Cider Pages

Finally for the Great British Beer Festival reviews we come to a cider from that well know cider county Derbyshire.

Before reviewing, I ought to tip a nod to the organisers of the CAMRA festivals - not just the Great British Beer Festival, but all the regional events too. These people have a passion - OK its mostly about beer, and I have met some CAMRA people who really don't get or like cider having a part. But this nod is't to them, its to the people who volunteer to give us all a chance to try something new and have a set of principles that ensure (mostly) that drinkers get an honest and traditional product.

I have to say that I went on to drink a couple more ciders before having to go and chase a train to get home. I would have loved to review them for here but that is maybe for another time. Needless to say that there were some fantastic ciders at the festival this year and there were also one or two that, on the whole, were a little off the mark. Two stick out in my mind as falling into this category and, thankfully, one of them was after I decided to stop scoring and just soak up the atmosphere. The other, in my own opinion, was this one.

On the tag, I think it cam out as a 3 - a medium sweet. It also poured a golden coloured cider - rather more clear than I expected, but then cider can drop clear (as I have said rather too many times before).

What I get with this cider is sweetness. It kills the apple/cider flavour - well, almost any other flavour that could be found in a cider. I didn't get tannin, although I did if I tried hard to find it. I didn't get any acid - it was overpowered. In the end it just got plain sickly - and on speaking to a bar 'person' I found that other people who had tried it had pronounced pretty much the same verdict.

I have to say that forming an opinion on this cider was tricky. It resembled the sickly sweetness of some of the commercial ciders whilst being a full juice cider (well, I am not entirely sure if there was more sweetner than apple juice). So I have two conclusions: Either this is what the maker intended - in as much as the maker intended it to be this sweet because they thought that real cider drinkers like sweet ciders. Or, their hand slipped when they were adding the sweetner. Therefore, either way, I believe they misjudged something.

In scoring, I have tried to be as fair and honest as I can. I don't like slating full juice ciders without good cause, but I truly feel that this was just far too sweet (and I have tried other Derbyshire ciders which are really very nice indeed).

Sorry Three Cats - a score of 56/100

You may have noticed that there is an absense of alcoholic strength on these Great British Beer Festival reviews. Not entirely sure why, but this information wasn't either published or put on the polipin labels. I guess I could have asked, but then I suspect its a device to stop people from just ordering the strongest ciders. A good idea (if that is the reason) although it does go to show how daft some people are. Whether you go for a 6.5% or a 7.5% cider, its pretty much going to have the same effect... and if that is the only reason someone drinks a particular cider then they have a lot to learn about cider!

In part, that is why I started blogging publically instead of just keeping it to myself. If just one person can see these ramblings and explore different ciders then the job is done. If someone can move from an industrial alcopop type of cider (cider in its very loosest sense) to something more sophisticated and honest, then job is an absolute goodun.

OK. Moving on. This next cider was my 5th cider. Yes, there had to be a point at which reviewing cider got too tricky, but as the GBBF sold cider by the 3rd as well as the more traditional half or pint, it lent itself to trying a lot of ciders. In fact, I think I reviewed 6 before I decided to stop and just... well.. enjoyed a few more:-)

West Croft's 'Janets Jungle Juice' is a festival favourite. I don't come across it that often, but it was certainly at the Winter Festival and a few others that I have been to. I must admit, I have only tried it once before now but seem to recall enjoying it. Not only is it popular, its award winning too - being voted CAMRA's 2007 champion cider. A Somerset Cider Maker who has done big things.


Well, it smells full of fruit. Doh. That sounds very dumb, but it isn't true of all ciders - not even full juice ciders. Its nicely golden with a little haze to it which suggests no filtering or mucking around. Don't you just love full jucie, simple cider?!?!

Now, to the taste. Its not exactly straightforward. Not that there is anything particularly wrong with it technically - the fruitiness in the smell is followed through with a rich taste, a strong tannic body and a hefty bit of alcohol to it. Its pretty bloomin sweet for a dry/medium dry cider. There is little acid to offset this, so it could just be that its all made bare with the tannin. However, it does feel as though the sweetness is there to cover some of the dryness.

Two of us were trying Jungle Juice and my friends first reaction was 'vinegary'. He could be pardoned for this as, although I don't agree with it being vinegary, there is an odd taste to it. Before I could describe it, I simply wrote down 'almost chemically??'. On discussion, we developed that (with the aid of a third person) to 'petroleumish' (don't you just liove the technical descriptions... I bet there are some reviewers who would be plain jealous at our abuse of the English language!!). On reflection, I wonder if it wasn't kept in a flavoured cask - rum or whisky which imparted the odd flavour. It did detract from the enjoyment for me though.

For those considering Janet's Jungle Juice - go for it. It is a good cider - I just think my one was one of those batches that others just won't get (depending on what Mr West Croft stores the rest of his cider in...)

It scored 73/100. It should have got a silver... but it got a bronze.

From the Isle of Sheppey in Kent comes the next review. I am sure it ought to be 'Gobbledegook', but I will go with the spelling given by CAMRA. Johnson's are a very small concern, making cider from their own orchard (as I can't find a website, I cannot give too much information on them).

This is exactly the sort of cider that is promoted at beer festivals. Stuff that you cannot easily get anywhere else. I did notice a few that were, lets say, easily obtainable. However, for the most part, GBBF did very well to provide a huge and bvroad range of ciders from all over the UK.

Now, as far as reviews go, this one is (I think) perhaps the most scrutinised. Mainly because three of us were drinking it and making comments about it. So, the scoring ought to be pretty well accurate for it eh!? And for once all who tried it were i pretty much the same opinion. It is very good.

On the nose, it is pretty faint. Its also pretty clear too (Not that you can see it in the photo!!) Could that be a touch of filtering... although I have really no issue that this my have just dropped very bright. It happens more than you might think - which is why I do wonder at the excessive nature of some filtering!

It as a bit of acid to it, as well as a moderate tannin. A very nice and fairly simple taste to it as well. I suspected that this was a mixture of desert and cider fruit... but that is so difficult to work out when there is both tannin and acid present. Its in a nice balance though, which makes the cider really very drinkable.

It is dry though. The '6' classing (very dry) is just about right for Goobledewhatever. Not a bad aftertaste either (though its still pretty dry on the tongue.

If only it could be an easier name to spell:-)

It scored 78/100, so goes onto the bronze apple list of really very good ciders.

 
Tom Putt's are described as a triple use apple, and are rated by many good cider makers as an excellent addition to a blended cider. What is a triple use apple? Well, its one that is both a culinary, eating and cider apple... It is a sharp, cooking apple. It is also, if left to mature, edible. And when pressed produces some very nice juice indeed.

Does it make a single variety cider though? My first thought was 'brave', but I don't see why not.... except you have to bear in mind that I am always sceptical of SV ciders.

Its a little hazy in the glass, and very light in colour. It also has a pretty light aroma to it as well, although I am already suspecting that it is going to be a pretty sharp cider. And I am right, it is hellishly acidic! Biting - with gnashing teeth, and actually makes me pucker each mouthful. Forget its medium dry status, any sweetness is totally lost in this cider.

If Gillow are after a cider that is different, they have done it well. There is nothing wrong with this cider - it just has more harsh acidity in it than any other cider I have tasted... ever (probably). Once you settle in to the drink, it becomes more bearable and in the end I did actaully enjoy it more. However. Wow. It is sharp!

As expected from Tom Putt, there is no tannin in the cider. That is good, as it makes this an honest cider that reflects its ingredients. However, I wonder how tempted Gillow werre to adjust it?!

So, it is recommended. But you could practice for it by sucking a lemon first:-)

A score of 67/100

 
Moving on to the next cider I tried at the Great British Beer Festival, I come to something a little more risky. Whilst very traditional, pressing juice through straw is one of those things that that vast majority of makers avoid like the plague - not simply because the world has gone health and safety mad, but also because it must increase the chance of things that you don't want in a cider getting in.

Saying that though, if you want to taste cider like they did 'in the old days', then straw pressed cider must be one of the ways of achieving that. Looking at Brimblecombes website, they appear to be cidermaking farmers in the real sense - operating with old equipment and keeping the old 'ways' alive in their use of ancient cider press and wooden barrels.

This one is either going to be lovely or odd.

Its quite a hazy cider, though aren't any bits of straw flaoting in it (Okay, that was a joke - there wouldn't be, would there!). It smells fairly deep, although reasonably faint (though I confess that this could just be because I was in the middle of a festival and didn't concentrate sufficiently!)

To taste, I have to say I think the straw does make a difference. Whilt being more dry than the grading of medium dry (which is done by GBBF in any case), it is a very mellow cider. It is all cider fruit again, with very little acid to offset the drying in the mouth. The tannins are bvery rounded and don't impose too far though, and I think this is the affect of the traditional method of production, which is much slower than the modern mill-it, press-it all in a short time.

I really like this cider. It has a loooong aftertaste which just sits in the mouth nicely.

So far, so good. A score of 83/100 gives the GBBF suppliers another silver apple.

I had some other reviews planned for this week, though I have moved them to make space for 'reviews frm the Great British Beer Festival'. I would have let them go in turn, but as I am a little ahead of myself with reviews at the moment it makes sense to make them as timely as possible.

Reviewing draught cider from craft/artisan cider makers has a few complications that don't tend to crop up so much with the stock supermarket offerings. These are often standardised, stable products that rarely change from year to year. Well, when I say change, I expect some (Henney's etc.) do change, but not that significantly.

On the other hand, draught cider can vary from batch to batch, let alone year to year. It can also be badly kept (though keeping cider in good condition is still easier than cask beer). Add to this the tendency of large festivals to insist on using plastic polypins, which allow air in as soon as the first glass is poured, and you have a whole lot of things out of the cider makers control.

I think that diversity and change are a strength for craft cider. Ciders mature and age, taste different in different conditions. The flip side is that any review is a sapshot in time. I tasted some good cider and some fairly iffy cider at the GBBF... and if I am to review the cider I have to comment on it. But that is a little unfair, especially as how the cider is kept and how long its allowed to oxidise in a polipin is way out of the control of the cider maker.

Helpfully, none of the ciders I tried had any faults like this. So credit to GBBF. The iffy ones were either sweetened within an inch of their life, made from what seemed like Bramley apples or else just plain odd. Still, variety is the spice of life, so they say!

My first candidate for review from GBBF is the Dunkerton's Cider. I am not sure if this is Black Fox or (more likely) their Old Fashioned Still Cider. It was rated as a Medium Dry cider and cameout nicely hazy - even cloudy.

The sweetness in this cider was definitely present but not exactly intrusive by any measure. It is a cider that is packed with fruit and had a great mild tannin that ran through from the smell to the aftertaste. There wasn't a whole heap of acid either, which did make the cider a little biased to the tannin. Saying that, all this did was to give the cider a deep Herefordshire character (well, Dunkertons are from Herefordshire eh!).

A good, mellow cider which is very drinkable - unfortunately there is far too much here to try so I won't be buying another. Recommended.

As an afterthought, I would say that Dunkerton's really are masters of cider making, and this is a bit of a safe, reliable starting point... no, the cider itself isn't 'safe' - its just that every time I have ever had a Dunkertons it has never once disappointed me.

A score of 84/100. A silver apple. A great start!