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.