Worley's Mendip Hills Cider

I tend to think that all this Facebook and Twitter stuff is a bit of a necessary evil. Why, when you haven't seen or spoken to them in 20 years do you feel the need to start associating with school friends... or at least seeing what they are up to on a daily basis? However, to get your message out there - either as an individual or as a small business, these things are now deemed to be required and are as important as other forms of advertising. I guess I should really stay quiet on that as I am worse: not only to I tweet and have a Facebook account (personally, not for Cider Pages) I also blog, run a website or two and even am a member of an online forum.

Given all that, I do pick up snippets of information from time to time. Such as this bottle of Worley's Mendip Hills was contract bottled, filtered etc. (did I really write over a paragraph to get to that???) It has also had some praise online too... though as with Wikipedia you have to view stuff like that as personal opinion. Hang on, that's the same as the views on this blog too!

Worleys is also one of the growing number of producers just shy of the exemption extended to cider makers... to be honest its not enough to make a living out of it, and could be even considered a bit of an obstacle. However, it has allowed new producers to rise up (which, after all, is what it is intended for!) and although not all of these makes excellent cider it does give the room to experiment and learn the craft.

So, on to this cider. It is golden and bright in the bottle. I like the label - not tons of frills or pictures of old men pressing juice through straw! Its clean and straight forward. At 6.4% its going to be full juice, I am sure. However, the very nature of contract bottling means that it has had the full monty in regards to filtering, pasteurisation and force carbonation - lets just hope it's not tamed too far!

It does pour out with quite a high sparkle, though it smells juicy, fruity and tannic.

OK - it is quite sweet. However, it is pretty light with a moderate tannin and it's very fruity too. It sits really nicely in the mouth. However, it has lost a bit through filtering. Taking a little longer on this cider, there is a nicely developed tannin to it with some earthy/farmyard about it. I also get a bit of acid, but in true west country style its well in the background. Its a drinkable cider and is going down really well.

The aftertaste is moderate to long. I may sound a bit daft, but this is my favourite bit, where all the tannin, fruit, acid and earthiness comes together (and the sweetness dies off a bit). It is a good and competent cider. A bronze medal for Worley's with 78/100.