Last night I had the privilege of spending a relaxing, enjoyable evening with some lovely ladies, some of whom I don't get to see all that often. Our theme for the evening was Cider tasting - inspired by the wealth of flavoured ciders now available on the market, with wild and wonderful flavour combinations, most of which we had never tried. Everyone brought a few bottles of unusual cider, and we started working our way through them. It ended up being a night of very responsible drinking, as we only made it through 6 small bottles for the 4 of us in about 5 hours, but it was a great night. We decided we should document our cider tasting adventures - there is bound to be a sequel post in the not to distant future, as there are several bottles left in the fridge, or taken home by the girls - maybe I should get them in as 'guest bloggers' to tell us about the ones they took....?

So, on to our reviews.  First we tried the Old Mout Passionfruit Cider. We found it very easy to drink, "a good starter". The passionfruit flavour wasn't as strong as we expected, and we weren't sure if that was due to other flavours competing (we were eating cheese, dip, kabana etc) or the cider itself.  It wasn't overly sweet, but went down very easily.  The labeling is also not very enticing - doesn't scream 'pick me, pick me!'

Next up we tried the Koppaberg Blueberry and Lime Cider. It immediately became the favourite and remained so for the next few bottles. Again, not overly sweet, very smooth, with a good flavour balance - the sweet balanced nicely by the slight tartness of the lime. A really lovely drink! Some of the girls thought the label design was a bit masculine - they might not have picked it off the shelf on impulse.

Moving on, we tried the Sidra del Verano Apple, Blackcurrant and Cranberry. This was also a very pleasant drop.  The cranberry flavour was dominant (even one of our number who doesn't like Blackcurrant at all enjoyed this). Again, not overly sweet (which can be an issue with flavoured ciders) - and we thought the packaging was 'classy'.

Next up was the Cheeky Raskal Apple and Guava. This was very different - quite bitter, this is not a flavour for the sweet tooth. We found it necessary to make sure we 'cleansed the palette' before and after this drink - the bitterness tended to linger.  We were divided on this one - 2 of us enjoyed it, and 2 found it much too bitter and the aftertaste unpleasant. By this stage we all agreed the Blueberry and Lime was still our favourite.

We eventually moved on to the Herrljunga Strawberry and Vanilla. This was bumped to first place for most of us, 2nd for others. very sweet, but not cloying, the Vanilla flavour was "a delightful addition". The flavour lingered pleasantly on the palette.

Finally we departed from the cider, and tried Strawberry Hard Ice Tea. Drinkable for non tea drinkers, but with a discernible tea flavour. Similar in flavour to the strawberry and vanilla cider, but without the crisp bite you get with cider, and a little less sweet overall. We all found it immensely improved with the addition of a slice or squeeze of lemon.

We ended the night by individually ranking the flavours...



It was a fun night trying all the new flavours, relaxing, eating good food in good company - thanks ladies!