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Ascension cider

A newish cider maker - only started in 2017 and based in Sussex, but despite that they produce some cracking ciders. You'll often find their cider in hipster keg bars in my experience. They're becoming quite common up here in East Anglia and I was very impressed with their sour cherry Dance Commander. Talking to hem, they try to make use of fruit and apples that would normally ne wasted, hence some of their experimental recipes with things like grapes and gooseberries.

It's owned by a friendly couple and they've just set up a bar in Eastbourne where we were made to feel very welcome. They plan soon to start an online shop which will be a good thing, but until then try their ciders if you see them.

Dance Commander Cherry

Medium

Made with cherries and Braeburn apples.

Cherry red, hazy and slightly sparkling

Very slight cherry nose but mainly of apple cider

Lots of fresh sweetish cherry flavour though. Not sweet and sickly and not sour. Slightly floral but not overly so. Nice long gentle aftertaste where the cherry hangs around a bit but the apple comes out. It's supposed to be sour cherries but I’ve had many more sour ciders. It is tangy though .

This is a gentle cherry cider, not an in your face one and it’s the better for it. You could easily drink several of these before getting bored.

4.8%
Ascension cider Dance Commander Cherry review

Mothership

Medium

Light, golden, slightly hazy and flat from the BiB

Slight honey floral nose

Interesting flavour. No real bite, but gentle flavour full fresh apple pulp. Shortish aftertaste but with a pleasant enough flavour.

I won’t call this sweet but it does lack any real bite or sharpness to it. It’s perfectly nice though, and wouldn’t turn my nose up. I wonder if it’s one that would benefit from carbonation.

Meant to be medium dry but I find it it a bit sweet for that, more medium

6%
Ascension cider Mothership review

Pilot

Medium

Pale yellow slightly hazy and sparkling.

I've tried this both in a tin and on draught and they're a bit different:

Can

Bit of a malted barley nose on top of the apple.

That smooth slight maltiness is initially there but a sharp tart apple kicks through with lots of fruit flavour. Good balance of dry and sweet apples and both bounce around the mouth. Has a nice long slightly dry aftertaste but it does leave a refreshing feeling in the end.
Rather strangely you also get a little hint of apple shandy which is strange as I doubt if there's any Lemonade anywhere near it. I blame the tin.

Not bad at all 3/5 for the tinned version.

Canned cider - sigh, I guess it's the way we're going. Nowhere near a full pint is my biggest complaint, and it does seem to influence the taste.

Draught

Similar malty taste but tartness is more pronounced almost gooseberry. You also get a lot more fruit as well and to balance it out you have a touch of honey possibly in the aftertaste and none of the shandy flavour you get in the tin. That could be down to the fizz but I'm not a fan.

Much nicer on draught than in the tin. The maltiness is very pronounced which makes it a very interesting cider and one to try if you can.

They make use of apples that supermarkets have rejected, so fair play to them for that

4.8%
Ascension cider Pilot review
Ascension cider Pilot review
Ascension cider Pilot review

Unless You Think

Medium Dry

Strange colour Light copper, almost Lucozade orange, clear and sparkling from the can.

Grape is the main scent, and it's very pleasant if a bit odd

This is a blend of cider, lemon Lime and Red Grape... Ok the taste is very unusual but strangely quite pleasant. Red grape juice predominates with a very subtle floral but slightly tart cider in the background and the citrus adds to the sharpness. The cider comes more to the fore in the aftertaste which is quite dry. The Lemon and Lime isn't really noticeable as individual flavours but does add a bit of generic citrus and balances out the sweetness of the grape nicely.

This is a really strange combination of flavours but very very nice. I've had some Spanish wines with added grapes and this is as good if not better than some of them. Don't expect tannin of red wine, it is a sweet red grape juice. Very refreshing and makes a nice pleasant change on a warm summer's evening.

4%
Ascension cider Unless You Think review
Ascension cider Unless You Think review

Shimmy

Medium

Not yet reviewed, watch this space

4%
Ascension cider Shimmy review
Ascension cider Shimmy review

Wrath

Medium

Interesting idea: Red grape with wild cider

Dark golden, clear-ish with a gentle fizz and a bit of lingering foam

Little bit of blackcurrant on the nose along with the grape skin and slight tart apple.

Much richer flavour than nose and very pleasant. Soft, mellow and sherry like. Hints of brown sugar and a little bit of tingle on the tongue. Very mouth watering and the red grape juice comes out in the slightly dry but refreshing aftertaste. Slight amount of blackcurrant in the flavour but it’s more general berry fruit of the forest.

Very nice indeed. Don’t think I could do a session on it, but it would be a nice post meal drink or as a mouth cleanser at the end of an evening

4%
Ascension cider Wrath review
Ascension cider Wrath review

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