The Cider Report
27th February 2011
Over a month ago I walked into Dan Murphy's, went to the cider section and took one bottle of every cider they had at the time.
The goal was to find the best ciders, so I have a better idea of what to buy in the future. One month and thirty two ciders later, I have ended up with some pleasing results.
Below are my personal views of each one, i've tried to keep every tasting as consistent and accurate as possible. They were all chilled, served and poured in the exact same way.
Previously when i've drunken beer before, it might take more than 3 drinks before I start to like a particular drink. So that's something I need to take into account and determine whether a cider is worthy of trying again.
I had the urge to change some of my notes or ratings after reviewing all of them, but in the end I didn't touch anything, everything is what I wrote on the day.
Overall it was a fun drinking all these ciders. I was concerned there might not be so much variety, but I was wrong.
Highest rated ciders:
- Old Mout - Scrumpy
- Magners - Pear
- Stassen - Pear Cider
- Three Oaks Cider Co - Original
- Snowies - Blond Cider
- Genesis - Premium Apple Cider
- St.Hellier - Pear Cider
- Old Mout - Cidre
- Cidre Breton - Brut Traditionnel
Every cider, complete with photo, alcohol content, description on bottle, notes, rating and whether I would buy it again follows.
Some notes are quite short, and I didn't tend to elaborate as I wanted each one to be brief.
Old Mout - Scrumpy (8%)
"Made in Nelson since 1947, Cider with a kick."
Slightly dry in taste, tastes pretty good, has a pretty good kick at 8%.
Rekorderlig - Premium Wild Berries Cider (4%)
"Premium Cider from Sweden."
It tastes like a fizzy jelly mixture, very berry flavour, I laughed and smiled when first smelt it, it's so sweet.
Magners - Pear (4.5%)
"Irish Pear Cider, Made in Tipperary Ireland."
Delicious pear flavour, good impressions of the first pear cider i've tried.
Westons - Premium Organic Pear Cider (6%)
"Traditionally made from selected organically grown pears."
Pretty good, similar to the first one, slightly less pear flavour maybe.
Magners - Irish Cider Original (4.5%)
"Magners Irish Cider is crafted using the juice of fresh, flavoursome apples."
Not too sweet, slightly bland.
Westons - Special Reserve Cider, Vintage 2009 (8.2%)
"Distinguished full bodied cider made from selected cider apples, the very best of a single years crop. Traditionally matured in old oak vats for up to 6 months."
Wow, seems much stronger than the first 8%, strong spirits taste, can tell it's been sitting around for awhile.
Henney's - Dry Cider (6%)
"Made from 100% fresh pressed juice."
I feel indifferent about this cider, its ok, theres better dry ciders out there.
Bulmers - Original Cider (4.7%)
"Authentic Apple Cider, naturally crisp taste."
Quite applely, strong sour like smell, not bad, not particularly good though I think.
Old Rosie - Cloudy Scrumpy (7.3%)
"A lightly carbonated traditional scrumpy cider matured in old oak vats."
Quite a dry cloudy, 'thick' aftertaste taste, it's ok, nothing to write home about, meh.
Blue Angel (7%)
"Fermented with apples from Australia and New Zealanad and real passionfruit."
Beautiful, beautiful blue bottle, very carbonated, passionfruit taste is interesting.
Stassen - Pear Cider (5.4%)
"A unique premium belgian cider fermented from 100% juice using our vintage family recipe in 1885."
Oh man so easy to drink, light pear taste, delicious and refreshing.
Three Oaks Cider Co - Original (5.3%)
"Three oaks is a crisp and refreshing alcoholic apple cider."
Refreshing and sweet, delicious.
Tooheys Extra Dry - Seeds (5%)
"The Clean Crisp Cider."
Quite sweet, doesn't seem that great though.
Monteith's Brewing Co - Crushed Pear Cider (4.5%)
"A refreshing light cider made from fresh sun-ripened New Zealand Pears."
Beautifully clear, much lighter taste/flavour than the previous pear ciders.
Rekorderlig - Premium Apple Cider (4.5%)
"Premium Cider from Sweden."
Jelly mixture cider again! Very similar to the wild berries before, tastes more of a cider.
Snowies - Blond Cider (4.5%)
"Using a triple blend of 100% quality australian Pink Lady, Red Delicious and Granny Smith Apples."
I quite like this cider, the blend of the 3 apples is quite delicious.
Aspall - Crisp Draught Suffolk Cyder (5.5%)
"Clean and crisp with an incredible fresh apple aroma."
Its crisp and fresh alright, quite dry, not bad.
Westons - Perry (7.4%)
"A superior quality lightly sparkling perry, crafted to deliver a fresh medium dry fruity flavour."
Quite a strong cider, quite fruity, pretty good.
Rekorderlig - Premium Strawberry-Lime Cider (4%)
"Made from the purest Swedish spring water, Rekorlig Starberry & Lime Cider is bursting with the freshest summer strawberry flavour."
Man, the strongest of them all so far in sweetness, the lime is really really good and adds a delicious sour note.
Genesis - Premium Apple Cider (4.5%)
"Genesis heralds a new beginning in Australian cider making, it is fermented using premium wine yeat and freshly crushed apples to create a superior sparkling cider."
Sweet, fruity and light, it tastes like a cross between an apple and pear cider, love this.
Three Oaks Cider Co - Sweet (5.3%)
"Three oaks is a crisp and refreshing alcholic apple cider."
Quite sweet and fruity, very appley taste slightly sour finish, not bad.
Three Kings Cider (4.6%)
"Carefully crafted apple cider containting 100% real apples."
Highly drinkable, fruity taste.
Stowford Press - Medium Dry Cider (4.5%)
"This delicious traditional draught cider is cold filtered and matured up to 6 months where it develops a light medium dry fruity characters."
Not bad, I don't think I prefer draught ciders that much.
Mercury - Draught Cider (5.2%)
"Brewed longer at lower gravity for a naturally fuller flavour."
Better than the last Draught Cider.
Kopparberg - Pear (4.5%)
"Genuine Swedish pear cider from Koppabergs Brewery."
Huge pear smell and super sweet pear flavour, very clear, unfortunately it's so powerful it kind of tastes artificial (whether it is or not).
Rekorderlig - Premium Pear Cider (4.5%)
"Made with the purest Swedish spring water and freshest pears."
Less artificial taste than the pear cider above, but quite similar and sweet.
Castaway Cider (5%)
"Proudly brewed in Western Australia using imported and local apple juice."
Pretty standard cider I think, not much to say.
Mercury - Dry Cider (5.2%)
"Brewed longer at lower gravity for a naturally fuller flavour."
Quite a nice dry cider, not much to say about it.
St.Hellier - Pear Cider (5%)
"Premium Pear Cider."
Mmm a light pear cider with dry aftertaste, no where near as strong as the past two, pretty good.
Old Mout - Cidre (5%)
"Rich in flavour, warm in colour, light in sparkle, Out Mout is refreshingly thirst quenching straight from the bottle or poured over ice."
Very apply aroma and taste and slightly dry, I like it, easy to drink.
Cidre Breton - Brut Traditionnel (5%)
"Cidre Breton is a slightly sparkling, strong, full-flavoured natural cider."
Probably the most interesting looking of them all, cloudy, sediment at the bottom, very applely earthey taste, it's as if i'm eating an apple.
Mercury - Sweet Cider (5.2%)
"Brewed longer at lower gravity for a naturally fuller flavour."
Very carbonated, sharp, not too sweet, its alright.