.

There is one other thing of note. A lot of the cheap Iron Brew (and, indeed, Sugar Free Irn Bru) substitues tend to have a fairly nasty metallic aftertaste. I had assumed that that was caused by their own use of artificial sweeteners. However, that theory can now be discounted, because it's present here, too. It's very muted, to the point of almost not being noticeable at all, but it is there.

The upshot: I miss the old version. As a substitute, this is better than nothing, but it's not a match. And it's far too expensive. I will have it again, though as I said it will be an occasional indulgence rather than a regular drink, but I'm still waiting for the real thing.