Red Jacket Orchard - Blackcurrant Apple Juice

After my first taste test of a Red Jacket Orchard juice (Joe's Summer Blend, which was delicious), I decided to try another juice product from the orchard at my latest shopping trip to Whole Foods. While browsing through the assortment, I quickly noticed a blackcurrant apple juice. I love blackcurrant, but it's hard to find blackcurrant anything in the United States, and I've always had a weakness for blackcurrant juice (Especially Ribena), so I was thrilled to see it.

I didn't even make it to the car before opening the bottle, and was immediately pleased with the selection I made. The blackcurrant flavor is far from weak in the drink, but really blends nicely with the apple juice to help cut down on the tartness, while preventing the drink from being too sweet (which I find to be a personal concern with many apple juice drinks). I think this is a great drink for anyone that likes blackcurrants, but also a great way to introduce people to blackcurrant, since the flavor doesn't come on too strong in this drink. I will definitely be buying this again.

Red Jacket Orchards - Joe's Summer Blend

Recently, my local Whole Foods began to carry a line from Red Jacket Orchards. They had about 8 different juice blends and ciders being offered, but I decided it would be best to try one, before convincing myself that I simply *must* try them all. While looking over the flavors, I noticed one called Joe's Summer Blend. Intrigued, I grabbed the bottle, and didn't think much else of it.

When I arrived home, after chilling it for a few hours in the fridge, I grabbed the bottle to try a small glass. The flavor was rather straightforward, a high quality apple juice blend, with some lemon. It was rather sweet, so out of curiosity I looked at the ingredients to see how much sugar was used. None. In fact, the only two ingredients were apple juice and lemon juice.

It's official, I'm in love. The juice blend is a brilliant cross between apple juice and lemonade, with the sweet apples taking the place of the standard sugar or sweetener. Suddenly, Summer Blend makes perfect. Sadly, the juice is already sold out for the season, and most likely won't be returning until next spring/summer. But I will definitely be trying the other Red Jacket Orchard juices and ciders while awaiting its return. As for the price  $2.99 for a 32 ounce bottle actually seems to be on the lower end for Whole Foods, especially when taking into consideration the quality and taste of the juice.