Why Londoners are going loco for boozy coconut water

Forget alcopops, it's all about cocopops this summer, says Frankie McCoy
Boozy coconut water is coming...
Shutterstock / Brent Hofacker
Frankie McCoy13 July 2016

Pre-lashing for Lovebox this weekend? To kickstart the hangover healing process even before you’ve eaten a 3am kebab in a £70 Uber, drink coconut water with your vodka. And rather than faff about mixing it yourself, you can slurp up an alcopop — or should that be cocopop?

Twisted Halo comes in a pretty bottle that looks like it should hold cold-press juice. Instead, it contains coconut water blended with ginger and lime — and a shot of vodka.

It’s aimed squarely at the hot, perma-dieting (a bottle of Twisted Halo is only 90 calories) twenty-something type on a night out who doesn’t want to drink beer.

“I was tired of ordering the same low-calorie bland vodka, lime and soda when I was out with friends”, says founder Jess Titcumb.

“When I asked around they all felt the same way and when I couldn’t find any alternatives I was happy with, that’s when I set out on my mission to create Twisted Halo.”

At four per cent — the same as your average beer — it works as a session drink; and it’s neither as sweet as a Smirnoff Ice nor as challenging as a craft saison. A bonus is that if coconut water is a good hangover cure, hair of the dog must be the ultimate morning-after therapy.

Titcumb’s drinks are part of a new wave of grown-up alcopops — far from the syrupy neon blue VKs that fuel teenagers. They’re lower in sugar, and won’t stain your tongue turquoise.

Twisted Halo coconut water and ginger with vodka

Cranes of Cambridge came about when identical twins Dan and Ben decided they needed an alternative to the sugar-filled rubbish they were caning at uni. Their alcopops are made from cranberry “cider” they brew themselves. Natural flavourings and sweeteners mean they clock in at 99 calories per bottle. There’s even a pomegranate flavour — the latest superfruit.

Coconut water - in pictures

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More of a gin drinker? Any fan of mother’s ruin knows that a train journey with a stash of G and T cans is a beautiful thing. But if you’re the classy sort, crack a bottle of Wild Spritz. Farmer Jonathan Wallington started bottling his perry-based gin and vodka spritzes after growing a glut of sloe berries on his Devon farm.

The elderflower spritz is a most downable mix of tart elderflower, sweet pear cider and a good slug of gin. Less sickly and artificial tasting than many flavoured ciders, at 5.6 per cent it’s weaker than wine but less sleep-inducing than beer. It’s time to drown out the memory of the suffering induced by green syrupy drinks with a nice, grown-up alcopop.

Follow Frankie McCoy on Twitter: @franklymccoy

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