Tutts Clump Five Counties Cider

This is the last of the Tutts Clump ciders that I bought to review mid last year and, to be honest, I am kind of glad I am moving on. I am sure Tutts will release new ciders for this year and I will want to try them but lets be honest: I have had a bit of a hit and miss relationship with these ciders so far.

Lets not judge before trying. The name of the cider, "Five Counties" relates to where the apples come from - Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire. OK, only two of these are known for their cider fruit so I guess its going to be another heavily eastern style of cider once again. Lets hope that Bramley does not make a huge contribution!

Opening the bottle, the smell is one of bitter fruit - there are some cider apples in here. Positive start! There is also some acid in here too though. Mind you, I could only discover this after allowing the foam settle! It opened with a flourish, so it has fully conditioned in the bottle (it has been sat around for a while). The haze confirms this - its the one thing with proper bottle conditioning, the carbonation forces the yeast off the bottom and into solution once again.

Its got some really nice cider flavour going on. Although the cider errs on the side of acidic - there are a lot of dessert apples in this cider too... possibly more than the cider apples. In fact, I would say this is an Eastern cider which is cut through with a modest and mild tannin and earthy body that gives it an extra dimension. Nice - should have tried this one sooner!

There are a few funky tastes going on and I would hazzard a guess that there are some Bramley apples in the mix. I also reckon there are some bittersharps going on too. These add to the sharpness of the cider but alter it a bit to make it more interesting than the usual Tutts Clump acidic cider.

The aftertaste is modest and gently tannic. I am not sure whether it is meant to be on the dry side of medium dry (it is labelled as med dry) but I find this pleasing too.

In all, a score of 74/100 for this cider - which must be Tutt Clumps best yet. And a bronze apple too.

Tutts Clump Oldbury Cider

 
"Sourced from a private orchard in South Gloucestershire". You know, I have been looking forward to this - what must be a bit of a departure for Tutts Clump. Every one of their ciders I have tasted so far has been from the Eastern stable of cider - dessert (and culinary) fruit with no tannin and sometimes rather too much acid (and sweetener).

I must say I like the labels - they are very clear and colourful (just look at the photograph!). If the cider inside matches it, then I am on to a winner this evening. To some degree, Tutts Clump is a cider maker after my own heart. They don't appear to filter or pasteurise and, despite my not liking all of them, produce full juice and honest ciders. Given that, this cider ought to be either flat or bottle conditioned with a slight haze from the yeast deposit.

So, as everybody (including me) has better things to be doing just before Christmas than reading my opinion on stuff I will simply get on with the review!

Sure enough this is a slightly hazy cider which is golden and has a good amount of bottle conditioning. I ought to add that this has been sat in the review queue for some 6 months or so - so if its going to condition, then it would have done so in that time!! Its aroma is pleasing. Deep and tannic - I am expecting this to be nothing like other ciders from Tutts Clump.

Oh my word (note, I shall not resort to OMG's and text speak:-) Either it is me or this cider tastes nothing like it smells! There IS tannin in here, but there is also a MASSIVE dose of sharp to it, which dominates anything the tannin has to offer. Wow, rather contradictory and challenging are the two words I would use to describe Oldbury Cider.  As I progress, I am starting to lose sight of the tannin for sake of the acid, which is almost a touch sour in its aftertaste. Trying harder, I can still get it - it seems gentle in this drink (although that is no proof that it is - the acid is so large).

There is a fairly long aftertaste, which is not altogether pleasant in all its parts. On the positive, it is fruity, and there is a bit of tannin. However, the acid is way out of control. Note to Tutts Clump - you don't have to dominate everything with acid...

This cider scored a reasonable 71/100, which earns Tutts Clump a bronze apple from me. Whilst that may look more than the description gives it credit for, my own thinking is that it should have scored much higher!

Tutts Clump Diamond Jubilee Cider

Well, 2012 was the year of the Diamond Jubilee and, I must say I was very happy to take the day off. We even had a little party on the neighbours drive, with Union Jack cupcakes and Pimms. Very British. Actually, I thought it was a good, modest celebration. Now, there had to be one cider maker who succumbed to the temptation to produce a Jubilee cider. In fact, two were. One I failed to buy, which was (I think) a Sheppy's.

The other is this, from Tutts Clump in Berkshire - the same Tutts Clump that produced a 'Royal Wedding' cider the previous year (after all, isn't Berkshire the 'Royal' county?) Hold on, let me just check what's on in 2013! Who knows, I may predict a new Tutts Clump cider before it is made:-) OK, sorry. Lets get back to the cider. So, Diamond Jubilee ciders... I think they are a bit of a gimmick... really good cider surely stands up on its own and doesn't need a crutch? Well, yes. However, judging with a clear head and a measure of objectivity, a grand name like Jubilee cider ought to be an opportunity for a celebration of cider, eh.

The first (sensible) comment I have to make about this is that it is 4.5%. Thats not so much a cider as a lager strength. A little unfair as that may sound, this surely must have been cut to get to that strength. Still, in the current environment, where producers are being encouraged to 'knock' alcohol content by percentage points it could be justified. I am surprised though from a traditional cider maker.

It pours out very pale gold with something of a large fizz about it. I also notice that there is some sediment at the bottom of the bottle, so some bottle conditioning is present (it has been sat around since July/August, which could mean it has conditioned all the more.

Tutts Clump commonly produce cider from dessert and culinary fruit - they are very similar to Mr Whiteheads in this respect. The smell on this cider confirms that Diamond Jubilee  is along those lines. It also seems to be pretty sweet smelling too.

Being as straight as possible about this cider, I have to confess that I am disappointed with the taste. It is quite watery (remember the 4.5%) and actually rather cloying from the sweetener used to make it, what I believe, far too sweet. There may be a touch of tannin in here, but for the most part it is sweet and acid... to he point that if I did detect tannin it must have been by accident.

The aftertaste is merely an extension of the same, and the sweetener really does grab you for a long time!.

Sorry Tutts Clump. I really don't like slating real cider producers (well, I don't like slating any cider producers really) but I don't feel the celebration in my glass this evening. I like the sentiment of the cider, but to be honest that is about as far as I can go. I think the score reflects my tastebuds pretty well - 58/100.

Tutts Clump Special Reserve Cider

As I may have mentioned for the last Tutts Clump, I procured two ciders on my recent trip to Berkshire. The first is already done and, hoping to save the best till last, I now come to the dry (yes, a dry cider!! I do like dry ciders) special reserve. I have a hope that it is also a pretty much flat cider too.

I have done a little homework on Tutts Clump since the last review. It appears that this is a rapidly growing company who mainly sell their cider around the South. It also seems that he produced a cider to celebrate the Royal wedding earlier this year. Well, I guess someone had to:-) Seriously, I had a Royal wedding tea cup when I was a kid and Charles and Diana got married, and I guess this is a more mature kind of keepsake... Mind you, after all this time I can still see the tea cup when I visit the parents now and again. I am not sure that a Royal wedding cider will keep quite as well!!

Anyway, getting back to the point. This is a 6% full juice cider. Again, its made from desert and cooking apples, so it should be nice and light with a good sharpness to it. I note that it has also got a few crab apples in it too - if you can't get cider apples (or don't want them) then crabs can add a bit of tannin to a blend.

As expected, flat. I do think that it attempted a bubble or two but that may have been my eyes playing tricks on me. Its also a yellow colour and hazy - like its sweetened cousin. Very much an eastern style of cider and does not appear to have been filtered at all - the sediment at the bottom of the bottle confirms this. Lovely!

This tastes like a nicely matured eastern cider - think Aspalls with the fizz removed and a similar bite. I can't taste any tannins at all, so the crabs must have got lost in the blend. This is a shame, as crabs are a little bit like tomato ketchup for ciders without cider apples in. You don't want too much ketchup or it will drown out other flavours. OK, not a great analogy, but roughly true.

There is a lemony smell to the this too - albeit with a background of sulphites. A nice summery smell, which is often accompanied by a bit of a yeasty smell (although not in this cider). It does taste a little thin though. I am sure that its just the way it is - at 6% its not been cut by much if at all. Its also a tiny by acetic - although again, it could just be how it is. My suspicion is that its from the type of culinary apples in the blend - Bramley, for instance, is nothing but acid... no real quality taste behind it (try eating one!).


This is a raw cider - no sweetness to cover any of the acid, although its not unruly or unpleasant at all. However, as much as I like this cider I do think its a bit of an acquired taste and that people who are only used to mainstream brands may find it a bit 'out there. Still, aren't going to please everyone eh!

Looking at my scoresheet - which I always write up as I drink, this cider scored 68/100. Okay, so its not an apple; I think its because the sweetness in the 'Farmhouse' cider masks some of the acid that is so bear in this one. However, its only my opinion.

Tutts Clump Traditional Farmhouse Cider

I picked this up on a recent trip to Berkshire and have been meaning to try it for a few weeks now. Its made by small craft cidermaker, Tutts Clump - who are based in Berkshire. I will be expecting it to be a full juice cider with interesting character and not necessarily crystal clear.

On the side of the bottle, it says its made from desert and cooking apples. To me, this means that there will be very little (if any) tannin but a good sharpness to it that is typical of an eastern style of cider. With it also being full juice, it should be rather more sharp than its more tamed counterparts from larger producers.

And when its poured out, it looks exactly as I had hoped - yellow in colour, no carbonation and a light and crisp aroma. Its also a hazy cider - so no filtering here either. I do get a faint whiff of sulphites but these are far in the background and I would be surprised if Tutts Clump didn't use sulphites to keep things in check and fresh.

Its labelled as a medium dry, but I guess with the lack of tannins it does feel a lot sweeter than that (although 'medium dry' or 'medium' can mean very different things to different people). There isn't much tannin at all to this cider. It is fresh and crisp with an almost lemony flavour. The shame is that in order to compete with the sharpness there is a full mouthfull of sweetness that detracts a touch - even going through into the aftertaste (where you would expect the acid to bite through).

On the whole though, it is a good cider that demonstrates that small producers can do better than their larger counterparts with a lot less fuss and dance. Sure, I would rather that the sweetness was toned down a bit - well a lot actually - but its not trying to be anything its not - its a nice, full on eastern cider - nothing added.

It scored 72/100, which is a bronze apple. I have another one from this producer to try which is a dry...