Pete's Natural - Lemon & Manuka Switchel product reviews

I am a big fan of hippie type items and ideas such as kombucha, apple cider vinegar for digestion, lemon and honey in the winter and ginger and tumeric and so seeing the Lemon and Manuka Switchel come up for review, I was intrigued as to how it might compare to mixing up your own with apple cider vinegar, water and lemon.

The label says it is a "perfect" drink for hot weather, and with the combo of sparkling water, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, manuka honey, and monk fruit extract, it is nothing, if not refreshing and uplifting. The sour vinegar and lemon hit me first, giving my mouth quite a zing combined with the fizz/sparkling nature of it. I honestly really enjoyed it as something that is quite different to my usual drinks, and although it goes in complete contrast with the health benefits, it goes really well with whisky!!

It states that (among other benefits) the ingredients boosts immunity, helps digestion, restores electrolytes, and helps ease pain and inflammation. Like this drinks other variety of hemp and manuka, I think that you would have to drink a lot of this, and regularly to have a long term and sustained effect, but I definitely do not think it hurts to do so!

I do like that this drink is made in here in New Zealand, and in Nelson (just over a few hills from me) and is in glass rather than plastic. It is a smaller sized bottle, but I do not think most would even notice, it is honestly enough of a serving to be enjoyed. The bottle itself is nice and solid, a big change from flimsy plastic fizzy bottles!

I do think that the price is a bit high for me personally - or rather - I do not think I would want or need to buy twelve at once, and would love to see singles or even packs of four available. I would drink these again, and recommend others to try them, but do not think they would be my first choice.

The label says it is a "perfect" drink for hot weather. Perfect is a strong word but I do agree it is very refreshing, regardless of weather. It is a combination of sparkling water, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, manuka honey, and monk fruit extract. If you like the taste of vinegar and lemon, try this drink. I drank it in probably two minutes flat I enjoyed it so much. It is fizzy and the combination of the ingredients pleased my tastes almost perfectly. I could taste almost every ingredient, but it had some sort of zing flavour I could not place, so I assume it is the monk fruit extract since I do not think I have ever tried monk fruit. If it is, I apparently really like monk fruit. The vinegar wasn't too strong of a taste either, for those that think drinking diluted apple cider vinegar is still too strong to drink without further alterations.

It also states it boosts immunity, helps digestion, restores electrolytes, and helps ease pain and inflammation. Apple cider vinegar alone in the health community alleges to have all sorts of benefits for your health, many of which are supported by science. Among other claims, it can lower blood sugar levels, improve insulin sensitivity and may increase satiety which may help you lose weight and reduce belly fat. It may also aid in having a lower cholesterol and have protective effects against cancer. Although some of these claims may need more research, it is enough to convince me that it certainly can't hurt. Lemons and honey are also known to have a plethora of health benefits so the combination of all these ingredients is a super healthy punch!

Further, the drink is brewed locally in Nelson, the bottle is made of glass instead of the horrible plastic, and it is only 162kj per serve. All these feathers leave a delicious taste in my mouth and in my conscience. I already drink diluted unfiltered apple cider vinegar and lemon water daily for their purported health benefits and even though I really do like this drink, it is expensive for my budget, but this will be a refreshing treat for me in the future!

What more could you ask for in a little bottle of Pete's Natural Lemon & Manuka Switchel which it says that the apple cider vinegar in Switchel boosts immunity and helps your digestive health. It restores electrolytes and helps ease pain and inflammation. I could smell the taste the apple cider vinegar but I liked it. I go through stages of having apple cider vinegar table spoons in the morning but then stop as the flavour gets to strong. So I was excited to try this as a alternative but still getting the goodness.

I really liked it and I guess if I could afford it I would drink them all the time but at the price they are it wouldn't be in my weekly shop or fortnight shop. My partner was not all that found of it. He said he would not drink it again. It was not his kind of drink but he also doesn't get into the apple cider vinegar either.

My older son who loves apple cider vinegar and any vinegar in fact he will drink it straight from the bottle if I let him. He really enjoyed this drink and wanted more of it. It is great chilled and for the health benefits would be awesome for him but to costly for him to just drink it like a big glass of water. I am on the fence with this one as it has its pros and cons and I guess the price is the only thing holding me back from buying more.

I'm a great fan of kombucha and other drinks that help my gut so I was intrigued to try Pete's Natural Lemon and Manuka Switchel. I had to do a quick google search to find out what a switchel was and discovered it was a drink made of water mixed with vinegar and often seasoned with ginger. A quick look at the ingredients revealed that there was no ginger, only lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, manuka honey, and monk fruit extract. The drink comes in a 300ml glass bottle with an attractive label and is made in Nelson, New Zealand which gives it extra brownie points. I noticed there was sediment at the bottom so I gave it a gentle shake to stir everything up and there was a little fizz when opened. I had a good sniff and although there was a whiff of vinegar, it certainly wasn't overwhelming. I thought the honey smell was more dominant.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of this drink and it wasn't as vinegary as other drinks I've tried. The lemon is definitely the more dominant flavour and my youngest daughter tried it and gave it the thumbs up. The label says that it is the perfect refreshment for hot evenings and I have to agree as this was lovely and refreshing when straight out of the fridge. It restores electrolytes and helps ease pain and inflammation so it has a number of useful health benefits.

I thought these were reasonably priced, they work out at just over $4 a bottle which isn't bad considering they contain freshly squeezed lemon juice and Manuka honey. I would personally prefer the option of buying them separately as opposed to spending $49 for 12 bottles, and I'm sure others will agree.

I like Pete's Natural as a brand. They are always looking for that new trend, and as a man that gets bored easily, novelty and new things are a must. The more natural side of Pete's Natural also helps when you are trying to cut down on that sugar intake. So I must admit that I tried this drink without really looking into what it was. All I saw was Lemon & Manuka, and it brought back though memories of making my own hot drinks when I was younger, raiding the lemon tree (mum wouldn't let me dump lots of sugar in my drinks, but a bit of honey was okay.

I mention not reading the label properly because I had no idea what a switchel was, and got quite a shock when I took my first sip of this beverage. According to Wikipedia, "Switchel, switzel, swizzle, switchy, ginger-water or haymaker's punch is a drink made of water mixed with vinegar, and often seasoned with ginger." The vinegar is what caught me off-guard. I've reviewed drinks that had an Apple Cider Vinegar base, and well...I hadn't been impressed. I liked the idea that the vinegar lowers blood sugar and fights diabetes, or that it leaves you feeling fuller to prevent you from over-eating, and supposedly lowers cholesterol too. But that vinegar flavour was too strong in those drinks.

So how does this new drink from Pete's Natural compare? It's much more manageable. Of course, that first swig caught me off-guard because I wasn't expecting that brackish burst of vinegar. The drink has a much better balance, however, (remembering that ingredient lists must legally be printed in the order, from highest quantity to lowest) with the ingredient in the largest quantity being lightly sparkling water, followed by lemon juice. Only then do we get a lower amount of apple cider vinegar.

I'm still not totally on board with vinegar drinks, but it isn't something that I would tip out either. It is still very much drinkable. It is simultaneously refreshing and sour in a way that straddles the line between something I would like and something I couldn't. I really can't put my finger on it. It's a drink that makes me feel nostalgic. It reminds me of making "tea" as a child, that comfort of a hot lemon and honey drink when you're sick in bed, and weirdly enough, it reminds me of fish and chips.

Here's an interesting aspect, though. A few months back I bought a bottle of rum that I'd never bought before for a house party with friends; Spytail Black Ginger Rum. Now the flavour was so strong, that I couldn't drink it. It sat around nearly full for so long. Because it was a ginger variant (and because I had no other rum available, I mixed some in with the switchel and it works! The ginger rum actually obscures that vinegar taste, so you still be the kick and zing, but the sour taste is gone completely. So while I certainly wouldn't go out and buy this as a drink to just chug away at on its own, there is definitely a lot of potential as a healthier mixer for alcoholic drinks.

I always assumed that ginger was a compulsory component of a switchel, but apparently I was wrong. When I checked the list of ingredients on the side of the Lemon Manuka switchel bottle, I was so surprised to find that there was no ginger included that I checked online and found that, although it is commonly included, it is by no means essential. So I have learned something! And the omission of ginger does not really matter as there are lots of other tasty ingredients, notably cider vinegar and manuka honey!

Interestingly, my first impression on taking a sip was that it was a real old-fashioned lemon and honey drink just like those my aunt used to make when I had a sore throat. That brought back memories of growing up in the Waikato where winters were damp and old houses were breeding places for colds and runny noses. Everyone had a lemon tree and children were given hot home-made lemon-and-honey drinks with an added pinch of ground ginger to soothe them when they arrived home from school. Later, cider vinegar grew in popularity so that was added too. Pete's Natural has absolutely created nostalgia in a bottle!

I had a small amount first, increasingly becoming more convinced that this was indeed the drink of my childhood. We did not use the term switchel then; it is a recent import from overseas. My father, being a sailor, enjoyed a glass of rum and he would often tip a little into my lemon-and-honey to give it extra zing. Interestingly, rum is also listed online as an optional additive along with ginger! Having finished a small glass, I poured a second - again a small amount - and added a couple of drops of rum essence. I did not have a bottle of real rum in the house, but I thought that might give a similar effect. It was not really the same, but was quite pleasant nevertheless and I am now inspired to purchase a small bottle of rum just to have with my Pete's Natural!

The last third I heated gently in the microwave. In doing this I would be sacrificing the bubbles, but I wanted to see whether it would work. When I was small and we had no lemons available, my aunt would sometimes heat some bottled lemonade and give that to me as a sore throat remedy instead. It seemed to work almost as well as the real thing; the heat, of course, was soothing for inflamed tissues, and the brand of lemonade she used was made with real lemons. The Pete's Natural tasted just like her brew, although a little more acidic. I did not have a sore throat to test its efficacy, but it was very nice.

The medicinal virtues of cider vinegar and honey are well known; there is a useful summary on the label, although this is information I already knew. I would probably make my own brew when at home, but I travel a lot so a couple of bottles like this would be useful to take on journeys with me. Those are the times when coughs and chills often strike, and it is neither easy nor sensible to take along all the raw ingredients just in case. And this product would be perfect to pack, being compact and light.