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Comment by joncrocks | Hacker News Reader

Cordial drinks aren't as much of a thing in the US anyway.

I feel Ribena's so baked in to British psychology it's not seen as a cordial. Orange, lime, and blackcurrant cordials are cordials.

Ribena's just Ribena. It's mixed with water almost exclusively, lemonade at a push, but blackcurrant cordial would be used for snakebites or rum+Guinness. Surely I'm not alone on this?

I am with you on this.

To add to mixing... just the right amount of water. Stronger or weaker for a cordial is simply stronger or weaker. But more or less water for Ribena is a question of right or wrong; that's why it's never quite right when going round a friend's house back in the day, or if it is that's uncanny.

> blackcurrant cordial would be used for snakebites

Of the actual snake variety, or are you meaning some kind of drink?

In the UK, it's a 50-50 mix of larger and cider. I guess some people mix in some cordial too.

Both replies mentioned "larger" (and cider) so I googled it and it's just a typo for "lager"

Very common typo, with the way it's pronounced in some english speaking countries. (there's probably a joke in there somewhere about pints vs half-litres)

A drink, larger and cider.

One can have a 'snakebite and black' adding a dash of black currant, also a 'black nasty' being a 'snakebite, pernod and black currant'.

Rum & Guinness sounds like an interesting combination. I have to try it.

I believe they refer to them as "Kool-Aid" drinks, despite being prepared differently

I'm not sure I understand the word "cordial" correctly, but Ribena doesn't have alcohol.

Cordial is a thick juicy syrup added to drinks, but is not alcoholic itself. I think the GP means ‘squash’ or ‘diluting juice’, which sometimes gets called cordial too (though I associate cordial with the thicker stuff)

It's worth noting that Ribena also comes ready made. If I ever buy Ribena, that's what I go for. Especially the carbonated version.

There are alternative blackcurrant cordials for diluting which are much cheaper and taste good. I think every British supermarket has their own brand one.

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