Worley's Premium Vintage Cider

I am the sort of person who would save the best till last. Of course, it doesn't always work out that my perception of what is the best is borne out... I guess that is the curse of assumption! But, normally I am on to a reasonably safe bet with vintage ciders. And so it is with Worley's. The cider I knew about, Mendip Hills, wasn't bad at all... but I reckon this is going to be the winner.

I do have a question for Mr Worley: Why add the word 'premium' to call it a premium vintage? Do you sell more than one kind of vintage, and this is the better one? Okay, apologies for being flippant. There is a more serious point here though; adding the word 'Premium' to a drink generally makes me suspicious - whilst it ought to have be meaningful it has been abused to almost worthlessness by those huge beverage companies who slap it onto whatever tripe they put to the public...

Anyway, I guess it's none of my business.

Premium Vintage is a 6.2% cider "lightly sparkling vintage cider from Somerset". Or so says the label. Pressed back in 2011, it has certainly had sufficient time to age properly - although I fear it looks filtered and processed (i.e. filtered, pasteurised and carbonated). Lets see - and if it is, lets see how much is lost.

Despite this cider having been run through filtering/pasteurisation/carbonation/wrung through hot towels and made to sit several exams, I am getting a smokey aroma to it. This is great and to me indicates that it is a proper vintage cider. It is also quite interesting as filtering and pasteurisation often wipes this sort of nuance out! There is bittersweet fruit and acid in the smell too and, without being too la-di-da I am getting fruit blossom in the nose too.

The taste is great. The smokiness doesn't come through in the taste so much but this is a fully tannic cider with a little more than a touch of acid to balance things. It is quite a dry cider, with the acid providing background noise to the fruity and complex cider taste. Very drinkable!

The aftertaste is moderate in length and dry. The tannin wins in the end and it is slightly puckering.

I like this cider a lot. It is certainly my favourite of the Worley's and well worth looking out for. I bought this one from the Bristol Cider Shop, but I am sure its available in many more places around Somerset. Sure the processing has had some impact on the flavour and profile of the drink but it is done pretty lightly. If I know anything of Pershore (who do this sort of thing and I believe did so for Worley's) they have a good handle on the process, however, they do it to order so hats off to Worley's for getting it done gently!

A well deserved silver apple with a score of 86/100.

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.

Worley's Cider (GBBF)

Finally I come to the last review for the Great British Beer Festival. What a nice event, even if you have to travel to London for it. I found Olympia a more interesting and 'personal' event that Earls Court, which was (if memory serves) more an exhibition event than a 'pub' event - I know what I mean by that. Of course, by the time I reached the last cider the crowds had gathered and it was getting a touch rowdy - though I guess its simply that it doesn't fit with some nerd trying to take notes and photo's of cider!

Having gone off for a pie and some pork scratchings to clear the mouth (or at least fill the mouth with eu du pig) I opted to have just one more cider before heading back through the Olympic traffic. And it is time to fulfil a promise to try a cider from a while ago. Having said I don't do requests, I have tried at least 2 ciders in one day on the back of the promise to find such and such's cider...

Worley's is a fairly new producer based in Somerset. Yup, you could argue that I am ending on a safe note, but that is not necessarily the case. However, this cider looks the part. A slightly orangey golden colour which is quite hazy and flat.

And the taste is not disappointing. Its mellow and has a good tannin. There is a touch of acid, though its predominantly bitter sweet in composure. In fact, you could argue its a typical Somerset cider

This has a clean taste. Not balanced or safe particularly, but its oddly refreshing without being at all drying. I would drink this again... and wish I had tried it earlier. The aftertaste is moderately tannic and drying with a good fruit to it.

It gets a good bronze award from Cider Pages with a score of 75/100. If anything, it didn't go silver due to a few things I thought might be missing (dominant flavour, a touch more acid and a little less exposure of yeast in the drink). But a good cider to watch out for! Oh, and apologies for the brevity of this post... after 8 or 9 ciders you must pardon me if my note taking failed a little!