I tried supermarket own-brand mojitos in a can – my £1.50 winner tastes better than Bacardi and M&S
WITH the weather hotting up, an ice-cool cocktail at a picnic with friends is hard to beat.
And there’s no need to make your own as the supermarkets are packed with ready-made options.
We Brits love them buying more than £51 million worth of canned
cocktails last year.
But with the market booming, and big brands like Bacardi packing a
premium punch while supermarkets mix their own cocktails in a can - which are best?
I sipped, swirled and poured over cans to consider their alcohol content and cost.
Here are the best on the shelves:
Read more taste tests
Wonderland Cocktail Co Classic Mojito,
- 200ml
- £4 at Tesco
This canned mojito is pricey - approaching the cost of a cocktail in a pub, and much smaller than other cans.
But the ingredients show why.
It’s a hefty 10% alcohol, with lime, mint and soda water. The taste?
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Zesty but seriously boozy. Cracked open ice-cold and drank over ice, it tasted surprisingly like something a pro bartender would mix.
But when I packed it up for a train tipple home from work, it was cloying and a bit sickly.
This mojito is strong enough that you need it over ice with a slice, but that defeats the whole "drink-it-anywhere" vibe.
- 2/5
Bacardi Mojito
- 250ml
- £2.10 at Sainsbury’s
You know this one has a quality spirit inside it.
Bacardi is the oldest family-run rum company in the world with hundreds of awards.
Its mojito can contains 5% ABV (alcohol by volume) Caribbean rum, which feels just right: it’s not too strong or weak.
In fact, Bacardi’s mojito was a very smooth sip.
Mint definitely dominates over the lime flavour.
But I enjoyed the sharp flavour, which isn’t as sweet as some of
the other brands on the market.
The colourful green can, covered with leaves, put me in the tropical mood but it’s a pricey tipple at £2.10 for a single can, and with cheaper ones on the market, I didn’t think it was worth the extra cost.
- 3/5
SERVED Premium Cocktail Mojito
- 250ml
- £3.25 at Tesco
If this cocktail screams, ‘Love Me Like You Do’ it’s because the SERVED booze brand is the brainchild of singer Ellie Goulding.
But what I loved best was its simple ingredients list.
Most of the other cocktails contained complicated-sounding additives, where this one is sparkling water, rum, apple and lime juice, natural flavourings and citric acid.
The downside? The taste wasn’t as natural. This 8% mojito tasted more alcoholic than any others.
Lovely packaging but just not the ideal taste.
- 3/5
Asda’s The Distillery Raspberry Mojito,
- 250ml
- £1.22 at Asda
This supermarket own-brand mojito looks posher than it is with its disco-pink can containing another non-traditional mix: it’s a raspberry-and-rum blend.
Obviously, it’s not the zingy, minty slurp you’d expect when
someone says ‘mojito’ - it’s more of a berry smoothie-style taste.
I found it to be super-sweet when drunk straight from the can, but when poured over ice plus a slice of lemon, it was a refreshing hit.
And it’s more generous than most with its rum serving too, serving up 4% alcohol content.
- 3/5
Havana Club Tropical Mojito
- 250ml
- £2.50 at Tesco
Another premium rum in this can. Havana Club rums are made and aged in Cuba, which is where the mojito cocktail comes from.
But Havana has put a twist on the usual mojito recipe.
Instead of mint and lime as you’d expect, this one has passion fruit, mango and mint flavours.
Overall, it’s sweeter than you’d expect from a mojito - it has a really
delicious fruity flavour and felt like drinking a fruit salad - a lovely dessert-like taste for the end of a barbecue.
It doesn’t taste too strong, though the smooth, light rum definitely comes through.
Havana Club’s canned cocktail contains 5% like most of the mojitos on the market.
This is a good choice for anyone looking for a sweet sip - but mojito purists might find it too sweet-tasting as it lacks the citrus bite usually given by lime.
- 3/5
Sunrise Mojito
- 250ml
- 95p at Lidl
The bargain price means you might have some reservations when pulling back the ring of this blue and green can from Lidl – but it held its weight against some costlier rivals.
There’s not much info on the ingredients list - just a simple mix of white rum, flavourings and sugar - so no real fruit on board.
But the simplicity does taste good.
The lime and mint are well balanced, although it’s sweeter than some others.
Served over ice with a slice, no one will notice it’s under a pound - especially as it contains 5% alcohol, just the same as premium
brand-name mojitos.
Slurped in the can, it looks good and tastes decent.
A great choice for a summery picnic tipple.
- 4/5
Sainsbury’s Mojito
- 250ml
- £1.40 at Sainsbury’s
The packaging on this minty mixer looks a bit more basic than some of its rivals but it’s what’s inside the counts, and that was impressive.
The lime flavour dominated and meant the drink was super-refreshing on a hot sunny day - I could imagine this as the ultimate after-work treat for a tinny on the train.
Sainsbury’s mojito is another with 5% booze, the white rum flavour comes through without dominating - and it’s only 67 calories per pack, which was less than some others.
The can also contains a full ingredients list - only this and the M&S drink had this, which makes it a top choice for anyone
with allergies who wants to know exactly what they’re drinking.
This good value, zesty delight will be straight into my trolley next time I’m in Sainsbury’s.
- 4/5
M&S Mojito
- 250ml
- £2.50 at M&S
The first thing that makes this canned mojito stand out is the price: at £2.50 per can, it’s not the easiest to swallow.
But there’s one clear reason that it costs more: M&S’s mojito contains more than double the rum content of other ready-mixed cocktails, with two measures taking it to an 8% tipple.
It also has lime juice rather than flavourings, and you can taste that freshness with a sharp, citrus twang.
This mojito definitely gets you in the mood to party with its double measure of rum, shut your eyes and you can imagine a barman has just shaken it up for you in a cocktail-maker.
Worth splashing out on for special occasions.
- 4/5
All Shook Up Mojito
- 250ml
- £1.50 at Tesco
I loved this light and zesty mojito, which is lightly sparkling with lime juice, mint flavouring and syrup mixed with white rum.
It’s less boozy than most of the other mojitos on the market, at 3.4%, and the dominant taste is like a cloudy lemonade with a little dash of mint.
I also contains proper fruit juice rather than just flavourings.
This is a super-easy sip: it slides down really easily and I was tempted to have a second can as it tastes so light.
All Shook Up’s mojito offered decent value - and it’s often on Clubcard offer at Tesco too making it even cheaper.
But the packaging’s design - white, black and lime green - was sleek and looked more premium than the price tag suggests.
Read More on The Sun
- 5/5
How to save on your supermarket shop
THERE are plenty of ways to save on your grocery shop.
You can look out for yellow or red stickers on products, which show when they've been reduced.
If the food is fresh, you'll have to eat it quickly or freeze it for another time.
Making a list should also save you money, as you'll be less likely to make any rash purchases when you get to the supermarket.
Going own brand can be one easy way to save hundreds of pounds a year on your food bills too.
This means ditching "finest" or "luxury" products and instead going for "own" or value" type of lines.
Plenty of supermarkets run wonky veg and fruit schemes where you can get cheap prices if they're misshapen or imperfect.
For example, Lidl runs its Waste Not scheme, offering boxes of 5kg of fruit and vegetables for just £1.50.
If you're on a low income and a parent, you may be able to get up to £442 a year in Healthy Start vouchers to use at the supermarket too.
Plus, many councils offer supermarket vouchers as part of the Household Support Fund.