Brookvale Union Red Pub Vodka Soda (Strong) is a 6% ready-to-drink vodka soda in a 330mL can, built around the red creaming soda flavour familiar from Australian pubs. Brookvale Union has made it stronger than a standard vodka soda while keeping the drink light, fizzy and easy to get through on a warm afternoon.

The nose is unmistakably red lolly — creaming soda, raspberry, a little vanilla sweetness — sitting over clean neutral spirit. On the palate that confectionery character carries through without turning syrupy, with bright carbonation cutting across the sweetness and a faint sherbet tang mid-sip.

Texture is crisp rather than creamy, the bubbles doing most of the work. The extra alcohol shows as a gentle warmth at the back of the mouth instead of a hard spirit edge, and the finish is short, dry-ish and clean, which is what stops the sweetness from wearing you out over a few cans.