There are now gins that taste like parma violets and sherbet lemons

Here’s one for the sweet-toothed booze hound. Asda now sells gins flavoured to taste like pear drops, sherbet lemons and parma violets.

It has packaged them to look like botanical gins, even though they are destined to end up taken to summer BBQs as the novelty booze you spotted while loading up on cheap sausages.

Alcohol content has not been watered down for the sake of that nostalgic taste. All three flavours have an ABV of 40%, just like a regular gin.

The colours are as bold as the flavours. Lemon sherbet is bright yellow, the pear drop gin is pink. Most pear drop sweets may be off-white, but that wouldn’t cut it in this crowd. And the parma violet gin is dark purple that turns pink when you add tonic water, according to the label.

These gins are part of Asda’s Extra Special range, and cost £18 for a 70cl bottle.

You’ll also find a parma violet-inspired gin at Aldi. It released the Violet Shimmer gin liqueur earlier this year, a bottle that won a bronze award from the International Spirit Challenge.

That gin is cheaper too, although at 20% ABV it’s more a gin-based drink than a pure flavoured gin.

You can order Asda’s flavoured Extra Special gins now. We’re headed straight to sherbet lemon. Are you more of a gin purist? Don’t miss our ranked list of the best gins.