Much like everyone else, my evenings are now filled with a combination of online and in person events. For every night I get to go out for dinner, or drinks, there’s at least one online chat, get together or tasting session. With Manchester especially in differing states of lockdown, I have some friends I can see in person, and others I still have to spend time with remotely.
The upside to all this of course, is that things don’t just have to be local anymore. You don’t have to wait til an event makes it all the way to a bar or restaurant local to you for you to take part. And though some things are returning to a sort of ‘normal’ I can’t help but hope that not everything does. It gives us a flexibility we didn’t have before. Not only do you not have to worry about childcare, or travel, but you don’t even have to bother with putting your face on, or even changing out of your pyjamas.
I’d call that a win.
One of the most recent I enjoyed was with Cider is Wine and the Cider Critic on Instagram. Alongside a pack of delicious ciders (and some bonus charcuterie courtesy of A Pinch of Salt to aid with the tasting).
Cider is Wine was set up by Alistair Morrell and Roddy Kane to showcase the best in ciders and perries. Those made directly from juice (unlike some of the big brands you’ll find in most chain pubs who use concentrate). The ciders made from juice often use wine or Champagne yeasts, or wild yeasts, akin to those used in natural ferment wines. The whole process is almost identical, from pressing through to fermentation, to bottling, to vintages (unlike big commercial cider production, this sort of production really does take time). The styles too can be similar. I’ve tasted cider made using a Champagne yeast, that created something crisp and fizzy, like a prosecco. And a wild yeast ferment that reminded me of a yellow wine.
If you like wine, I can definitely recommend you venture into ciders. There’s a whole new world for you to explore.
In this tasting, the Cider Critic and Cider is Wine selected four very different ciders from three different producers, taking us through them in an online tasting session.
Our first cider was Wild Flight from Once Upon a Tree. Based in Hereford, with Wild Flight, Once Upon a Tree have used a single apple variety, Dabinett, to create this cider. It’s a gently cloudy with a fair bit of sediment that settles in the bottom of the glass. As with beer, and even some wines, don’t be afraid of a bit of sediment, it’s a normal part of production. The cider itself, has hints of sweet apple and sweet stoned fruit on the nose. It’s got a good soft fizz to it, with cloudy apple juice flavours, a soft bite of tannins, like the bite of a red apple skin.
Our second cider was from Welsh Mountain Cider. If the name seems a little familiar, that’s because they featured in my last visit to James Martin’s Manchester restaurant in January. I was very keen to try the cider on it’s own, having sampled it in food previously.
Their cider, the Borders Bittersweet 2017 uses a variety of orchard apples, and also uses wild yeasts in it’s creation. The result really is something similar to a yellow wine. There’s almost no fizz at all to it, and it’s much more complex. The apples are still there, but instead of being juicy or crisp, they’re instead present in the earthy fruit flavours and tannins in the finish.
Our last two ciders were from the same place, but with two different flavour profiles.
Falstaff Cyder from The Newt in Somerset is a crisp, light cider, and after the first two a real palate cleanser. Fresh apple pie flavours, with a crisp finish. The fermentation process was long and cold, meaning it reminds me a little of the same clean flavours you get from a good lager. Refreshing.
Finally the Yarlington Mill Cyder. Made in 2019, this was the youngest of all the ciders on offer.
Another single variety cider, this is what you think of when you think cider. Something with sweetness, round fruit, but not sugary. There are tannins that sit underneath that fresh apple flavour, but this is a very easy drinking cider. Blink and you’ll have finished it.
Oops?
Overall, we sampled ciders, we talked cider and we explored flavour. I have a lot of work to do, to get my brain around flavour descriptors – I find myself with something on the tip of my tongue, but not quite the right word for it.
Oh well. Best drink some more!