A glass of Sainsbury's house sparkling for the lady

Hands up anyone who'd expect anything much from a £4.99 bottle of 'house sparkling'? Anyone?

Well, actually, there's a good chance you'd be missing out. In all honesty I only picked up this bottle because of the promised 'brioche' flavours advertised on the label. I'm very partial to enriched bakery products, so distilling this into a bottle of wine seemed like manna from heaven.

On this point I am rather disappointed- the promised brioche has failed to materialise on this particular palette. However in all other respects this is a pleasant glass of wine. It's nicely fizzy without feeling gassy and somewhere between a typical brut and demi-sec. I'm normally a proponent of very dry wines but I am somewhat more flexible in the presence of bubbles and found the very slight sweetness rather appealing.

As a hardened Cava and Prosecco girl I will admit I approached this wine looking only to criticise. However, now I've tried it I would definitely buy it again. 7/10

A pint of: Sainsburys - Westmorland ale.

This is a Sainsburys taste the difference beer. Part of an expanding range of quality own brand beers & wines there currently offering. This ale is brewed for Sainsburys by Marston's at Jennings brewery. So the beer is brewed by those who know now to make it & it also has that I think is important. I think it's good that Sainsburys have taken the time to brew this beer in a local brewery. They could easily have called it Westmorland. Brewed a style that is in keeping with Cumbria but made it in London or abroad where it's cheap.

The beer is 4%abv & comes in a 500ml bottle. Although it curiously states on the bottle that it gives two glasses. Two 250ml glasses. But why wouldn't you serve it in a 500ml pint glass? It currently costs £1.69 which is pretty cheap.

In colour it's golden amber. It's not to bitter but does have quite a sharp after taste. It uses a combination of fuggles, goldings & challenger hops. This is s beer I would enjoy on a hop summers day. During a BBQ perhaps with the Cumberland sausages.

My score for this is 7 out of 10. A nice pleasant beer at a reasonable price. But nothing ground braking or exceptional.