If I was in charge and Tasmania.

If I was in charge of a big multinational beverage firm, the first thing I would be doing, would be pouring money into research on fruit flavoured ciders. Bacardi Beezers and other such alcopop drinks seem to have fallen out of fashion. Cider is on the up and it seems like a perfect combination, cider and say blueberries or raspberries or even say Strawberries and Lime in the same bottle. That is exactly what those clever Swedish cider producers Rekorderlig have done. Rekorderlig Premium Strawberry-Lime cider is on the shelves here in Sydney. What a great idea!

Yes, yes I know a boy from Somerset should be horrified by flavoured cider. Well, yes and no. OK, it certainly was not to my taste, too sweet with definate red cordial characters and the lime was in there somewhere, however it runs a distant second to the strong strawberry characters. However, put this in a trendy bar for young folk and I can see it selling really well. At only 4% alcohol it will not knock you around. Watch the shelves as flavoured cider is a thing for the future. Not for cider lovers, but people who just want a sweet unsophisticated drink. I can just see it now Bens Pink Grapefruit Cider.

My taste - 3 apples out of 10

Young folks taste - 9.5 out of 10

I am going to cover off another cider here. I have got behind on my cider drinking and blogging. Summer is nearly here in Sydney and soon the weather will be perfect for a cheeky cider or two.

Mercury Cider is an Australian institution; established in 1911 in beautiful Tasmania. If you enjoy fresh, fresh air, beautiful scenery, fabulous food and drink, Tasmania is for you. We were down there in January of last year and went to the unforgetable Taste of Tassie Festival in Hobart. THE best food and wine show around. We certainly waddled out of there. Get yourself down there next January.

Anyhoo, this slightly blurry photo was taken in the kitchen by my good self. I sort of like the blurry effect. Mercury Dry Cider, all 750mls of it.

Unfortunately, this cider does not live up to the rest of Tasmania. It lacked colour and taste. It is a cheap cider designed for the mass market and it tastes that way. Yes it was dry but still could not excite me. I suggest you pay a little more for a better cider.

3.5 apples out of 10.

Wet tea towel and home alone dancing.

I came home from a few wins (wines) in the corporate market and needed a drink. But what? Wine, cider or a cheeky beer. It was a good day, the sun was shining and life good. I needed cider. But, alas, nothing cold in the fridge............so I used my "I need a cold bottle quick" technique. I spotted a bottle of Longueville Cidre de Recoltant in the cupboard, yes I was looking forward to this. I got a tea towel soaked it in water, squeezed out the excess water, wrapped the bottle in it and popped it in the freezer. Hey presto, in the time it takes to find a great CD, pop it into the player and dance around the lounge, you have a cold bottle. This, of course also works for wine and beer. Cheeky tip, eh!

So to the cider, I typed Cidre de Recoltant into Google Translator and came out with "Cider reaping" I am none the wiser. It is made from a variety of apples called "Large Carnation" and to be honest with you it is a cracker.

I pulled in out of the freezer and unwrapped the tea towel, popped the top and poured it straight into a beautiful large wine glass. It is darker than most of the recent ciders I have tasted, this is a good sign. It denotes the possibility of flavour, as you can see it is a dark golden colour. It smells of apples, yum. Rich, ripe apples almost like an apple pie that has a pinch of clove in it. It is lightly, naturally sparkling and in the mouth..............badda bing, badda boom. It is a winner. Not too sweet, with a healthy dose of bitter and a touch of rustic about it. Gulp, gulp, no sipping here. Yes! I can tell you great glassware makes a difference even when you are home alone. So this cider fills the mouth, is full of flavour and leaves a lovely clean acidic finish. Cider and Sushi, I swear it this cider would have been a perfect match. So over sized wine glass in hand the "home alone" dancing continued....................................

9.5 apples out of 10.

E by gum

I got sent a great email this morning. It is a warning from Yorkshire police. Apparently there have been reports of drug users in Yorkshire using dental syringes to inject Ecstasy. It is know as "E by gum" ........................taxi.



This nicely (OK a little tenuously) brings me to Yorkshires oldest brewery Samuel Smiths who have now branched out into what traditionally is a west country product, cider. The Samuel Smiths Brewery is not to be confused with the John Smiths Brewery that is now owned by Heineken, the Dutch part of Yorkshire! John Smiths do have a tradition of great adverts here are a couple of favourites http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2keX3felmQ , come on Mum! classic. Anyway I digress, Samuel and John Smith were cousins who fell out and started separate breweries. Families eh.



Anyway to the cider. It is 5% alcohol and a dark golden colour. It smells of apples, funny that! It is 100% organic. That means that no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides were used in the orchard. That is a good thing. Another fact for you, did you know that most of the chemicals used in farming nowhere days are oil based. This is done so that when it rains the chemicals do not get washed off. Tricky eh!



Anyway back to the cider, where was I, as yes, dark golden in colour. It has a medium carbonation. However, in the mouth something is not quite right. Yes, it has apples and is lets say medium sweet. It just lacks.................flavour. I drank all the 500mls in the bottle and was still no enthused. I sound like the customer who eats the whole meal in a restaurant and then complains.



So, after grabbing this cider from the local bottleshop and looking forward to it, it was a let down.



5.5 apples out of 10.

I was made an offer I could not refuse.

Last night, was a boys night in. In an attempt to hang out with my fifteen year old son I suggested I go down to the video store (I suppose it is now the DVD store) and get The Godfather. The two girls behind the counter had no idea what film I was talking about. I felt like saying, this is a DVD store and I am talking about one of the most famous films ever made and you have never heard of it. Just picture that television programme grumpy old men.......that was me. I asked them where G was in the shop as Lady Gaga blasted out "oh la, sha sha sha, Gaga oh la la" Enough said. I could not find it, eventually blondie behind the counter found a disk. I quizzed her about it being part one, "Yes it is" she said. Silly me got home to find it was a dvd of the bonus material. Trip two to the dvd store. No apology and when I suggested to the manager/owner (I am the manager and the owner, thank you Basil) that his staff should at least know some of the most famous films ever made. He said "Well they can't know everything" I nearly responded with "Something, might help" Instead, I left needing a drink.

Now at home, organic lamb sausage sandwiches, The Godfather, my fifteen year old son, two big couches and a bottle of St Hellier Pear Cider. I normally take a photo of the bottle and the drink in a glass, I drank this one before I could get the camera out.

This is a very pale coloured cider with a very light bead, in fact it is more spritzig than bubbly. It smells of pears, pear drops (those gorgeous boiled sweets I used to have as a kid) and esters. There is no mistaking this is made from pears. In the mouth it is light with a touch of sweetness. It tastes of pears, hurray. It finishes with a lovely acidity and the pear flavours hang around. A very good cider indeed.

It comes all the way from St Hellier, Jersey which is one of the Channel Islands in between England and France. Check out their videos at http://www.stheliercider.com/Page/Movies.aspx#

9 pears out of 10.

Rekorderlig - Apples

It is seriously about to happen, the summer of cider is just around the corner. Just as the temperature warms up so will the number of the cider adverts of television. Yes, I know it is still winter, I am dreaming of the sun. The problem is that most of the adverts will be for mass produced ciders that really don't taste of much. Or, they are jam packed full of sugar. Sugar in any food or beverage will dominate any other flavours.

Rekorderlig is a range of three ciders, see the previous blog. I finally had to run a taste test on the apple cider. So I nipped down to Sam the Butcher on Bondi Road, Bondi and came back with some wonderful pork chops. Pork and cider is such a good combination. I still rate cider and sushi as the best.

Rekorderlig is a Swedish cider and comes in some very smart packaging. 500ml bottles with some funky looking fruit on the front. The cider is a pale golden colour and full of bubbles! It is semi sweet in character and will be very big in the groovy (hah, OK, cool) bars this summer.

Check out Camperdown Cellars, Darlinghurst if you would like to try some.

From Huddersfield to Sweden to Australia

I had the pleasure of having a coffee, not a cider with Christian from Rekorderlig cider a couple of weeks ago. I told you I was behind on my cider drinking!!! It has been vino and mostly rosso with this winter weather. I spotted to Rekorderlig cider in Camperdown Cellars Darlinghurst and asked Romy the manager where he had got them from. Romy told me that the brand was new in the country and that Camperdown was the first to stock them. Camperdown Cellars Darlinghurst really is a top wine store check it outhttp://www.camperdowncellars.com.au/

There are three in the range being apple, pear and believe it or not Strawberry and Lime. I called up Christian the brand manager and we caught up.

Christian told me the story of how his brother, himself and a friend started a company in the UK to import Peruvian beer. Lets face it the drink industry is often run by fads and what is in fashion at that moment. Smart move boys as South American beers are always popular, you just need a story. After they made a success of the beer the boys started to import a Swedish cider, what cider..............not from Somerset? Christian was at pains to make sure that a Somerset boy like me understood that his range of ciders are aimed at the commercial market.

So far I have taken the top off the pear cider , Swedish pear cider, it still seems weird, and I had it out of a champagne flute. It is pale in colour and with plenty of bubbles. On the nose it is hints of sweetness and crisp green pear. I the mouth it is on the sweeter side of ciders, but importantly it is not overly sweet.

This cider is set to be a hit in all the infashion bars within the next couple of months. It will really start to take off when the weather heats up. It has great packaging and will look good on any wine bar table.

http://www.rekorderlig.com.au/

The sweet taste of defeat!

I was up at 3.30 this morning; I am part of my sons school's football supporters club committee. We put on a bbq and the game (Australia Vs Germany, for those of you that live under a rock) at the school. Oh dear, the cheap sausages were the best thing of the night! Pim, Pim what were you thinking, bad tactics...............anyway........I digress.

Lets talk about the night before and my date with a truely commercial style cider. I really did not hold high hopes, I thought Australia might have a better chance of impressing. 5 Seeds cider is made by Tooheys under the Extra Dry label. If you have ever tried Tooheys Extra Dry you will know it is far from being dry. It is tailored at the unsophisticated beer drinker who wants a step up from VB or Tooheys New. A brand driven by smart advertising and positioning. It is not a cheap beer, but also not a boutique. It's middle market price point sets it apart from most other beers. Anyway that is enough dumping on a beer. We are here to talk zyyyyder!

5 Seeds Cider has great packaging, they have managed to save money by using the same bottle used for Tooheys Extra Dry, the bottle is embossed with the name. The back label states "Serving suggestion: Bloody cold" and that "The clean crisp flavour has reinvented cider" LOL. Ok, you do need a little hyperbole, however "..reinvented cider"

I thought I would give this cider 2 apples out of 10, but I had not tried it. Surprisingly I awarded this cider, more than two apples. It is pale in colour, and heavily carbonated. It is totally uncomplicated and a good commercial drink. OK, we are not talking top shelf here, however, it really serves it purpose. It is sweet and lacks length of flavour, but it is refreshing and lacks the horrible chemical flavours of cheap beer. I expect this cider will do very well over the next few years. Join their Facebook group at http://tinyurl.com/26bx3a4 living proof that you need to constantly feed your groups.

6.5 apples out of 10.