Often titled Scotland’s other national drink, yes, behind whiskey, Irn Bru has had its share of controversies and confusion. A recent marketing campaign has capitalized on the indescribable flavor of Irn Bru by challenging drinkers to decipher its flavor. While ‘It Tastes Like Magic,’ is the ending for its latest commercial, that doesn’t hint much to its taste.
Despite the debate over its exact flavor, Irn Bru is commonly described as tasting like bubble gum, tutti-frutti, grapefruit, and cream soda. It tends to have a bit of a metallic aftertaste as well, along with some ginger flavor. The carbonated soft drink is also bright orange and smells fairly sweet.
There doesn’t seem to be an actual consensus among consumers. However, most tend to agree, at the very least, that Irn Bru is a sweet and tart soft drink.
Even though the flavor of the original Irn Bru is difficult to pinpoint, they went ahead and made others. However, many of them have since been discontinued.
Fiery Irn Bru
Lasting only 10 weeks, Fiery Irn Bru was a spicier version of the original recipe.
Meant to be hot and spicy, many speculated that the ingredients contained chili and ginger had been added to the original recipe.
In the mouth, Fiery Irn Bru had a warm, tingly feeling.
Irn Bru XTRA
When Irn Bru XTRA was announced, it was touted as being full of extra taste, but with no sugar. It was also supposed to have a refreshing feel when in the mouth.
However, it tends to be rather cloyingly sweet. It’s very sticky and somewhat heavy in the mouth. But also retains the mysterious flavors of the original Irn Bru.
Irn Bru 1901
With the tagline, Old and Unimproved, Irn Bru 1901 is going back to the original recipe that made them famous.
This calls for much more sugar in the recipe and zero artificial sweeteners, making this drink extra sugary. It also tends to have more of a tart flavor than the current version.
Irn Bru Energy
In 2006 Irn Bru launched Irn Bru Energy. It tends to have a similar flavor to the original but relies more heavily on the bubble gum flavor.
However, it does have a bit of a chemical aftertaste.
In Conclusion
There is heavy debate among the actual flavor of Irn Bru, it’s a bit of spectacle actually. However, generally speaking, it’s a sweet and tart soda that has heavy notes of bubble gum, cream soda, and grapefruit. It also has a bit of a ginger and metallic aftertaste.
While other flavors and types have been introduced, they don’t tend to stray too far from the original flavor.
