Godshill Cider Company Lazy Lob Cider

This is the last of the Godshill ciders I bought from the Isle of Wight. Shame really as I rather liked them, and truly recommend a trip to their shop if you are around that neck of the woods. And let's face it, the Isle of Wight isn't that big... if you find yourself on the island then you're not that far away from Godshill! Sure its touristy, but if you're visiting the island then I guess you would qualify:-)

Lazy Lob (nice name) is a light, yellow cider with a low carbonation and a light and fruity aroma to boot. Its bright though, as with the other Godshill ciders.

Its a nice, mellow flavour. More eastern than western style but it does have a gentle tannin that sits in the background. Lazy Lob is not bone dry by any stretch. The acid body to it lifts it and makes it refreshing. I guess the acid wins through in this cider - which is not especially balanced (but then it doesn't really have to be eh!).

The aftertaste is as faint as the aroma - not really either tannic or acidic.

Overall its a little watery, although very good. Think lemony and you have it (although I am sure there aren't any lemons in it:-) Not a bad cider at all which only just misses an apple (for me).

Godshill Cider Co. Gait Crasher Cider

This is the second of three ciders I bought from Godshill Cider Company. Its made from a variety of apples hand picked on the isle of wight. This is going to be near as dammit a full juice cider fermented out to full dryness (perhaps with a little assistance from sugar to get it to its strength). It certainly looks golden and tempting in the bottle (with the exception of the name and pitch on the label!

Two things to start with. I am not sure if is actually 'Gait Crasher Strong Cider' or just 'Gait Crasher Cider'. Mind you, its a bit of a silly name though... but at that strength it would only take a few to be rather too real!

Its moderately fizzy and smells all cidery from the bottle. There is a faint toffee apple smell in there too, so perhaps there has been a bit of sweetening done (doh!)

To taste, it is fairly deep. Sure, it has been sweetened and this creates a little bit of an odd aftertaste. It has plenty of tannin going for it though and a real sharp kick towards the end of the mouthful. Nice but unexpected. I quite like it, although the sweetening is a little odd.

This sweetening is not apple juice - could be aspartame (I cannot remember the last time I tried a cider with saccharin, so cannot assume anything about that).  This is the other thing about sweetening cider. As I have noted previously, too much apple juice ruins a good cider. But at the same time the alternatives of artificial additives can leave an aftertaste too. I am really not sure which is better personally - I guess its all OK as long as it is done with care and sensitivity to the cider.

Anyway, back to this drink. It is very drinkable (so, mind the % or earn a headache!) and competent for a strong cider. It scores 73 so earns itself a bronze apple from me:-)

Godshill Cider Co. Rumpy Pumpy Scrumpy

First off, being 1 year into this blogging thing, I thought it was about time the blog had a theme that fit with apples better. Hope you like these apples:-) Also, it would be very rude not to say thanks to everyone who has read the pages and got something from it. It would be nonsense to think of these ramblings as 'just for my own use' or some kind of personal journal - especially when there have been over 23,000 page views so far. Thank you all!!

So I was recently away for a romantic weekend - a nice, relaxing trip to the Isle of Wight.. Aha. The Isle of Wight has 2 cider producers (well, I think it has 3, but I couldn't be sure). And as the Isle is only about 5 feet long (hee hee) I thought it would be a nice gesture to drag the good lady around to pick some samples up:-)

And so we come to the first of this crop; Rumpy Pumpy Scrumpy. OK. Silly name... I have heard worse though. Its described as a medium dry and comes with a list of carious cider varieties used in its making. This list includes some varieties that I have to admit I have never heard of (Sweet Cleave, Tan Harvey and Town Farm no. 59 to name them). So this should be a nicely tannic and well balanced cider. The apples (well the ones I know about) cover all the bases - sweet, bittersweet, sharp and bittersharp.

The cider is flat when poured... yummy! I hope the medium dry is on the dry side too. Its a pale golden colour and when you smell it, it smells well matured and clean; a nice cidery taste which has a hint of smokiness to it that makes me think its been matured well.

On the first taste, this is a very nice cider - its a little sharp, and the sweetness comes through loud and clear. There are some very mild tannins to it as well. Mind you, there are not stacks of them, and the acidity wins through by quite a way. Its more eastern than western counties in fact (despite the use of a broad variety of cider fruit.

This doesn't detract from my enjoyment though. in fact (and I shouldn't muddy the reviewing waters here - I am sure I made one similar to this a couple of years back. But then I was using desert fruit as well as cider fruit... well, I was using whatever I could get my hands on!)

It would appear to have been filtered, which may have removed much of the tannin. It is there, just in the background a bit too far for me. The aftertaste is pleasant though, and on the whole I recommend this cider. Its just a little less balanced than its label promises.

A good bronze apple for the original Godshill cider, with 75/100 from me. Worth the trip (and the grief!)