Old Grove Red Devil Cider

Time for another single varietal cider that has been sat on my shelf. If there is one thing I will say about Old Grove, it is that they are not afraid to try new things... it takes a brave cider maker to do something with Bramley, for example (and I believe they have won awards for it too... which offsets the fact that I wasn't that keen on it nicely!).

I found this in Herefordshire earlier this year, as it is perfectly clear and with no sediment still I suspect I can safely say it is filtered without having to open the bottle. To be fair (and looking back at my notes on the other ciders) this is common to the Old Grove ciders I have tried. Polished and bright - the lot of them. In fact, looking at the bottle before opening it, it has a blush about it. Old Grove describe it as a 'delicate and well balanced rose cider'. Well, it is definitely rose coloured!

Red Devil is a dessert apple. It's actually quite a new variety (1970's) and is a cross of Discovery and Kent. Now, I do know that some producers start the pressing season with a Discovery blend... light, early apple which is quite acidic without huge flavours. I use another dessert variety to start things off - but as with most early varieties wouldn't necessarily make an SV from it. Now, Red Devil is early to mid season harvesting (September-ish), which I suspect gives it slightly more character. However, the notes I have got on it suggest that it isn't a keeping apple (so has to be pressed fairly quickly).  One thing all sources say is that the juice is pink in colour. To keep this from juice through to the cider though is quite an achievement.

It opens with a low/moderate fizz to it, which settles down nicely. In the glass the rose is more of a tint than anything, I am not getting much of a smell of it, but what I am getting is a light smell, citrus with a touch of body about it.

The taste is a bit odd - it is very light and delicate. It is also very clean (which probably is as a result of the filtering). Hmmm, it is a bit syruppy to be honest - though this isn't really the sweetening. I would say it is a medium to taste. However, because it is such a delicate flavour the sweetening overpowers it somewhat.

How can I describe it? Ithas a rather weak cidery taste, light and a little sharp. There is some body to it (though there aren't any significant tannins). However, the sweetening - whilst not huge - does build up in the mouth and becomes the dominant taste after a while. The aftertaste is fairly short (although the sweetness lasts a while).

I do feel that it has been over filtered. This is something I have said before about Old Grove and I do feel (especially with such a light cider) that it detracts from the overall experience. The fruitiness of this drink must surely be much more pronounced than it is.

However, alongside some ciders I have tried recently, it is not a terrible cider and for those seeking to try different single varieties then this ought to be on the list. It isn't going to challenge the sense though.

A score of 61/100

Old Grove Medley

This is the last of the ciders that have been gathering dust on my shelf. After this, its a bunch of ciders that I recently acquired from the Bristol Cider Shop... and I am looking forward to getting on to those. There are also a couple of Perry's in the bunch - not promising that I will review them but I may give it a go. Perry is a different animal to cider and, whilst I feel I can relate to cider, I am not exactly on a sure footing with its pear cousin. Saying that I may have a go at making some next year to see what it is like. If I am to give it my best then trying and reviewing a few will help me do my best.

On to this lovely 750ml bottle of Old Grove then. That is any attempt at a diet out of the window tonight... although I guess I don't have to drink it all do I? Hmmm. Looking at the bottle it is 7.7%. Wow. I may not be able to drink the whole bottle anyway! It looks bright and golden too. On opening, there is rather a large fizz, which takes a while to quieten in the glass. There is a nice smell coming off it though - light and possibly acidic. This cider plays its cards close to its chest.

Wow, sweet! This cider is very sweet, which is a bit sad as the cider itself has a mild taste and character; so the sweetness all but squashes any chance of the cider to really speak for itself. Drinking on, it is actually a nice gentle cider (if you can try to forget the sweet). It has a gentle acid with a light a fragrant tannin/body. It is just such a shame that the sweetener has all but destroyed it! There is a reasonable fruity flavour to the drink too. Not earthy particularly, but not juicy either.

The aftertaste is dominated by the sweetening, so I would call it a short taste. However, it has character and I would call this cider much more individual than mainstream. And its far better than their Bramley cider!

Its something of a shame that it is far too sweet for me. I actually like the cider in itself - it has an accessible flavour that would make it an ideal choice for someone looking for an easy drinking cider. And to be honest, the sweetness is not a terrible sweetness (its not like someone has accidentally tipped the sweetener in)... so I can see how people moving to a more traditional cider would appreciate this.

It scored 66/100. Not an apple, but then you have to think about what its up against. I don't mind it at all though - worth a try.

Old Grove Premium Cider

I don't regard myself as sufficiently old enough to be a 'Grumpy Old Man' yet. Mind you, being male I guess I can be as grumpy as the rest of them... and there are a couple of things that I am grumpy about with this: "Premium" and its 4.4%. And, if its premium in its proper sense, why is it only 4.4%?

If I have tried to get one message across about cider it is that it is neither beer nor wine - its not the strength of wine (although in Europe cider is treated as a weak wine) and it is meant to be stronger than a beer. The usual range of gravity from apples alone is between 5% and 8.5%. Less than this and I would argue it has been watered down or else stopped in some way. There is nothing wrong with stopping a cider early, its just a very hard thing to do.

I think the bottle gives itself away a little; "Crafted from freshly pressed hand picked apples, this lightly starting cider is made from 100% apples...". the italics are my emphasis. What does this say about this cider? Clearly at 4.4% its not all the juice. Is it misleading then? I like (and believe) the crafted nature of its production - so it could be a premium drink if it wanted to.

Anyway, on with the review - do note that I tasted this cider before writing this up... so objectively is hopefully preserved (albeit I already know what I got from it!)

It is a golden cider and, sure enough, is lightly sparkling - well, after its big, carbonated fizz. It is also bright - so my guess is the normal 'Pershore' treatment: filtered, pasteurised and carbonated to suit the producer. Nothing wrong with that in reality. I expect it is sweetened during this process.

There isn't much aroma to it, though if I strain my nostrils I do get some gentle earthy notes coming off it. It also smells a touch 'juicy. This is confirmed in the taste - it is quite a juicy cider. It has quite a large tang about it too and a sharp acid which overpowers the tannins which are almost non existent. There is a lot of sharp in this drink (in fact, isn't this the producer with the Bramley cider???)

On the positive side, it is quite a full taste. OK, full of a fruity sharp acid and almost too sweet and juicy, but its not got a feeling of being watered down at all. I am getting a slight caramel tinge to it as well, which could have come from the pasteurisation process.

The aftertaste is both sharp and sweet. It is moderate in length.

In all, I am not unhappy with this cider. The flavour profile is interesting and not your normal Herefordshire cider in any way. I would say that there are plenty of sharps in there. It is simply too sharp to be dessert fruit. However, it has plenty of flavour as well and, although its a touch one dimensional, is not unpleasant.

A score of 68/100 sees it fall short of an apple though - I would like to see the full juice version of it!

Old Grove Bramley Cider

Moving from one apple that would be regarded as a bold choice for a single variety cider, I now move to a variety that (I believe) makes a crazy choice for a cider.

If there is one thing that I have had to say of late, it's that Bramley should only be used in the smallest amounts - if it has to be used at all. I have also dismayed at the number of new cider makers who don't bother to find this out prior to releasing ciders onto the market... but that is more about people learning the craft before trying to make a quick buck.

So, a cider made entirely from Bramley?! Two thoughts: it has to have been played with, and/or its going to be... well, lets just say challenging. However, lets keep an open mind and actually do the work of tasting it.

It pours out brightly clear and straw colour - well, it actually looks a little like apple juice. I am not surprised its heavily filtered - it's what I would do to lower the acid a bit. However, it smells very sweet and quite a lot like apple juice. This fits with the description on the back.

At first taste, my initial reaction is "oh, no". It IS very sugary, and very light and thin. It also has a biting sharpness to it, although its not sour (perhaps its this that the filtering dealt with). And that is all you get - the aftertaste is sickly sweet and sharp... It just doesn't work for me at all.

Bramley. Its a tricky apple. It has far, far more acid than pretty much any other apple and that is all it brings to a cider. So, if you have a cider that has no sharp in it, you could add up to around 10% in order to balance it out. However, at 10% you can tell that it's Bramley. To be quite honest, if you have a cider with no acid, you are better off using dessert fruit which itself has a surprising amount of acid. And I say that as someone who is not anti Bramley.

The apple itself was born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire in the early 19th century and named after a guy called Bramley (note the careful nature of this - without upsetting the Wikipedia police, who state he didn't actually plant the thing...) And from there it became the ubiquitous English apple. A big, bland apple that seems to populate gardens all over the country. As a cooker, there are more interesting flavours available - in fact, many nations don't bother with cooking apples as dessert fruit has more character. As a tree, it is known as a 'triploid', which means it cannot self pollinate (so if you have a Bramley that never fruits, try planting a 'pollination partner' with it).

OK, I am damning the apple a bit. I personally find it useless for cider. It can make a good apple juice, although only the ripest fruit should be used (contains the most sugar to pitch against that sour acid!).

The temptation to use this apple is obvious - it is so abundant and cheap. That is why it's found in ciders all over the place - especially from many of the newer producers. I get the temptation to use it. But, as this cider has proven - even when its filtered and adjusted it just doesn't work.

A score of 47/100 is just about right for me.