Q1 If you haven't tried Appletiser before, or for a long time, what are the reasons?
I have drunk it before, but not for a while. The children have never had it before. I tend not to drink it any more because it's relatively expensive compared to other soft drinks. I do like the standard Appletiser, but the fizzy nature of the drink means that I put it in the same category as cola etc when in a restaurant/supermarket and it is much more expensive.
Q2 What was the best thing about the Appletiser range (including the taste, the bottle, ingredients, cost etc)? Which was your favourite flavour?
My favourite flavour was the standard apple. The small boy (4) liked the Raspberry one the best. The bottle doesn't look like you are going for the mainstream market, looks more specialised to me. The bottle seems heavy, so seems rather resource wasteful to me - it IS nice that it is glass rather than plastic, but it seems like a lot of glass for a relatively small bottle.
Q3 What was the worst thing about the Appletiser range (including the taste, the bottle, ingredients, cost etc)? Which flavour(s) weren?t you so keen on?
I disliked both of the Fruitisers. I thought that they smelled very sweet (which makes me think that they contain sugar and additives which I know they don't) and they didn't really taste like what they were supposed to (they tasted like apple which was in fact the main ingredient of both.)
It annoyed me that the Raspberry and Pomegranate one was 90% apple and yet this was not stated as a flavour. The Raspberry and Pom content was so small. I thought that both of the Fruitisers tasted syrupy.
The pear one was nice - it smelled very pear like.
Q4 On what occasions would you typically drink a product from the Appletiser range?
I would drink them as a soft drink, when I might otherwise have a carbonated drink, or some juice.
Q5 What foods do you think the different Appletiser flavours would be good with?
I do not see these drinks as a wine alternative. I don't see any of them as being particularly complementary in terms of food - they are strong flavours and the Fruitininis are very sweet tasting - not something you would want with food.
Q6 Did anyone else in your family, your children, or any of your friends try it? What did they think?
The boy liked all of them. He expressed a preference for the Raspberry and Pomegranate flavour. My husband liked the apple flavour the best.
Q7 How does the Appletiser range compare to other similar drinks? Is there a brand you prefer? If so why?
I always compare it to Schloer - simply because the packaging is similar, the price is similar and I think that they are both trying to be more than a casual soft drink. Though Schloer is vile. I tend not to drink fizzy drinks. I think that Appletiser is expensive compared to other soft drinks, but this is complicated by the fact that it isn't another soft drink - the fruit content knocks the price up, but then it's expensive even for fruit juice.
Q8 What do you think Appletiser the company do to improve the product, packaging or marketing?
I would be interested in seeing some sort of cordial product - something to be watered down with soda or fizzy water. We drink fruit cordials and like something not as syrupy as Appletiser - it felt like it should be watered down. Alternatively, non carbonated drinks would be good - I would be happy for DS to drink Appletiser in theory - but to him it's still a fizzy drink and he can't see the difference between it and Fanta.
I would like to see an Elderflower flavour.
I was quite repulsed by the marketing that came with the bottles - the "MUMS" aimed stuff centered around feeding your children good stuff I think has been done to death and rather patronising - not all parents here are mums and mums are not the only ones feeding their children.
Q9 If you were in charge of selling Appletiser how would you try to encourage more mums, or mums to be, to buy Appletiser?
I would sell the fact that it is just fruit. I mean, I have always known that Appletiser is just apples and bubbles, but looking at Fruitiser on a shelf, I would still assume that it was sugary - it looks like it. I was not aware of the 5 a day thing.
Q10 Lastly, do you think you would recommend the Appletiser range to your friends?
Possibly.