Right folks, it’s time, I’m going to do it, I’m going to drink a Kopparberg. I haven’t reviewed the Kopparberg before because I don’t believe it is a cider let alone a real cider. But due to popular request here are my honest opinions on the Kopparberg with Strawberry and Lime.

Recently I had some friends staying a couple of nights. As a practical joke they decided to hide a bottle of Kopparberg with Strawberry and Lime in the back of the fridge while they drank my nice craft cider. But hey if you can’t share nice cider what’s the point.

Let me explain why I don’t want to drink a Kopparberg.

I want to support the farmers, particularly Aussie farmers and orchardists. But this cider, as far as I can tell, doesn’t help even the Swedish farmers. I’ve been doing some twittering and I can’t find any evidence of anybody growing limes in Sweden, the climate is too cold. Any Aussie craft cider maker will proudly tell you about where they source their apples from but Kopparberg barely even mention that the drink has apples in it. Actually I don’t think it does have any real apples in it. I reached out to Kopparberg about this and I’ll update this review if they reply.

The Kopparberg website bangs on about how they heroically saved their mineral water from being exported to Switzerland. Now they seemly use it to dissolve the sugar. And then, ironically, export the rubbish back to around the world including Switzerland.

Today I’m going to put aside my prejudices and judge this beverage on its taste. As always this is my honest tasting notes

The Nose

Basically a packet of lollies. When I was younger I loved Allen’s Strawberries and cream lollies. The Kopparberg smells just like those, only amplified up. I’m trying to get a hit of the lime but it’s just not there. There is something zingy but it smells like a medical wipe not a fresh slice of citrus. There is nothing remotely apple like in this drink.

Kopparberg Strawberry Lime review

The Taste

Well it tastes just like those strawberry and cream lollies. Kopparberg Strawberry And Lime has the same mouth feel as the lollies, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the mouth feel is probably due to the fact that has just as much sugar in it. The strawberry taste is not like a real strawberry just a poor facsimile. The sugar hangs around like chewing gum on a shoe, it just gets everywhere.

But where is the lime? If Kopparberg is going to write it on the label, why not put it in the bottle. Well the bottle also says “premium” and “cider”. Again that medicinal tang is there, is that meant to be the lime?

The 500ml bottle does suggest serving over ice. This only tempers the problem. As Kopparberg calls this beverage a “Genuine Swedish Apple Cider with a Taste of Strawberry & Lime”. I (and the Australian Tax Office) expect apples in a cider. I simply can’t taste them over the sugary strawberry “flavour”. The drink is probably meant to be light and summary but it is weighed down by the copious amounts of sugar. 10.5 g/100mL , to put that into perspective the winner of the Commercial Cider Review, the Dirty Granny only has 2.6 g/100mL according to CUB

That fancy mineral water does not add to the taste but it does cut the costs. Real fruit that’s what adds flavour.

This is basically a fizzy sickly sweet strawberry-ish pink liquid that I don’t like at all.

Final Thoughts on the Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

I’m going to put down my glass. This is terrible. If I’m going to harm my liver I’m going to do it with something I want to drink.

My biggest concern is that they call it cider. Under no definition could I call it cider. But it is on the same row at the bottle shop as other real ciders. Comment on large chain bottle shop says “reasonable priced fior [sic] a premium cider” – Cider Fan 

Clearly the massively marketing budget of Kopparberg is causing confusion in the market place. This is not a premium cider. To me a premium cider is hand-made, has quality ingredients, and most importantly the cider maker can tell you what the apples are.

It’s cheap too, under $4.50 a 330ml bottle compared to $7 for a premium Aussie hand-made cider. How can you pay a farmer and transport the bottle around the world and turn a profit? Artificial flavours and concentrate help cut the bill owed to the farmers.

Just don’t drink this. If you can only afford 1 bottle of cider week. Have a week off and save your money and support a farmer by buying a real cider.

Product Kopparberg with Strawberry and Lime
Company Kopparberg
Sweetness Very Sweet (10.5 g/100mL source)
Alc/Vol 4.0%
Website kopparberg.com
Country of Origin Sweden
Region I can only speculate where the ingredients come from

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