Ceder’s Pink Rose

The enticing rhubarb-pink liquid in an elegant chunky bottle with delicate line drawings of flowers and gold lettering promises good things, and I love the sound of its botanicals: juniper, rose, hibiscus.  My first surprise comes when I unstopper the bottle and stick my nose in deeper and deeper chasing only the very faintest of rose scents. I pour a drink and find myself struggling to find the flavour past the tonic.  It’s creative to use rose to offer an alternative take to the scented quality of a good gin, but in practice isn’t hitting the mark.

Drinking it neat, I can pick up the astringency of the hibiscus, the perfumed scent of the rose and the aromatics of the juniper but I don’t want to drink it neat – without the fizz of tonic, it’s just palely flavoured water.  Lots of good reviews on the web suggest others aren’t having my experience but for me it’s simply not got the punch.  A typo on their Amazon details gives the serving recommendation as 0ml of CEDER’S Pink Rose, 150ml of premium Indian tonic.  I’m afraid I agree.