Cider and I are not the best of friends.
We all have that one drink, don’t we? That brings back memories of hangovers, and drunkenness, lost memories and embarrassing, gut wrenching phone calls afterwards where it’s discussed in detail exactly what you did, when, where and with whom?
For my sister, it’s whisky, for one of my friends it’s tequila, for me, it’s cider.
I was but a young thing, there was Strongbow Super, and it’s after then that things get fuzzy. I remember it was snowing. I remember my mascara and my eyeliner ran so badly I looked like a panda. After that…. Yeah fuzzy is putting it mildly.
It’s meant that for a long time, just the smell of cider was enough to make me go grey, feel nauseated. But finally, I’m starting to come around – partly due to the flavoured ciders available, but I’m actually trying dry ciders too, the more flavourful, though only one or two.
Which is why even I was surprised I said yes to reviewing Stella Artois Cidre.
Last year Stella Artois launched two new flavours – elderflower and peach to add to their ‘original’ cider. I’ve sampled the original and found it OK – it’ll quench your thirst, but it doesn’t linger, or have the mouthfeel of a traditional style cider. But given my general aversion to cider, getting me to drink it is half the battle.
The Peach is bright in colour and sweet, very sweet. It’s got a good kick of fruit, with that back of the mouth floral note that you get with peach, but even chilled and served with ice, the sweetness was too much for me. I could almost feel the sugar acids in my mouth kick in and start to attack my teeth. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll love it.
The surprise for me was the Elderflower. I like this.
No, I really like it. It’s nowhere near as sweet as it’s fruit counterpart, the acidity is softer than that in the original. The floral flavours are lovely and it lingers gently. It doesn’t seem to have the chemical after-taste of the others. I finished the bottle happily, only offering Mr GFB a sample.
Well f*ck me. Who knew? I like cider.
With thanks to Stella Artois for the samples to review.