Date: December 2016
To kick things off properly on this blog, I thought I’d post a review of a lime and soda I had a while ago now. This is the first review I ever wrote and looking back, it’s probably the occasion where the idea for this blog initially came about (yeah, ok it has taken me a bit of time to get it started). This should give you a flavour of what drinking lime and soda seriously is all about.
I visited the Kings Stores on Widegate Street sometime in December 2016. Unusually for this late in the year, I found myself not wanting to imbibe. Perhaps because it was still early in the month and I was aware of what was to come - Christmas 2016 was indeed quite the period of excess intoxication. Upon finding myself huddled up with friends in the warmth of a pub looking to escape the winter weather, I decided to go for my usual non-alcoholic beverage of choice. The humble lime and soda. Cue groans from my friends and cries of “it’s December, live a little”. Luckily for my liver, and of course for you dear reader, I ignored them and ordered it anyway.
Before moving on to my review of the beverage itself, I thought I’d give you a brief history of the Kings Stores. I am not a historian, and especially not one with a special knowledge of public houses, so most of this has been lifted from much more accomplished and knowledgeable sites such as pubhistory,com and pubology.co.uk. I’ve put links at the bottom if you want to read their entries on the Kings Stores (should that have an apostrophe? Research provides no concrete conclusions).
Nestled between the City and Spitalfields market, the pub’s website describes it as a “real hidden gem attracting a diverse crowd”. To be honest, I have no recollection of whether this is the case, although I’m sure it is. After all, when has marketing spin ever been a lie? At the time it was just a convenient place for me and a group of friends to meet what with it being almost equidistant from each of our respective workplaces. I’ve probably been into this pub several times but as with many a winter weeknight gathering, they all blur into one in my mind.
According to my sources, the Kings Stores started life as the Hoop & Grapes, opening in 1819. It was rebuilt in its present form in 1902 and has been known as the Kings Stores ever since. It is currently owned by Greene King. Given the age of the pub you might expect good things of their ability to craft a classic drink such as a lime and soda. Let’s find out.
Appearance:
It seems like they know what they’re doing here, as they slide the sober version of a Thunder Thursday tipple over the top of the bar into your hand. The glass was pleasant on the eye. Nice and tall. Not a pint glass though but furnished with just the just the right amount of ice cubes. Not too many to the glass look crowded and create the feeling that you’ve lost out on some of the drink, like a bad mojito, but not so few that they were lonely floating around in a sea of watery green. It also came with a fresh lime quarter bobbing gently on top of the bubbles. The addition of fresh lime isn’t always a given and should never be taken for granted when drinking lime and soda.
Taste:
Excited by the exquisite presentation, I had high hopes as I lifted the glass to my lips. First to note is that freshness, the real lime works! Mixed in with the lime cordial and soda water it transports you to a place where limes grow on trees beneath blue skies and warm sunshine, evaporating all of your troubles. It lifted my spirits - of which there are none in this drink - and cleansed my palate. Sadly, the space created by this cleansing process left behind just enough space for the actual taste of the lime cordial to create a big green mess on my newly refreshed taste buds. The balance of the drink was way off. The initial soda taste had been rejuvenating but was overpowered by the lime cordial which wasn’t the most palatable. Paradoxically there also didn’t seem to be enough of it and the drink wasn’t strong enough for me by some distance. I feel that if I’m going to subject myself to an evening of this stuff, at the very least I expect it to taste of something stronger than the abomination that is Volvic touch of lime or whatever it’s called. Give me a super strength Robinson’s cordial any day and the Kings Stores needs to top theirs up. It was neither sweet nor sour and even the fresh lime couldn’t save it. If I’d wanted real hydration, I’d have drunk from the tap.
I did find this drink refreshing but it was let down by a combination of the ‘interesting’ after taste of chemicals from the lime cordial along with it’s weak mixture of the key ingredients. It’s like the Coors Light of lime and soda.
Price:
£2.25! Yes that’s right, it was £2.25. I know this is the City of London and we’re all supposed to be rich bankers but come on, it wasn’t a coke! Even disregarding the quality, this is still way too much for a lime and soda. I might as well have paid double that and had a beer (maybe triple it). Definitely not worth it at its price point, but I guess the pub does have quite high running costs to cover.
Would I recommend a lime and soda at the Kings Stores? I have given the lime and soda here here a bit of a hard time but there are positives.
It is a looker. If you’re out there to impress your finance friends without endangering the health of the economy - or your liver - by making big decisions with a massive hangover the next morning then this is the drink for you. If you fancy a refreshing and re-hydrating summer beverage on your way to that big meeting then go for it.. But if you’re after the depth of flavour of a craft non-alcoholic beverage then this will not meet its aim. Be wary of the price and maybe just pay for a coke, lemonade or ginger beer if you’re not drinking.
Much like a Coors Light it's good on the right occasion. That said a lot of time has passed since I was last there so maybe I need to be back to give it a second try.
Sources:
http://www.kingsstores.co.uk/
https://pubology.co.uk/pubs/2176.html
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