7.2

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

355 ml can. Pours an orange/ruby color with a couple of bubbles that dissipate quickly. Aromas of cherry gum and dried apples. Flavors of dry red apples and sweet cherries, with a little pie spice

7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5

(355ml can from the cidery webshop) Pours nearly clear pale blush like some South France rosė with a barely-formed loose bubbly head and no lace. Aroma is sweet-tart plums, sulphurous funky apples and a squeeze of sweet pear with loads of botanicals that recall gin; lots of spruce needles, ginger, thyme, green peppercorn and evergreen twigs. Flavour is moderately tart with the barest hint of sweetness, up front are sour apples and plums with fruit skins, a little pear sweetness in the middle, botanicals taking over mid-sip with lots of spruce/pine and ginger flavour (but no heat), lemon juice squeeze acidity towards the finish, which is dry and very earthy/coniferous with some thyme and very present spruce/pine needles with a bit of resin (but no bitterness). Light bodied, smooth active carbonation, soda-like but not overwhelming. Fun stuff, the botanicals here are wild (literally) and it's super-refreshing and aromatic. Sad I've missed their other vermouth soda cans but I'm stoked to try the vermouths even if they're not rateable...

8.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9.5

(750ml 2019 bottle from the cidery webshop) Pours basically clear bright gold with a small fizzing white cap. Fresh lightly sweet, lightly tart and extremely juicy golden apples with peppery earthy russeted skins, herbal leafiness and a touch of sweet ester. Flavour is lovely mineral saline brightness, juicy golden apples at the core again with a fresh squeezed tartness and bare hint of sugar, bright and almost white wine-like in acid and fresh stone balance, smooth softly peppery russet skin depth, fine tannins, soft herbal bitterness, russeted skins in the finish with lots of persistent apple quality that manages to hold balance with the acid and minerals. Light body, soft plush feel though, moderate carb. Hard to imagine a better straight-up apple cider, somewhat traditional and yet very refined and wine-like at the same time, stellar cider making.

8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

(2020 750ml bottle from the cidery webshop - not sure this is rateable but hey) Pours nearly clear deep blackish purple with ruby highlights and a big loose mauve head. Aroma is crushed blueberries and black currants, earthy skins, cacao, some bright lactic and mineral high notes. Flavour is dry and barely tart with no real residual sugar, nice pulpy fresh and lightly cooked blueberries, deep red grapes, currant skins, earth, fresh savoury herbs, squeeze of grape juice, lemon lactic edge, quite mineral and saline, long blueberry and unsweetened cocoa finish with peppery, tannic edge. Light to medium body with soda-like filling carb. Fresh and fruity but equally interesting and deep, like a wine soda made with high quality natural wine.

7

A hazed blonde cider with aroma of tart apples, light Brett, lactic notes, very nice. In mouth, a nice sweet apple jam, light acidity, Brett, light lactic notes, very nice. Bottle from cidery.

8.2

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

(750ml bottle from the cidery webshop) Pours clear bright gold with a rapidly fizzing white head and active bubbles. Aroma is totally wild, surprisingly sweet and like baked goods; rendolent in almond and cinnamon and dates in warm dough, with fairly intense floral perfume and golden plum backbeats bringing sweet-tart vibes coupled with a little yellow apple and a blanket of wet wood and hay funk. Flavour is a tad less sweet and pastry-inflected than the nose but still lots of baked cinnamon and almond buns, but with nice lightly sweet and moderately acidic yellow plum, deep perfumed chamomile, nice textural apple base, soft to moderate tannin and a big return of the cinnamon/almond and sweet baked buns vibe in the finish, funk quite restrained on the tongue. Light to medium body, oily, nice active carbonation when opened. Sensational notes from the chamomile, I definitely wasn't expecting something bordering on pastry cider. Cool!

7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

(750ml 2019 bottle from the cidery webshop) Pours lightly hazed deep gold with a few floaters due to my lack of care, rapidly fizzing whitish head that dissipates and rebuilds. Aroma is not super punchy for some reason, but flavour is much fuller. Notes of a mix of red and a few yellow apples, something pear-adjacent in the finish, lightly 'sweet' in flavour but on a quite dry actual body, definitely some herbal/minty tones coming through, smooth skin tannins, light astringency, a little citrus peel, not-quite-spicebox that I can't place in the bone-dry finish. Lovely active filling pét-nat carb, creamy fizz, light body that drinks bigger. An interesting cider for sure, the complexity and depth of the natural apples reveal themselves in the attack on the tongue. Wish the aroma matched!

8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

(750ml 2019 bottle from the cidery webshop) Pours clear deep gold with a rapidly fizzing and re-establishing white head. Aroma is sweet, savoury and musky apples, almost caramelized hints but also a clear minerality, storage apple-like musty woodsiness, quite some barnyard/hayloft funk, suggestions of tannic depth. Flavour is bone dry throughout the sip, certainly quite a savoury apple, high minerality, musty and very present but fine tannins, some grapefruit pith, very dry mineral finish, not super-fruity at all. Medium-bodied, oily, mouth-filling bottle condition carbonation. A bit of an atypical cider but a very interesting and surprisingly drinkable one despite its 'brusque' character.

7.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

750ml on Phill's deck. Appearance: hazy straw with a weak head due to the high carbonation. Aroma: sweet baked apples. Taste: along the same lines. Overall: good one.

7.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Poured from 750mL bottle (2018 version). Hazy gold, fair bit of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Dry, huge carbonation, apple skin, a bit of funk, very mild alcohol notes. Pretty good.