Cider Tasting Guide - Bristol Cider Shop

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Real cider only has one ingredient - fresh pressed apple juice. You pick the apples in the autumn, press them and then l
Cider Tasting Guide

What is Real Cider?

Real cider only has one ingredient - fresh pressed apple juice. You pick the apples in the autumn, press them and then leave the juice to ferment over the winter. The yeast that lives on the skins turns the sugar into alcohol and when that’s finished (usually after about 6 months) you end up with cider. It really is as simple as that! Obviously, making good cider takes a bit of practice and many cider makers have been making it for generations.

West Country Cider

The South West really is the land of cider. From Herefordshire down to the tip of Cornwall, cider runs through our veins. Cider is the original West Country drink and people have been making it here for centuries. Farm workers used to get paid in it and babies were even baptised in it. It’s all down to the apples, and lucky for us, cider apples are particularly suited to the soil and climate of the South West. That and a little bit of West Country magic…

Tasting Cider

This guide is intended as an introduction to some of the different styles of cider produced in the South West. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list by any means but it features some of our favourite producers. The ciders have been arranged from dry to sweet and we recommend that you taste them in that order. As with any drink, there are 3 stages to tasting cider: first you look at it; then you smell it; and finally you taste it. Cheers!

Photographs by Jon Kent

1 Scrumpy (6%)

Rich’s Cider, Highbridge, Somerset

Farmhouse cider (or ‘Scrumpy’) is the most traditional form of cider. It is made from lots of different types of apples and is simply fermented until all of the sugar has turned to alcohol. It is still, cloudy and will typically be very dry. It is not to everyone’s tastes and is sometimes referred to as ‘rough’ cider(!) but this is the starting point for all proper cider. Rich’s Cider in Somerset has been making farmhouse cider for over 60 years. Their scrumpy is still made using traditional methods and is aged in oak vats. It is one of the most popular draught ciders in the shop.

2 Double Zero (5.8%)

Presshead Cider, Slaughterford, Wiltshire

Once it has fermented, all cider is still. There are a couple of ways to make it sparkling – one is to carbonate it and the other is to condition it in the bottle. Adding a small amount of sugar when bottling restarts the fermentation process which creates carbon dioxide, producing a natural sparkle. Denis France is very passionate about making cider! He hand picks all of his fruit and takes extreme care to achieve the perfect balance of different apples to make the perfect cider. He won Champion Farmhouse Cider at the British Cider Championships in 2015.

3 Pilton (5.5%)

Pilton Cider, Pilton, Somerset

If you ferment all of the sugar into alcohol then you are left with dry cider. If you want a sweeter cider then you can either sweeten it (with sugar, fruit juice or honey) or you can ‘keeve’ the cider. This basically means that you remove the nutrients so the yeast dies out before it can turn all of the sugar into alcohol so it is naturally sweeter. Martin Berkeley has mastered the art of keeving and Pilton tastes as good as it looks! The natural sweetness gives the cider a delicious fruity flavour and the natural sparkle finishes it off perfectly. Very popular for weddings and other celebrations, Pilton is a real crowd pleaser.

4 Browns (7.5%)

Dunkertons Cider, Pembridge, Herefordshire

This is the first of our single-varietals and is made from the Browns apple, which is a ‘sharp’ apple which means that it has low tannin but high acidity. It is excellent added to a blend and is also used as a single variety. Dunkertons Cider was established by Ivor and Susie Dunkerton in 1980 and was at the forefront of the resurgence of craft cider making. Dunkertons are one of the few cidermakers to have full Soil Association accreditation and all of their ciders are certified organic.

5 Kingston Black (6.5%) Hecks Cider, Street, Somerset

The Kingston Black is the most famous of all the cider apples. It is highly prized for its flavour but is notoriously difficult to grow and only fruits every other year so is in short supply. This is an example of a bitter-sharp apple, which means that it has high tannin and high acidity. The Hecks family has been making traditional farmhouse cider in Street, near Glastonbury, since 1840. Andrew and Will are 6th and 7th generation cider makers and still use traditional methods to produce their celebrated cider.

6 Somerset Redstreak (6.1%) Perry’s Cider, Dowlish Wake, Somerset

The last of our single-varietals, and a bitter-sweet apple, the Somerset Redstreak produces a sweet juice that doesn’t have the acidity of the other two but is full of fruity apple flavour. Try mixing some of this with the other single varietals to see if you can create the perfect blend! Perry’s have been making cider since the 1920s and have an amazing museum of old cider making equipment at their cider works. The day to day operations have now passed to George, who has introduced some brilliant new labels in collaboration with illustrator Tom Frost.

7 Harvest Moon (7.2%)

Worley’s Cider, Shepton Mallet, Somerset

The apple harvest runs from August right up until Christmas. Some varieties crop early and some much later. This is a late season cider, which means that the fruit has had longer to develop to full ripeness and the slower working yeasts help to produce a very fruity cider. Neil Worley has been making cider for about 15 years and produces some cracking blends. He’s particularly strong on the technical aspects of fermentation and is a wealth of knowledge on different types of fruit and yeast.

8 Headless Man (6.5%)

Ross on Wye Cider and Perry, Peterstow, Herefordshire

Cider is often matured in wood to develop the flavours. By using different types of barrels, you can produce an extra level of complexity and spirit barrels are often used to impart the cider with a hint of whisky or, in this case, rum. Mike Johnson grows over 50 varieties of apples and is an absolute master at blending them. His ciders have won numerous awards and in 2013, Mike was awarded a Queen’s Diamond Award for Excellence in Food and Drink, for his contribution to cidermaking in Herefordshire.

9 Sweet Cheeks (4%)

Cotswold Cider Company, Coleshill, Oxfordshire

We used to be dead against ‘fruit ciders’ because a lot of them have never seen an apple in their lives! We’ve now come to the conclusion that as long as it’s proper cider, blended with proper fruit juice, then fruity ciders can be a nice alternative for those with a sweeter palette. Rory Souter is a great advocate of the real cider movement and is one of the new breed of cider makers that marry great cider with great branding. Sweet Cheeks combines cider with blackberry and elderberry juice to produce a fruity ‘blush’ cider.

10 Classic Perry (5%)

Oliver’s Cider and Perry, Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire

Okay, first thing’s first, perry is not the same as pear cider. Perry is a magical drink made from perry pears, in the same way that proper cider is made from cider apples. Perry is traditionally only produced in the Three Counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire and legend has it that perry pears can only be grown within the sight of May Hill. Perry trees can be over 200 years old and can be as tall as an oak tree. Tom Oliver is one of the finest perry makers in the world and is a passionate advocate of proper cider and perry. He only uses wild yeasts so is completely at the mercy of the natural fermentation. This is a high risk approach to cider making but the quality of the finished product is a testament to the method. Tom has won pretty much every cider prize going and in 2015 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Gold Medal at the British Cider Championships.

11 Somerset Cider Brandy (42%) Somerset Cider Brandy Company, Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerset

Somerset Cider Brandy is made in exactly the same way as Calvados but is all the better for being made from Somerset cider. The cider is distilled in a pair of copper stills called Josephine and Fifi and the resulting Eau de Vie is matured in oak barrels for up to 20 years. The 5 Year Old is still quite young so doesn’t yet have much of the colour or flavour of the wood but is fruity with an apple nose. Julian Temperley is something of a hero in the world of cider, and not just for running the famous Somerset Cider Bus at Glastonbury Festival. When the EU tried to prevent him from calling his spirit cider brandy, he challenged and then managed to overturn the decision. Not only did he manage to change EU law but Somerset Cider Brandy has now been awarded its own Protected Geographical Indication.

Cider Apples

Proper cider is made from cider apples, which are different to other types of apple because they’re full of acidity and tannin. This means that they’re no good for eating but when they ferment they’re full of flavour and this is the hallmark of a good cider. Most ciders are blended from anything between 2-10 different types of

apple and the art of the cider maker is to balance all of their different characteristics. There are a few special types of apple that are considered good enough to use on their own and these are used to make single-varietal ciders. These have a unique flavour and are the building blocks of a good blend.

Vegetarian, Vegan & Gluten Free Because they are made from 100% juice, all of the ciders in this guide are naturally vegetarian/ vegan-friendly and gluten-free. Some other drinks are ‘fined’ using animal or dairy derivatives but

Bad Apples

We don’t want to dwell too much on commercial cider but sadly real cider gets a bad name from cheap mass produced cider. The legal minimum juice content to be called ‘cider’ in the UK is a paltry 35% and commercial cider makers will often used cheap /imported/concentrated juice which doesn’t have any flavour, so they have to add all kinds of artificial flavourings. There is no legal requirement

you can rest assured that none of these have been. They do contain sulphites but these sadly can’t be avoided and are kept to an absolute minimum.

to list ingredients on alcoholic drinks in the UK – or even to say what percentage of juice is used. The only way to tell is that real cider makers are very proud about what they put in their ciders so they will say something like “made from 100% fresh pressed juice” on the label. Right, that’s the rant out of the way! Now we can get on and try some proper, award‑winning, West Country cider…

Bristol Cider Shop

Bristol Cider Shop is one of the only specialist cider shops in the UK. We are a showcase for the very best cider and perry in the South West and everything we sell is made within 50 miles of the shop from 100% juice. We sell over 100 varieties of cider, as well as cider brandy, cider vinegar, cider hampers and cider gifts. If you’re ever in Bristol then come and visit us in the shop! We can talk about cider until the cows come home…

Buy Cider Online

We hold regular tastings and events and this guide is based on our popular ‘Introduction to Cider’ tastings which we hold every Friday night in the shop. We also run a lot of private tastings and offer training and consultancy to anybody that would like to find out more about real cider. We were honoured to be named the UK’s Independent Cider Retailer of the Year at the Drinks Retailing Awards 2018.

We are based in Bristol but we deliver all over the UK. There is a wide range of bottles, taster cases and gifts on our website and you can buy draught cider in 10/ 20 litre bag in boxes. Find us at www.bristolcidershop.co.uk

All of the ciders in this guide are featured in our Cider Tasting Kit, which is available from our website. It is a great introduction to real cider and the perfect gift for the cider connoisseur!

Bristol Cider Shop Unit 4, Cargo 1, Gaol Ferry Steps, Bristol BS1 6WE (0117) 929 3203

© Bristol Cider Shop 2017. This guide is copyright of Bristol Cider Shop. All rights reserved. You may not reproduce any part of its contents without our express written permission.