[Closed] ok, WTF is going on with cider these days?

people with poor taste and who believe what the TV tells them...

There's a lot of them about...

The same people who buy Carlsberg and Carling - or if not the exact same people ones who are very similar. Look on the plus side - it means cider is becoming more mainstream which might mean there are more people drinking proper stuff (I'm a born again cider drinker after getting bought some for Xmas a couple of years ago - more often than not will choose to drink that rather than beer at home, though I've yet to order one in a pub).

white lightening and frosty Jack have been popular for years among a certain group, get over it sweet cheeks, nothing new. Just big brands jumping on the bandwagon after the ship has long since sailed. As said above, some will discover the good stuff, others will wallow for a bit and then go back to whatever pish they drank before.

Some people just want to get pissed. It's like driving an old banger or getting the bus for going somewhere, it's functional, whereas some, who can afford it or are connaisseurs would drive a V12

I ordered a koppaberg cider the other night. Turned out it was Pressed Metrosexual Berries or somesuch, it was pink and tasted of jelly. I think in some drinking establishments it would have got me stabbed. (but it was really nice)

It's not proper cider if it doesn't come in a jerrycan.

Cider is the new alcopops.

What fourbanger said.

Lambrini do a range ffs

Ooh, now your talking 🙂

Fourbanger is right; the alcopops generation have grown up without an ounce of descrimination over what they pour down their necks and their tastes are now changing; advertising gives cider an edgy urban chic so they are switching over. The drink must be expensive and must have silver foil on the bottle otherwise it can't be any good.

But it's garbage and it tastes like garbage.

Someone I know might really like the Stella cidre... 😳

DrP

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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/92694523@N06/8637072324/ ]Really? Really?!?!?[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/92694523@N06/ ]tom.howard.562[/url], on Flickr

Cider should be bought in gallon plastic containers from farms with no health and safety from men you cant understand

Jesus! That Lambrini is a niche product aimed at girlie drinkers if ever I saw one.

It enjoys a lower tax rate than beer so if you sell it at the same price you make a lot more money.

Cider should be bought in gallon plastic containers from farms with no health and safety from men you cant understand

😳
This is exactly how I buy it, with the man being my cousin. All that's missing is a smock...

My mate makes the stuff on his farm .There are so many varieties of apples for real cider its great trying different sorts .Can induce the mother of all hangovers though !

Real cider production:
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That's Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester = each a tiny 1200 gallons.
The biggest wooden casks at Westons are Pip, Squeak and King George V (42,000 gallons each)

The best names are Wallace, Grommet, Wendolene, Shaun and Preston.

This is my more modest Stoner's "Squirrel-Fondler" production facility:
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Made from a special blend of anything apple shaped, maggots and wasps. It brings tears to your eye, so it does. The perry is far more palatable though.

Living in deepest somerset has its plus sides
It's been a winter of night rides followed by a pint of rough on the way home

I like Stella Cidre. I hadn't realised only niche cider was acceptable (actually I tried some 'real cider' once and it was rotten).

I haven't had a good cider since I left Somerset. What is the name of the pub conveniently located on the Quantocks?

Proper cider should be opaque or cloudy. Normally pretty high %abv as well which is a shock when you order a pint at 8%

The Carew Arms ?in Crowcombe

The Head of Steam in Newcastle is starting to stock proper cider - lovely *falls over*

I recall the time I was holidaying in the West COuntry with friends, and we went into a small country store to buy cider - picked up a bottle of 'something' and the chap behind the counter said "you don't want to buy that - that's polished up for the tourists"
Of course we don't we thought, and bought a 'tub' of the cloudiest, most rancid rat urine substance he had.

Cue much wincing after only a few sips, we soon realised that, as tourists, we maybe made the wrong purchase...

DrP

I spent quite a while installing packaging machinery and conveyors at Thatchers at Sandford in Somerset a few years ago. Their generic "for public consumption" ciders were nothing special, but they had a little factory shop where you could by the "special cider" in gallon plastic bottles for a fiver a time. They did some called Mendip Dry which was like cloudy piss to look at but good god it got you battered...

I don't buy Carlsberg or Carling.

Stella Cidre is decent enough when drunk in a glass with ice. The best I have tasted is Aspalls.

Who'd have thought people have different tastes though eh? Just amazing.

Normal Lambrini has always been Perry - aka pear cider - so it's not really a big step for them.
I have Somersby many times in Denmark, it's not great but it's not been made as part of this latest cider fad, just new to this country.

The best cider is the colour and translucency of a first of the morning piss.

Having spent nine months working in the QC lab of a cider brewery, I feel many of the niche-mongers would be a little disappointed if they knew where and how some of the boutique brands were made. Oh and grum +1, "real" cider can be absolutely disgusting.

Cider should be bought in gallon plastic containers from farms

All the worst cider I've drunk has come like that. If you're after cider to get you battered are you really so far away from those drinking Carlsberg cider? I'm with DrP and sticking to stuff which comes in bottles, is quality controlled and not full of muck. Not a niche monger, just like something which tastes nice.

Westons Dry for me, 8% though, the stuff above is [b]what I call[/b] cooking cider, totally drinkable, there's a great cider and perry shop at Middle Farm East Sussex, well worth a visit if you ever in the area or on the South Downs

Henry Weston. It is the only thing that makes any sense.

I cant drink shit.
One sniff, and I get a flashback.
15 years old, local park, on my hands and knees, puking 2 litres of stongbow up.

My Mrs is a Cider buyer for Tesco! 😳

I get a LOT of freebies which is nice, but there is a lot of shite being sold.

It's a trend thing, Magners revitalised the Cider market for the masses, and you now see loads of people drinking it in the summer swimming with ice. Everyones jumping on the bandwagon trying to grab a share of the market. It's a HUGE one by the way.

Kopparburg naked apple is nice, it's no niche scrumpy, but a nice drinkable pint, it's alright.

Who buys this shite?

I've always drunk cider one of the very few alchoholic beverages I can stomach, but even with cider there's only a few that I like. Strongbow, westons, stowford press, thatchers* are all ok, like some french ciders, some perrys (perries?) don't like a lot of the new stuff tho and the red fruit ones just seem weird. I like some scrumpy, don't think I've tried and of the hardcore stuff people are talking about tho.

What's the deal with ice in cider? is that a "water it down to get the lager drinkers on board" tactic or is it a tradition in some places? Can't be doing with nu-style cider with ice myself, if I wanted to drink watered down pish I'd drink lager like everyone else 😉

*thachers do some pear cider at about 9% don't they? 750ml bottle too, tastes lovely but pure rocket fuel.

I worked for Bulmers for a while. The mill at Ledbury produces, processes and stores all their apple sludge as concentrate. As far removed from wood casks and fermenting vessels as it could be.

The rubbish that went through the mill was whatever was lying on the orchard floor. So the old joke of dead rats and rabbits are true if the guys manning the presses don't pull them out. The boiling and pasturising gets them in the end though.

i had glass of 'old rosie' on saturday.
now that is proper cider.....too strong for me.

'old rosie'

Yep, I got destroyed on Old Rosie at The Apple in Brizzle. I think it was only during the fourth pint that it hit me. Like a flipping juggernaut. 😆

Stowford press is a go to favourite of mine if it's on tap in a pub. But to be honest. Had a Black Rat the other day, was pretty good.

I'm not too fused on the brand, so long as it tastes nice!

the alcopops generation have grown up without an ounce of descrimination over what they pour down their necks and their tastes are now changing

I like Stella Cidre.

I like Black Rat mentioned above also or Thatchers Gold.

I also like Magners.

I've also been known to drink Strongbow.

Flat cider tastes like rat piss if you ask me!

Individual preferences innit?

+1 (to im above, you can't shorten his name) though I had meant to post it without needing support, my main tipple is stongbow & has been for 10-20 years. The rise of magners, et all has been brilliant in my book no more choice between just strongbow(yum), dry black thorn (grim stuff), or woodpecker <shudders> as the only cider you'd find in a pub, (those halcyon days eh?)... if you'd find any at all.

Fair enough if you want to drink fermented rat 😛 , your welcome to it, I'll happily enjoy the all the perry's I can find.

Look for the real picture

The reason all the big breweries are pushing cider, is that the duty is lower than beer, but retails for the same price.

Stella Cidre is great for Snakebite and Black, it makes it a much more classy drink when at a hockey festival

Not a huge cider fan, although I quite like the Spanish Asturian stuff... any "real" cider fans tried it and able to compare it to English cider? It's a flat, cloudy cider, no bubbles...

You all need to get to the Cider Bar in Newton Abbot. 3 pints of diesel and your legs dont work. Nice fruit wines too (14%) or mead if thats your thing. Nothing but cider, fruit wines and mead sold. Snuff available if that takes your fancy. All recommended apart from the Suicider. It tastes like burnt straw and whiffs like a farmyard. Made from a horsedrawn press in Wiscombe, Devon.

Henry Westons/Sheppys/Aspinals ARE better ciders than... Bulmers/Magners/Cidre

FACT

people may prefer the taste of the others, personal preference, yes . . .

but the FACT remains

I love cider but hate all that 'trendy' shite which has wormed it's way into the market. that's not cider!

Merrydown and Special Brew snakebite FTW

Aspinals

They'll do you a nice handbag, but Aspalls will do a nicer cider 😉

Tomorrow night I will be sampling some bee sting, in the 3rd pub on my Thursday night ride 🙂

Aspalls in the first, stowford in the second!

if you see a wobbly ciderinsport around the new forest say happy birthday 🙂