Scoring Summary

What cider do you drink?


Straight forward question. If your answer is something along the lines of Magners, or something similar, then often the response is going to be "why don't you try a 'real' cider?" - worse if you ask at a festival! You may have even thumbed the reviews of Cider Pages in search of the answer to this.

Alternatively, you may be a seasoned cider drinker and be looking for something different... the question is still the same...

I can make searching for cider reviews as easy as possible... maintain a list of links to reviews, review as broad a selection of ciders with as open a mind as I can. It occurs to me, however, that it would be neat to provide a spreadsheet that can be downloaded, filtered and played with. And, to celebrate 200 cider reviews on Cider Pages, here it is.

In case the link in the image doesn't work, click here:

So, how does it work?


Well, my part is to keep it up to date. I will probably update it every 50 ciders or so.You can do what you like with it** As its sat on Google Drive, you can open it on-line or you can even download it and open it in Excel (or similar). And from there it can be filtered, annotated - you know, make it yours.

I have an idea of how it could work well, so here is a suggestion (by no means prescriptive):

  1. Answer the first question. Add to that the more tricky question; what is it about the cider that you like? (could be the sweetness, tannin, smell - whatever. Ideally, it will be one (or similar to one) that I have already reviewed.
  2. Try and fit that in to one of the categories that I review ciders on. 
  3. Filter the spreadsheet based on the score of the cider that you like - all other ciders with a similar score will appear next to it. 
  4. Try those ciders:-)

Of course, this reviewing business is subjective so you may not score the ciders in the same way. Why not keep a copy of the spreadsheet for yourself and record your own thoughts. You might like to even post them as a comment against the cider here.

Cider is increasingly popular, and there are other reviewers out there that are likely to have tried similar ciders. I have even heard that there is some interest in a book recording the very best ciders... though I cannot imagine why or how that will be either done sufficiently comprehensively or accurately... This spreadsheet is just my take on cider. I hope it works for you, but if not at least you can make it work for you.

Enjoy!


** Whilst you are free to download, filter and edit this document, please remember that all rights are reserved and I will withdraw it from use if I find people have abused the spirit in which it has been offered.

6 comments:

  1. Very useful thanks, bit harsh on the scoring for henneys dry cider though !

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just discovered your pages. I'll be back later this evening to start reading through the reviews.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My compliments!

    This is definetely a great blog, with really good and long reviews. And very helpful for me not only as a drinker but also as a seller: I am owning a cider-online-shop in germany (www.ciderandmore.de), i think it's like running a shop for german vine in England. My focus is on producers like Gwynt, Thatchers, Aspall and the like.

    Are you review Sandford Orchards in the near future? I am planning to sell them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just stumbled across your site, (curious about a glass of Addlestones with Sunday lunch) and what a joy. Since moving west to Somerset 5 years ago have been only too happy to investigate and support the local liquid, and while I still enjoy a glass or bottle of ale discovering genuine cider has been a revelation.
    Thank you for making the effort and then sharing it so willingly (and accessibly) with the rest of us.
    More power to your elbow.
    Revving T

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for your comment. Many cider makers try/test other ciders to compare to their own - I am just different by publishing my thoughts on here. If I have helped one single person in their cider journey, then it is all worthwhile!!

    I will shortly be updating the scoring summaries as I have now completed 300+ reviews...

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, it would be nice if you could upload an updated version of the excel table.
    Stepan

    ReplyDelete