Danger! You cannot taste the alcohol in this - certainly not the 8.4%ABV kick.
Now, I’m sure the tramps across the UK are familiar with this stuff, but I don’t care - I’d heard good things about it and wanted to give it a go.
It cost me £1.59 in my local ‘Premier’ convenience store.
Under the nose there are hints of straw and earth and perhaps a toffee not, but it’s extremely faint.
The taste is packed with apple flavour for sure - and the can boasts that it’s not made with artificial sweeteners, colours and preservatives - so that’s a good sign.
This cider is on the dry side of medium - but it is sweet and that’s what makes it a 2/5 for me. It pleasant enough, you could sink a few of these quite easily if you had no idea about the 8.4ABV.
It lacks complexity and is pretty light in body and short on length. It has a bit of fizz (and that’s welcome) and taste great chilled to around 3-5 degrees celcius. Note sure what it’d be like at room temp - rank, is my forecast! Despite saying its natural it does taste entirely manufactured and it outdone by the likes of Weston’s in this +8%ABV category.
The cider does have a back end of toffee notes in taste, apricot hints and apple peel but is let down by its overall finish.
It’s not bad and it’s not great either - but worth a go if you’re curious like I was. I doubt I’d drink it again as the only cider I’ve really liked (so far) over 8% has been Weston’s Medium Dry Vintage and Chaplin & Cork’s, both at 8.2%ABV.
Reviewed on 14 May 2025
