Cider review
After much abuse from the Bushmeister with regard to my taste in cheese and beer (amongst many things), and permitting imported lager to foul the threshold of my fridge, his sanctimonious ire turned to my recent penchant for cider.
So, in the interest of research, I acquired a couple of Bushmeister-approved "quality ciders" to compare with the bottled Bulmer's which I had reported as being highly drinkable and dismissed by the Bushmeister as industrial effluent.
The results:
1) Bulmer's - refreshing when chilled, fairly smooth and tasty.
2) Aspall's Dry Suffolk Cyder -pale in colour, slightly carbonated, good flavour and not too dry. (And only £1.59 in Tesco's at present.)
3) Henry Winston's Vintage Cider - a strong, robust flavour. Highly recommended. (A stonking £1.26 in Tesco's. Although, at 8.2% ABV, I'd be like Goaty Steve on his second shandy after a couple of pints of these.)
And just to keep this post in context I have 2 fine blisters on my fingertips from moving the ironing board the other night. Top Alf Tip: try to pick up only the ironing board and not the hot iron sat on the end of it.
Still, it was my own fault for doing women's work. He said out of earshot of Mrs Alf.
So, in the interest of research, I acquired a couple of Bushmeister-approved "quality ciders" to compare with the bottled Bulmer's which I had reported as being highly drinkable and dismissed by the Bushmeister as industrial effluent.
The results:
1) Bulmer's - refreshing when chilled, fairly smooth and tasty.
2) Aspall's Dry Suffolk Cyder -pale in colour, slightly carbonated, good flavour and not too dry. (And only £1.59 in Tesco's at present.)
3) Henry Winston's Vintage Cider - a strong, robust flavour. Highly recommended. (A stonking £1.26 in Tesco's. Although, at 8.2% ABV, I'd be like Goaty Steve on his second shandy after a couple of pints of these.)
And just to keep this post in context I have 2 fine blisters on my fingertips from moving the ironing board the other night. Top Alf Tip: try to pick up only the ironing board and not the hot iron sat on the end of it.
Still, it was my own fault for doing women's work. He said out of earshot of Mrs Alf.
posted by Alf the Unlucky at 11:11 am
2 Comments:
You can do a lot worse than Bulmers cider in terms of chemical intervention. However, you can de a lot better in getting _real_ cider made from _real_ apples even in the most modest of local supermarkets.
I'm delighted Alf has seen fit to try them. What I'm not clear about is whether Alf enjoyed them more than the inferior, well-marketed, national brands? ...and whether he's going to continue trying the better, scarcely marketed brands.
Well, in my earlier research I did try Bulmer's Original along with a couple of well-known brands, Gaymer's and Strongbow Sirrus, and found it easily the best.
Perhaps the lesson is that not _all_ nationally advertised branded ciders are bad. Bulmer's Original is actually very good and should not be written off simply because it has been advertised "on the telly".
And some, such as Strongbow Sirrus, clearly do live up to the low standards of quality and taste that the Bushmeister insists is typical of mass-produced brands.
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