29 July 2017

Pure Hopped Cider (@DegustaboxUK @Purityale @WestonsCiderMil) By @SpectreUK


This Pure Hopped Cider was produced through collaboration between the Warwickshire Brewer, Purity, and the Herefordshire cider-maker, Weston. Made from cider apples local to Herefordshire, and English Target Hops from Worcestershire, there seemed like oodles of the English green and pleasant countryside in this 4% volume cider. I certainly haven't had a cider mixed with hops before, and so was taken aback by the innovative idea. I was hoping to be equally bowled over by the taste experience.

On opening the 330ml can there was a light cheerful fizz. There followed an altogether alien smell. There was cider apples and there was citrus hops in the same can. This aroma was so different to any beverage I have smelt before I just couldn't stop taking the odd sniff whilst writing this blog. Simple so it seems, hops and cider, the smell I couldn't get over. Besides, there was something parting them. The more sniffs I took I could smell the grand old oak vat that this cider had been matured in. A wall of solid oak between the two smells. I couldn't help but start to worry that this wooden wall would be unbreakable in the taste.

There was a slight murkiness to the golden coloured cider that filled my glass. On taste this cider was initially dominated by the citrus hops. No mere dash of hops here. And this hop flavour had not only broken through but somehow merged with the wooden oak wall, as next came the oaken flavour which in turn travelled to an almost tart sweet yet dry cider apple flavour. This was certainly a complex group of flavours to have in a cider. Not one I've experienced before, and definitely one I'd be happy to experience again. Now where did I put those pork scratchings…?
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