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.

Cider, my earliest memories and Punt Road Ciders

Every Sunday lunchtime my Dad would go over to the local village club, Backwell Village Club in what is now North Somerset. When I was a small kid it was plain old Somerset. Anyway, he would always come back with two big bottles of Williams cider. They were big brown bottles that looked like the old Corona Lemonade bottles that the milkman used to deliver. Corona was lemonade that was made in Wales, well before the stuff that calls itself beer came along. As a young teenager we were always allowed a glass of this golden brown fizzy drink with our Sunday dinner, traditionally we always ate at 6pm on a Sunday. The sweeter version was the favourite. This was my introduction to cider, thanks Dad.

We lived on the side of a valley and across the valley we could see Coates Cider Factory, which at it's height was the second largest cider producer in the world. It closed in 1975, oh, am I showing my age.

Here is a great old Pathe News film clip from the 1960's click here introducing the Wurzels who are West Country cider legends. You will be hearing more from The Wurzels.

I will tell you more of my life with cider in future blogs.

And so to my first review on Landlord, cider I up, and it goes to an Australian winery!

Punt Road Winery from the Yarra Valley in Victoria. Check them out Punt Road Wines.

Cider is about to take off in Australia. I spent many, many years as a liquor retailer in Sydney, Australia and all we ever sold was Bulmers Sweet, Dry or Draught. Now there are plenty of domestic and imported ciders to choose from. Many wineries have jumped on the micro brewery craze and others are about to ride the cider wave that is about to happen.

Punt Road make two ciders, both new products on the market in 2010

Punt Road Apple Cider.

At 5.5% alcohol this is a medium strength cider made from apples sourced from the Napoleone family orchards in the Yarra Valley. Three varieties of apples are used to make this well balanced crisp dry cider. It is very pale in colour and has a wonderful sparkle. It looks dry and crisp, and it is. It was been made by the award winning wine making team at Punt Road using Champagne yeasts. It is the perfect cider for a hot summers day. I found it very refreshing.

Pear Cider

A real revelation, I grew up with Pear cider being called Perry. Traditionally, perry was always at least semi-sweet, usually sweet. This is again, very pale in colour and and a low 4.5% alcohol. Pears are full of malic acid, that is the crisp acid found in Granny Smiths apples, this leads to a crisp acidic wine with hints of citrus flavours. This cider is delicious, unfortuately, only 800 cases have been made. Be quick!

Now, a great food match, sushi and sashimi. The light delicate flavours of these Japanesse dishes was the absolutely perfect match for the crisp light flavours of these ciders.

Sushi and cider, it works.

Both ciders come in 4-packs and rrp is $18.00.

To find out where to by these beauties click on the winery link above. Be quick!

How do they score out of 10.

Punt Road Apple Cider - 8.5 apples.

Punt Road Pear Cider - 9 pears.

Check out my wine blog at: http://freerunwineevents.blogspot.com/