An Interesting and Refreshing Drink: Thorncroft's Pink Ginger Cordial

Drinking cordials and squash is very English.  The Thorncroft company, based in Stockton England, makes high quality cordials following traditional and healing recipes.  This is a review of Thorncroft’s Pink Ginger Cordial.

Thorncroft is a small, very specialized, independent company.  They are not owned by a larger soft drinks corporation (as many drinks companies are) and do not make a wide range.  They only produce eleven things: eight cordials and three sparkling drinks.  Being such a small company, with the owners directly involved and everyone’s paycheques so obviously dependent on how well the product sells, is reflected in both their philosophy and product.  In order to compete with better known companies, they must create cordials of a superior quality.

The Pink Ginger Cordial is an absolute delight to drink.  Their website explains that the taste is different because they produce their ginger cordial differently from any other similar product on the market.  However they make it, the result is incredible.  Many people will be turned off by the idea of a ginger cordial, and many of them are very fiery and strong.  This pink ginger cordial, however, is a delicate and refreshing blend of subtle flavours.

The drink is a delicate pink colour that reminds me of early spring blossoms and iced pink lemonade on a hot summer day.  The effect is somewhat similar too, although I wouldn’t limit this drink to the summer.  The ginger taste is there, but rather than adding heat, it adds a depth of flavour that rolls over your tastebuds.  You pick up a subtle hint of lemon as well.  The result is light and very refreshing.  It is a subtle drink that seems more sophisticated than more cordials, and yet it is very simple.

In fact, Thorncroft has made the recipe available, for free, online.  Click here for the recipe for Thorncroft’s Pink Ginger Cordial.  For a drink with only five ingredients (one of which is water), it achieves an amazing subtleness and richness of flavour. 

The packaging is simple, but attractive.  Unlike many companies that have switched to cheaper plastic bottles, Thorncroft Pink Ginger Cordial comes in a green glass bottle (recyclable and traditional looking.  The packaging is understated, with easy-to-read white labels and a splash of colour with a pink, purple, and yellow design in a band around the top of the bottle.

You will pay for this high quality, although it is not as expensive as you may think.  You can buy a bottle of pink ginger cordial for £2.85 from their website.  Thorncroft drinks are also available at Waitrose.  They normally cost £2.99, but I recently bought it reduced down to just £1.09.  Although at full price it is too expensive for me to buy as an everyday drink, at the reduced price it was as cheap as Asda’s store brand squash, and much better in terms of both healthiness and taste. 

I would definitely buy this drink again.