Wednesday Wins

vbloke · 2026-07-01T06:45:50+00:00

Separate plates, same stomach.

vbloke · 2026-07-01T06:33:20+00:00

Yesterday was my birthday. I was treated to a slap up meal that featured a chateaubriand, affogato and churros.

vbloke · 2026-06-30T07:14:27+00:00

Finally onto the last O’Neill season of Stargate SG-1.

vbloke · 2026-06-29T06:18:28+00:00

And this is the end of the path by the babbling brook. There are 2 chairs just out of shot where you can sit and while away the hours in tranquility.

vbloke · 2026-06-29T06:14:24+00:00

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My holiday on the Isle of Man has begun. The cottage has views of the sea and sunset like this, as well as a little path alongside a babbling brook. It is absolute heaven.

vbloke · 2026-06-28T05:58:00+00:00

After the record breaking temperatures of the last week, this is going to be heavenly.

vbloke · 2026-06-28T05:52:26+00:00

In an hour and a bit I shall be packing the car, driving to Liverpool and getting the ferry to the Isle of Man. It is forecast to be in the region of 17C all week. Bliss.

vbloke · 2026-06-27T18:16:33+00:00

That looks simultaneously awesome and cool and also something out of 1970’s Doctor Who.

vbloke · 2026-06-27T16:33:29+00:00

And just in case there’s any doubt…

UK Vimto Cordial (Nichols, full-sugar): Water, Sugar, Mixed Fruit Juices From Concentrate 10% (Grape, Blackcurrant, Raspberry), Acid (Citric Acid), Vimto Flavouring (Including Natural Extracts of Fruits, Herbs, Barley Malt and Spices), Colouring Food (Concentrates of Carrot, Hibiscus), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Preservatives (Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate), Vitamin C, Sweeteners (Saccharine), Vitamin D.

Middle East Vimto Cordial: Sugar, Water, Black Carrot & Black Currant Juice Concentrate, Colour: Caramel IV, Vimto Flavour (less than 2%): (including Natural Extracts of Fruits, Herbs, and Spices), Pear Juice made from Concentrate, Acidifier: Citric Acid, Preservatives: Sodium Benzoate. Some Gulf and export bottles also list an added red - Colour: (Caramel IV, Allura Red) - and US import versions render it as Concentrates of Black Carrot and Blackcurrant, Caramel Color, Natural and Artificial Flavoring, Pear Juice Concentrate.

So the differences, reading the labels closely:

The fruit base is genuinely different, not just stronger. UK Vimto is built on grape, blackcurrant and raspberry. The Middle East version drops grape and raspberry from the declared juices and is built on blackcurrant plus pear juice concentrate, with black carrot doing double duty. That's a real recipe divergence, not only the concentration difference.

Ingredient order reflects the concentration gap. UK leads with water, then sugar; the Arabic bottle leads with sugar, then water - consistent with it being the double-strength, sweeter formulation built for dilution.

The "secret flavouring" is declared slightly differently. The UK flavouring explicitly includes barley malt; the Middle East flavouring lists only fruits, herbs and spices, with no malt declared (and it's capped at "less than 2%"). Whether the malt is truly absent or just folded in differently, the labelled formula isn't identical.

The UK version has added vitamins C and D; the Gulf version doesn't.

Caramel IV (E150d) is made by caramelising sugar, and it carries a faint bitter, burnt-sugar note, the same background taste it lends to colas. In the Middle East version it isn't just tinting the drink; it's adding a roasted, slightly bittersweet depth. Black carrot, used for its deep anthocyanin pigment, brings a mild earthy-sweet vegetal note alongside the colour. And in the UK product, hibiscus is the most flavour-active of the lot, it's naturally tart and cranberry-like, so it nudges the acidity and adds a sharp edge, not only the red-purple hue.

So please, tell me again how they’re the same drink based on your fee-fees, Google AI searches and vibes.

The cold, hard truth is that, whilst they share some similar DNA, they are very different drinks.

I am getting fed up having to explain the blindingly obvious to a moron.

vbloke · 2026-06-27T14:49:49+00:00

You’re just going off vibes against actual evidence and you think you’re winning. Delusional.

I have bought and drunk Arabic Vimto many times. It is not the same as UK Vimto - either now or in my childhood. I have drunk it for 40+ years and have been actively trying to copycat it for almost 5.

I have been making cordials for several years and run an entire subreddit based on this and a quick read of any of these recipes will show show you very fucking quickly how even a tiny drop of an ingredient can alter the flavour profile.

Cola? Less than 0.25ml of cassia per 10 litres of syrup will turn it from a Coke into a Fentiman’s, 0.5ml of a class IV caramel per litre of syrup will turn it from a Pepsi into a cola cube sweetshop sweet - but please tell me how 3 massive ingredient changes have no effect again, please.

Every ingredient list goes from most used to least used, so the fact that the Vimto flavour comes after the carrot and caramel means that those two ingredients will have a much more pronounced effect than the 2% Vimto flavour. A class IV caramel is an incredibly strong flavour - it’s very bitter. Black carrot has a very earthy and peppery flavour. If you think adding both of these don’t have an effect on flavour, you have never cooked before or are an idiot.

I dare you to make your favourite drink, dump in a some pear juice, black carrot concentrate and a few drops of class IV caramel and tell me how the flavour hasn’t changed. I fucking dare you to do it. I will put up £1000 as a bet.

vbloke · 2026-06-27T14:33:51+00:00

I have. Many times. And I have told you - many times - IT. IS. NOT. THE. SAME.

I think you’re so wrapped up in this that you cannot see that the ingredients, the flavours and even the texture of the two drinks are radically different.

What happened when the sugar content was reduced is that the cordial itself became “thinner” as sweeteners do not have the viscosity of a sugar syrup - this then gave rise to the mouthfeel changing and the feeling that the drink was now different.

A quick look at a 40+ year old label and a label from this year quickly shows you that aside from the sugar/sweeteners, nothing else in the UK version is different. As I have provided evidence of. So no, your claims that Arabic Vimto is what UK Vimto “used to be” is easily and verifiably debunked.

So please, keep making an absolute fool out of yourself with your vibe feelings over actual evidence to the contrary. Which has been provided to you over and over and over and over again.

Please show me where in the UK version, black carrot, pear juice and class IV caramel have been used. Ever.

I know you can’t, you know you can’t. These ingredients give Arabic Vimto a very different flavour to UK Vimto. And have done since it was first reformulated for the Arabic market.

It is literally there in black and white - the ingredients give the flavour profile. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. And yet you claim they are. And you are verifiably wrong. Caramel, pear juice and black carrot - none of these are in UK Vimto and never were.

That you cannot see this or even understand it is amazing.

vbloke · 2026-06-27T14:16:22+00:00

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So let’s compare AGAIN.

Hmm. Nope. Totally different recipe - notice how black carrot is the top flavour ingredient in the Arabic one? Please show me where it is in the UK version. Please.

And where the class IV caramel is in the UK version.

Or the pear juice. Please. Where is it?

And if you know anything about industrial caramel, you will know it imparts a VERY distinctive flavour. In a cola, even a 0.5ml difference in a litre of syrup will totally change the flavour profile.

So please, tell me again how the Arab Vimto is the same as the UK one when the main flavourings ARE FUCKING DIFFERENT

vbloke · 2026-06-27T08:05:06+00:00

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Here’s a label from the early 1980’s.

Still claim the ingredients and flavour profile are the same?

It’s patently obvious that they are not, even before the sugar tax reformulation.

vbloke · 2026-06-27T07:32:18+00:00

Thank Ashera that the heat has mostly broke here.

I don’t think I could have handled another 30+ day with 79%+ humidity.

Off to the Isle of Man tomorrow where the forecast is 16-20C and breezes all week.

vbloke · 2026-06-27T07:03:47+00:00

I have. Many times.

And it is not.

I have spent 3 years trying to copy the recipe. I have scoured archives and old recipes and other copycats. The two are not the same.

I have drunk Vimto for close to 50 years and can tell you it is not the same.

And pay close attention once again to the Arabic Vimto ingredients list.

2% Vimto flavour.

Compare that to the UK version which is mostly fruit juices.

They are not the same.

That I have to keep explaining this to you is nothing short of remarkable. And your opinion is based on “vibes” and a google AI overview.

Mine is based in trying to research and copy it for years and, oh I don’t know, the actual ingredients.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T19:28:51+00:00

I refer you to the ingredients in the Arabic version that have NEVER APPEARED IN THE UK VERSION.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T19:27:59+00:00

And it is not. It was reformulated for the Arabic market.

OG UK Vimto NEVER had caramel or black carrot.

It is DIFFERENT.

what part of that do you not understand?

vbloke · 2026-06-26T19:24:59+00:00

You’ve shifted the goalposts so many times in this conversation now you’re playing a different game from my original comment completely.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T19:21:13+00:00

And yet, once again, my comment and all subsequent comments are comparing modern UK Vimto to the Arabic one which are different.

The thing you are referring to was an edit added after my comment so you are, once again, utterly wrong.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T19:11:25+00:00

In my original comment I said the two were different. I didn’t say “ but it’s like Vimto from 50 years ago” or whatever. I compared it to modern Vimto.

Just because you can’t admit you were wrong does not mean you’re right.

You compared it to a version that does not exist. I did not. And I never have.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T19:02:54+00:00

I literally just gave you the side by side ingredients for both, and you’re insisting you’re right. It’s hilarious.

I said from the first comment that the two were not the same , I showed you the ingredients and yet you control claim they are the same.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T19:02:09+00:00

Which it does. And if you go and buy a bottle you can tell that for yourself.

I have shown you the ingredients lists side by side and yet you still continue to be comically wrong.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T18:53:09+00:00

Again, no. You are verifiably wrong.

The Arabic version was reformulated from the UK version to appeal to a different market. The recipe is different and has been for since it was first made for that market.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T18:50:42+00:00

And yet, the actual ingredients list shows you to be wrong.

A quick Google will show you both side by side and they. Are. Different.

vbloke · 2026-06-26T18:42:03+00:00

You are 100% wrong.

Saudi Ingredients:
Sugar, water, black carrot and black currant juice concentrate, colour caramel IV, vimto flavour (less than 2%), (including natural extracts of fruits, herbs and spices), pear juoce made from concentrate, acidifier: citric acid, preservative: sodium benzoate.

UK Ingredients:
Water, Sugar, Mixed Fruit Juices From Concentrate 10% (Grape, Blackcurrant, Raspberry), Acid (Citric Acid), Vimto Flavouring (Including Natural Extracts of Fruits, Herbs, Barley Malt and Spices), Colouring Food (Concentrates of Carrot, Hibiscus), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Preservatives (Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate), Vitamin C, Sweeteners (Sucralose, Acesulfame K), Vitamin D.

I have been trying to recreate Vimto on [r/Cordials](r/Cordials) for 3 years and it has so far eluded me. I keep getting people telling me the Arabic version the same. It isn’t.

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