Aspall Classic Organic Suffolk Cyder Eco Product Review

As I’ve mentioned before I like a drop of cider in the summer and try to have organic as much as I can. When I spotted theis ‘cyder’ on the shelf in the supermarket Waitrose I thought even though it’s winter I’d give it a go.

Aspall Classic Organic Suffolk Cyder is made from feshly pressed English apple juice and has been winning awards since 1728 supposedly. Maybe that’s the brewery, this cider did win something at the 1921 Daily Mail Imperial Fruit Show though – so has been around a while.

At 7% abv its quite strong and from the first sip it tastes like it, but subsequent drinks mean the flavour comes through more. As one would expect it’s very apple tasting and not as gassy as some other ciders which makes it very easy drinking.

Even though it’s winter I still drank it over ice but it doesn’t affect the flavour that much, it still comes through quite strongly.

At a very reasonable £1.87 for a 500ml bottle, Aspall Classic Organic Suffolk Cyder is available from supermarrkets including Waitrose.

Duchy Originals Organic Select Ale Eco Product Review

I’ve reviewed a Duchy Originals beer before (here) and was quite impressed with it. Duchy Originals is a brand launched by Prince Charles, HRH the Prince of Wales, and spans a huge range of products from bath foam (which I reviewed here) and this, its Organic Select Ale.

The brand is only sold online in the UK or through supermarket Waitrose so remains quite exclusive. Its products are usually organic and made with quality ingredients which mean they’re not cheap. And this is the case here, the Organic Ale isn’t much cheaper than buying a pint in the pub – it’s £2.15 in Waitrose – and it’s made from Plumage Archer barley harvested from organic farms around the UK. One of those farms is High Farm at Highgrove – the Prince’s country home.

This is a fuller-bodied (ie heavier) beer than the ‘just’ Organic Ale and is quite strong – 6.2% as opposes to 5%. And it’s immediately noticeable in the taste. It’s more flavoursome and feels more substantive. It claims to dried fruit and toffee flavours with bitter citrus notes but as anyone who has ever read one of my beer reviews will know, I find it hard to notice those flavours. I would say there’s maybe a hint of toffee but gnerally I’d say it has a nice flavour!

I suppose it’s best to compare this to its less alcoholic counterpart and should you pay the 16p extra for it? Well it’s probably worth it, I would say that’s better value than the cheaper ale as it’s stonger – the bottle is nicer (if you care about that sort of thing!) and it is more flavoursome – something to be savoured. I doubt I could drink many of them in a go though and the other ale is a little lighter and fresher.

Duchy Originals Organic Select Ale costs £2.15 for 500ml from Waitrose and is 6.2% abv.

Duchy Originals Organic Ale Eco Product Review

Duchy Originals is a brand launched by Prince Charles, HRH the Prince of Wales, and spans a huge range of products from bath foam (which I reviewed here) and this, its Organic Ale.

The brand is only sold online in the UK or through supermarkets such as Waitrose so remains quite exclusive. Its products are usually organic and made with quality ingredients which mean they’re not cheap. And this is the case here, the Organic Ale isn’t much cheaper than buying a pint in the pub – it’s £1.99 in Waitrose – and it’s made from Plumage Archer barley harvested from organic farms around the UK. One of those farms is High Farm at Highgrove – the Prince’s country home.

Anyway, enough of all that, how does it taste? The night before I tried it I went to a real ale festival and had quite a few ‘golden’ beers so my first tast of this proper ale had me thinking it was far too heavy. But actually it’s not heavy at all and ornce you get into it it’s very pleasant. There’s no aftertaste or sharpness, it’s very easy drinking.

As mentioned in my other beer reviews I like my ale cold but you may want to wait a while after taking this out of the fridge as the flavour seemed to come out the warmer it got. A really nice beer that’s definitely worth a try.

Duchy Originals Organic Ale costs £1.99 for 500ml from Waitrose and other supermarkets and is 5.0% abv.

Organic Surge Shower Gel Eco Product Review

I reviewed another Organic Surge product recently (handwash, here) and was impressed, so was looking forward to trying out their shower gel, sent by Big Green Smile.

I’ve reviewed a lot of eco-friendly shower gels over the years at Life Goggles and most are named after the plant which is the main ingredient, be it eucalyptus, aloe [Read more]

Organic Surge Handwash Eco Product Review

We’ve reviewed a few handwashes at Life Goggles and it amazes me how popular they are. Handwash is something you don’t really think about but end up using it everyday. Thinking about yesterday (as I write this) I think I used soap twice and handwash three times to wash my hands so it’s great there are so many eco-friendly choices.

This Organic Surge Handwash is made by a company called Thinkhappy which is a great name. The ever helpful Big Green Smile sent me the lavendar and geranium version that promises that it “cleanses, refreshes and moisturises” and has a “delicious natural fragrance”.

And it seems to do the job exactly as promised. Despite the opaque bottle, the handwash is clear and smooth. With damp hands it soaps up nicely without needing to use too much. It’s lavendar fragrance is noticable straight out of the bottle, but isn’t overwhelming.

Once washing off, the lavender smell stays on your hands which is as it should be, but smelling it every time I went to drink a glass of water after started to put me off it it, but five minutes later the smell had gone – I must remember not to wash my hands when I’m very thirsty!

Buying Organic Surge products also helps African children as the company donates to various projects there: “Our donations go towards creating educational scholarships in schools, helping the Kenya Children’s Home Orphanage in Kenya and supporting the Watoto children’s charity in Uganda.”

The handwash is made with 99% naturally derived ingredients and some certified organic ingredients but does come in a plastic bottle – but they all do to compete with mainstream brands and I’m safe in the knowledge that I can recycle it easy enough. I would like it if companies paid more attention to the bottles though and started using recycled bottles.

That slight complaint aside, I’ve found this handwash really nice to use and it’ll adorn my bathroom for many months to come.

Organic Surge Handwash costs £3.91 from Big Green Smile.

JASON Natural Sea Kelp Shampoo Eco Product Review

By it’s very name, JASON’s Natural Sea Kelp Shampoo conjures up images of a sloppy green sunstance, smelling of the sea. But Big Green Smile has sent us JASON products before (which we liked) so I expected it would be slightly different than that.

And it was. It was a see-through yellow colour for a start and it also smelt of pineapple and coconut bizarrely. A quick look at the ingredients doesn’t really shed light on why it smells like that, but I’m not complaining.

There are a lot of plant extracts – there’s the sea kelp obviously, but also such unusual things like kukui nut, awapuhi (Hawaiian ginger), plumeria and orchid. It never ceases to amaze me where they find this stuff, every product I review seems to have some plant or flower I’ve never heard of in. It shows what a diverse planet we have and the need for man made ingredients is getting less and less necessary.

Talking of ingredients, this shampoo is free from lauryl sulfates and has what it calls plant panthenols and proteins to mositurise the hair. I keep my hair pretty short but it’s long enough to see if it works. And it’s quite nice. It’s a pretty thick liquid and I used too much on the first go and it foams up nicely, covering my hair.

I think someone with long hair would get a lot of pleasure using this as it doesn’t just smell nice and foam up, once washed off my hair felt nice and smooth, almost silky which is what all the shampoo adverts keep telling us is a good thing.

The bottle obviously suggests to use JASON conditioner but as I don’t have any, I didn’t, and to be honest I don’t see the point of conditioner that much as my hair feels lovely just after using the shampoo. Maybe if you have longer hair it’s more important.

JASON Natural Sea Kelp Shampoo costs £5.75 from Big Green Smile.

Surya Moisturising Hand Sanitizer Eco Product Review

With Swine Flu being in the news so much, hand santisers (although spelt with a ‘z’ on this product) are all the rage with every shop form the cheap to the high-class selling them. But this is the first natural and organic hand sanitiser I’ve seen.

Made by Surya Brasil, this Moisturising Hand Sanitizer kills 99.9% of germs and says on the packet it comes with Jua and Acai. I don’t know what either they are but it says Acaiis rich in proteins and Vitamin E and Jua is a cleansing and refreshing fruit.

It’s also hypoallergenic and is certified organic by Eco Cert, but how well does it work? The first time I tried it I found the smell quite strong and similar to those cleansing pads they use to clean skin when you’re giving blood. But after a few goes I realised the smell was only so strong as I used too much. You don’t really need a lot as the clear gel spreads easily over your hands and quickly, but not too quickly, absorbs into the hands.

Once absorbed there’s not much of a smell at all, it leaves your hands feeling quite soft and presumably very clean. There’s now sticky residue and my hands did feel moisturised too. I don’t usually use a moisturiser on my hands so am not sure how it compares to a straight moisturiser.

Available for a very reasonable £3.50 for a 60ml bottle from Liberty or elsewhere online, it’s also available in a 200ml bottle for £10.

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