Osu Original

English | Cymraeg

A review of Osu Original - a great-looking drink: cloudy and the colour of dark honey.

Score:

3/5

ABV: 0%
Calories per 100ml: 182

Apparently, people have been drinking vinegar for health reason in various parts of the world for centuries. But it was in mid-2021 that many people in the UK became aware of the Japanese drink Osu, via some entertaining television adverts.

This is their Original drink, meaning it’s only made from apples, with no other fruits. It’s a great-looking drink: cloudy and the colour of dark honey. It also comes in a great bottle, with a nice motif of Japanese cherry blossoms. It’s not as sweet as their Blueberry and Pomegranate drink, but neither is it excessively vinegary, perhaps because it’s made with more apple juice than apple vinegar.

As well as mixing it with water to drink, the producers suggest using it as a marinade, a salad dressing, or a cocktail ingredient. It’s made with “the mother”: the bacteria that make vinegar by turning alcohol into acetic acid. These bacteria are said to have various health benefits, but the evidence on that is far from clear.

Drydrinker and Wise Bartender are online suppliers of low-alcohol and no-alcohol drinks. When you buy drinks from them using these links, Alcohol Change UK gets a proportion of the sales, helping us work to end the harm caused by alcohol.