Home drinking - cider / perry tasting notes

caff · 17 Jun 2009 at 00:46

Ok, summer is here. Sunshine, festivals etc!

I think it's time to 'investigate' ciders and perrys from the supermarkets, for home parties and general drinking.

Personally I only ever touch cider in summer. So this thread is dedicated to BBQ and summer party drinking, i.e. stuff you can get in supermarkets.

Tomorrow evening, I'll be doing a home tasting of the following:

Aspall Perronelles Blush Suffolk Cyder £1.50
Aspall Suffolk Dry Cider £1.32
Bulmers Pear Cider £1.38
El Gaitero Spanish Cider £0.89
Extra Strong Cider Waitrose £1.25
Gaymers Devon Medium Cider £1.27
Gaymers Pear Cider £1.18
Gaymers Somerset Medium Dry Cider £1.27
Kopparberg Cider with Mixed Fruits £1.49
Kopparberg Pear Cider £1.43
Scrumpy Jack Cider £1.46
Vintage English Cider Waitrose £1.18
Vintage English Perry Waitrose £1.18

My three judging criteria will be:

It's available in most parts of the UK (coverage, 1=major supermarkets only to 5=everywhere)
It tastes ok (1=carp to 5=fantastic)
It provides a satisfied hazy drunkenness (1=no to 5=badger badger badger)

(Notes: this is all from Waitrose (who normally stock good booze) and the bottle size is not obvious from the above, but generally it will be somewhere between 250ml and 568ml)

Any reviews / feedback / slagging off considered - I'm just keen to find some quality ciders... see you tomorrow for some homely liver damage.

HungryHippos · 17 Jun 2009 at 01:06

caff said:
It provides a satisfied hazy drunkenness (1=no to 5=badger badger badger)

Surely this one is flawed as you will get more drunk the more you drink?

MaX_PoWah · 17 Jun 2009 at 01:11

You need Magners pear cider and id say Gaymers Orchard Reserve stewley or newton as well

Chris1712 · 17 Jun 2009 at 01:13

Add the new Magners Pear, st heliers pear and Brothers Pear (Festival especially). Brothers is my weapon of choice but Magners is very nice, but at nearly twice the strength Brothers pear is student friendly

.

Eatchipz · 17 Jun 2009 at 01:14

Anyone tried the new WKD Core?

crunchman · 17 Jun 2009 at 01:17

Eatchipz said:
Anyone tried the new WKD Core?

Hmm what's that ?

I did see a clear bottle of WKD over the weekend but I had assigned myself to Banana bread beer by then !

caff · 17 Jun 2009 at 01:17

Chris1712 said:
Add the new Magners Pear, st heliers pear and Brothers Pear (Festival especially). Brothers is my weapon of choice but Magners is very nice, but at nearly twice the strength Brothers pear is student friendly .

I wanted to try all of these. Especially the brothers - as I've heard they are a festival-friendly brand. I'll have a hunt around to see if I can get them in the test. I have no fear of very strong ciders.

ScarySquirrel · 17 Jun 2009 at 01:18

Pear Cider is the best thing about summer.

Eatchipz · 17 Jun 2009 at 02:19

crunchman said:
Hmm what's that ?

I did see a clear bottle of WKD over the weekend but I had assigned myself to Banana bread beer by then !

It is just a new Apple Cider from WKD! I like it a lot about the only thing from the WKD brand I like!

Though in General Kooperberg is my favourite Cider.

Chris1712 · 17 Jun 2009 at 03:08

caff said:
I wanted to try all of these. Especially the brothers - as I've heard they are a festival-friendly brand. I'll have a hunt around to see if I can get them in the test. I have no fear of very strong ciders.

Sainsburys and Morrisons especially are the best cider carriers around here. Although Brothers Festival seems to be nearly exclusive to Tesco at the moment.

Andelusion · 17 Jun 2009 at 03:28

I find Kopperberg far too sweat. Magners is a bit too fizzy/zingy for my liking, Bulmers is a nice inbetween and my favourite for summery drinking. I prefer Katy red for the taste though.

danza · 17 Jun 2009 at 07:53

I expect the Waitrose and Scrumpy Jack to do the best, Bulmers and GAYmers are an insult to proer nice cider.

Kopparberg is good, but tastes completely non-alcoholic.

Not sure on the El Gaitero. If you get all that drunk in one evening, you'll be utterly wasted!

K.C. Leblanc · 17 Jun 2009 at 08:18

Also add some of the Thatchers single apple range, Westons Organic and some Sheppy's.

MeatLoaf · 17 Jun 2009 at 08:39

Bulmers and Gaymers Pear Coder i find are too sweet and horrible really. Koppaberg is my favourite

St Hellier Blueberry Cider is pretty nice too

kaiowas · 17 Jun 2009 at 08:46

Love Kopparberg, not really a fan of other ciders and even all the other pear ciders taste too much like normal cider for me to enjoy them.

Oh and Kopparberg is currently 2 for 3 in Tesco

Plus they had some Kopparberg glasses the other week so I bagged a couple of those too. Also our local sainsbury usually has it in cans which works out cheaper than buying bottles.

HungryHippos · 17 Jun 2009 at 09:00

kaiowas said:
Love Kopparberg, not really a fan of other ciders and even all the other pear ciders taste too much like normal cider for me to enjoy them.

Oh and Kopparberg is currently 2 for 3 in Tesco Plus they had some Kopparberg glasses the other week so I bagged a couple of those too. Also our local sainsbury usually has it in cans which works out cheaper than buying bottles.

Yeah I always get the kopparberg cans rather than bottles

alexakasloth · 17 Jun 2009 at 09:03

No Brothers strawberry cider?

I get around · 17 Jun 2009 at 09:15

$loth said:
No Brothers strawberry cider?

Thats horrible stuff, it tastes like someone has added sweat to strongbow then mulched a single strawberry in it.
It's too sweet as well.

No jacques there?

Cosimo · 17 Jun 2009 at 09:19

Just don't drink the whole lot in one tasting.

schumi84 · 17 Jun 2009 at 09:55

crunchman said:
Hmm what's that ?

I did see a clear bottle of WKD over the weekend but I had assigned myself to Banana bread beer by then !

That is absolutely full of win

, everything after it tastes of bananas too, lol.

I am not a massive cider fan, though i have had the Koppaberg with mixed fruits before and tasted very nice

, would definitely drink it more often if i didnt like real ales as much