Back to the ciders! I’ve got a bit of a backlog of these so I’ll be posting lots of them in the next wee while.
Dragon Cider, like a lot of the Canadian ciders I had while I was in Toronto, is a very light-tasting cider – very refreshing for the hot weather. Awesome-looking can too! If I wasn’t trying to de-hoard my life at the moment, I’d have kept it as a souvenir.
This was the cider I had at the bar on the Toronto Islands.
Yes, you can REALLY taste that honey in the cider. It’s so strong, it actually reminded me of mead. I’m not the biggest fan of honey, so I wasn’t hugely keen, but it did have a nice light refreshing aspect as well.
This was another cider that I had with Mum at Pogue Mahone.
The 1904 is quite different to the 901. It starts off a little too dry for my liking, but the taste develops beautifully throughout the pint. This is becoming a bit of a theme!
This was the first of the two ciders that I had while out for drinks with Mum at Pogue Mahone on the Tuesday in Toronto.
I was pleased to find that a plus point of the Pogue Mahone management change is that they’ve started serving Brickworks 901 in a regular pint glass, because when I was in Toronto two years ago, they used to serve it in a jam jar!
Unfortunately I did not escape the jam jar, because I found they were still using it at the Elephant & Castle three days later:
Anyway, the cider. Brickworks is one of the most prominent cider companies in Canada – they make a good few different ones – and the 901 is probably the most common on draught in bars. It’s got a lovely medium sweetish taste – you just have to try and avoid the ‘jam jar as glass’ thing!
The first cider I had in Canada was Somersby. I was actually surprised that I hadn’t already had it this year, because it’s one of my favourites.
The above can is the Canadian version – it looks a little different in the UK.
Somersby, for me, is associated with Resistanz Festival, which Geth and I went to for four years running between 2013 and 2016 (it hasn’t been run since then, but rumours of its return are ever-present). Corporation in Sheffield, which was the venue for the festival, would sell Somersby for £1 per can during Resistanz weekend. £1 per can! I would typically drink about forty cans over the course of the weekend. I couldn’t do that nowadays.
You can see from the 2016 picture (and on the website) that the most recent British can is similar to the Canadian one, but not quite the same.
As for the taste – well, it’s a very artificial taste! It tastes exactly like fizzy apple sweets. This isn’t what I would usually look for in a cider, but I’ve grown to love it. If I see Somersby on draught, that will always be my choice.
On visiting my parents’ house recently, I found that Dad had collected a whole load of different Sheppy’s ciders while on a trip to the West Country. Expect to see lots of them reviewed here over the next few weeks!
Sheppy’s Classic Draught has what I would consider a perfect medium taste. It’s also very refreshing without being too watery-tasting – absolutely perfect for summer.
Still shopping the Sainsbury’s cider aisle!
Aspall is another cider that’s very light and refreshing, so good for this time of year. The taste is a bit generic, but it’s not bad – it’s perfectly serviceable, and I’m always happy to have it if it’s on draught at the pub or on sale in the supermarket.
I’ve been drinking quite a few cans of Scrumpy Jack the last few weeks, as Sainsbury’s always have it in and it’s a bit more interesting than Strongbow.
It’s not as sweet as Stella Cidre, but it’s smoother than Strongbow. It’s actually got a very light taste, almost to the extent of being a bit watery. In the summer, this is a good thing – it’s very refreshing. I expect this will continue to be my go-to for the next couple of months.
This is another cider that I picked up at Sainsbury’s recently.
It’s another cider that is just as dry as the bottle suggests. It’s got a slightly cheesy taste that reminds me of West Country real ciders, but there’s still something very smooth about it. Probably a bit too dry to become a regular in my fridge, though.
